Club Soda Waffles

My children love breakfast just not the kind that comes out of a box.  During the week they're forced to eat ready made ones so on the weekends they expect me to really do it up.  While most weekends I don't mind, there are some mornings I just don't feel like being in the kitchen.  That's when this recipe comes in handy.

It's so easy and yet so good. Let me ask you a question?  Wanna spend all morning in the kitchen or do you wanna whip up a quick and delicious breakfast that meets your kiddos' high standards?  I'm thinking the latter.  And you know what?  These waffles are totally weekday friendly, too.

Club Soda Waffles

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cup biscuit mix
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs 
• 1 10-ounce bottle club soda, (1 1/4 cup)
• *Waffle maker (mine makes 7" waffles & I got 6 waffles from the recipe.)

1. 1. Preheat  your waffle maker. Combine first 3 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring until smooth. Slowly add club soda, stirring until smooth.
2. 2. Pour a portion of the batter into the waffle maker.  You'll want to follow the "general" instructions for making waffles that came with your waffle maker. 
3. 3. Serve with desired topping. (I topped mine with whipped cream & leftover bourbon butter sauce)
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5. Note:  The batter will be thin. I found that it did not spread as much as other recipes that I've tried. 

Slightly adapted from, Myrecipes.com

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S’mores Parfaits

When I was looking for the brown butter cinnamon spice rice krispy post on Let’s Dish I came across these yummy looking Individual S’mores Trifles.  I’m a sucker for toasted marshmallows so they were a no brainer. Danelle called hers trifles.  I called mine parfaits.  While I’m not sure what the difference is between a trifle and parfait, they both have layers of chocolate pudding, marshmallow fluff, and graham cracker pieces.  Either way call them delicious! My family did!  Oh, and besides being delicious the recipe is ridiculously easy.  You could, of course, complicate things by making all the layers from scratch but essentially all you need is probably sitting in your pantry.

Brown Butter Cinnamon Spice Rice Krispy

You know how people say they wish they had scratch and sniff monitors? Well this is one of those treats that makes me wish you did. They don’t look much but they smell and taste JUST.LIKE.FALL.

I thought Smitten Kitchen’s salted brown butter rice krispy treats were wonderful but the cinnamon spice takes these to a whole other level, a warm slightly spicy Fall level.  I’m not the only one who thought so.  Several of my co-workers said the same.

 

Monica  initially enticed me with her post but the recipe comes from another great blog, Let’s Dish.  I followed Monica’s adaption but made one change.  I whisked the spices into the browned butter instead of adding them to the marshmallows.  Having made them once there is one more change I’d make.  I’d add more marshmallows!  Just a handful, tiny bit more.  I LOVE rice krispy treats when they’re sticky and gooey with extra melty marshmallow goodness! 

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For those of you that have been long time readers of 3Bs and may have links to the blog or blog posts those are no longer good.  I’m sorry for the inconvenience.  Someone decided that they liked my domain name so much they bought it out from underneath me but I can buy it back for only $8,800!! 

 

Flickr Tags: brown butter,bars,cinnamon,spice,rice krispy,treats

Keeping my fingers crossed

Several months ago I had the unpleasant surprise of finding that someone had snagged my domain name.  I didn't get a courtesy email reminding me to renew or a "Hey, we've sold your domain for more money so you need to move your posts!"  I've attempted to contact GoDaddy but it appears they now wants $8800!!  What in the world?

I'm hoping that this works (blogspot) which means some of my posts have not been lost.  Keep your fingers crossed!

Oh,and I've got a spicy treat lined up if this does work!
~ingrid

Cookies & Cream Brownies

Hi.  It’s been a long time, too long.  Before I tell you about this super easy &super yummy brownie I’d like to say thanks to everyone who left comments & sent emails asking how I was doing.  It meant a lot and made my day every time I got one.   The kids and I are doing well.  Hopefully this will be a “quieter” year for us.  I don’t know how much I’ll be blogging but I’m not going to let it get to this point again. The awkward, I don’t know where to begin one.  I’m thinking we start with brownies………

Cookies & cream brownies to be exact.  :)  I made them to give as a thank you to a few of the lunch ladies at Babygirl’s school.  I was in charge of planning the teacher’s Welcome Back Breakfast this year and they catered it.  I don’t know if they liked them, but I can tell you these were a big hit with my three.

I adapted the recipe from one I made before that I found on Karen’s blog Mignardise.  I’m not going to give you a recipe for the brownie base.  Just use your favorite one or a  box like I did.  Are you shocked by my craziness?  Don’t be.  I’ve yet to have someone ask me if my brownies were boxed and I haven’t found a homemade recipe that rocked my world so, boxed it is. 

Cookies & Cream Brownies

*One batch brownies with chopped up Oreos added.

*Cookies & Cream Frosting, doubled :)

2 cups powdered sugar
4 Tbsp. butter, room temperature
1 Tbsp. heavy cream, plus a little extra
approx. 8 oreos, crushed well
Combine all frosting ingredients except the oreos and beat with a hand mixer until light and fluffy. You may need to add a bit more heavy cream to get a spreadable consistency. Mix in crushed oreos (more or less). Spread frosting evenly over cooled brownies.

You can fancy these up by topping each bar with an oreo cookie half like I did or you can top the whole thing with ganache thus smothering the “cream” between two layers of chocolate.

Enjoy!

Reaching Out

One of the first things I learned about food bloggers was, that they were a generous and compassionate group.  They banded tightly together in times of need and freely gave of themselves.  A recent example of this was when Monica blogged about a dear blogger friend that passed away.  Monica never meet Jeanette but still felt a strong less of loss at her passing. The supportive comments Monica received were amazing.  Going a little further back, another example was when  Ericka, a fellow blogger and her family were lucky to escape a fire that took her home and all her possessions.  The out pouring of support she was given was incredible.  I didn’t know her but soon felt like I did after reading about her and her story on many blogs.  Those are just two examples.  There are many others and I’m hoping that same supportive spirit will continue on and be bestowed on the family of another blogger. 

This afternoon I received an email from Michelle of One Ordinary Day.  Michelle’s sister Bea and her family lost their home on Saturday morning to a fire.  Thankfully everyone made it out alive.  However, Bea’s husband did not escape unscathed.  Given what could have been, they’re very thankful but it’s hard to ignore the fact that their home and all their possessions were lost.  Yes, they can be replaced but it’s so hard when it’s everything.  Michelle has a short post about it on her blog.  She doesn’t go into many details but does ask for your prayers and good thoughts.  I hope you’ll take a few minutes to visit Michelle and extend Bea’s family good wishes.  I know times are tough and I hate to ask but if you are able to, please consider making a small donation, every little bit helps. Thank you!

A Little Late

I know the holiday party season is long gone but if you don’t know or haven’t already tried Hickory Farms sausages and cheeses you might be missing out.

I was a lucky recipient of a small Hickory Farms gift pack through Food Buzz’s Tastemakers program.  I actually received it just before Thanksgiving though it wasn’t until New Year’s Eve that we sampled it.  We loved it especially the kids.  They gobbled  it up faster than I could cut it.  I’m not one to blog about savory foods (Kudos to you guys that do!  It’s tough getting good photos!) but I thought it worth mentioning.  And really you don’t have to wait for a party to serve it.  You can do like I do and feed it to the kiddos as an after school snack.

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I want to thank you  for sticking with me these past few weeks.  I know I haven’t been around and my commenting has been sparse.  I’d like to say that I’ll be better but it may be a few more weeks before I’m back into the swing of things. 

Now for the reason I’ve been MIA.  As most of you know I got a dslr back in July, well I’ve been teaching myself how to use it.  In order to do that I have to read,read, read, and practice, practice,practice.  At the same time I’m trying to master my camera and the manual setting I still have to work fulltime, “keep house”, raise three children, and juggle all their activities.  It isn’t easy and I don’t know how the rest of you guys manage but it’s tough juggling act.  It’s a poor excuse for my neglect of our friendship but it’s the only one I’ve got.  :)  You know, it’s partially your fault too.  All your  lovely comments on my photos and how I’ve improved is what encouraged me to really dive in and learn more. 

I didn’t intend to share as I’m kinda nervous about what you’ll think but I’m participating in a Project 365 and post my daily photo here if you’re interested.  (Please, don’t feel like you need to visit or comment.)  Thanks!

Banana Roll w/Cinnamon Cream Cheese

It’s even better than it sounds and it sounds pretty darn good, doesn’t it?!  :) 

I stumbled across this recipe while looking for another recipe.  (Wanna hear something  funny? I don’t remember what recipe I was originally looking for.   Must not have been a good one. )  The blog I found this on is called Pinch My Salt and the title for the blog post was, “Tired of Banana Bread?  Try this recipe!”  And so I ask you the same thing?  Tired of banana bread?  Make banana roll with cinnamon cream cheese frosting! :)

I followed the recipe exactly.  My only change was to spice up the filling by adding some cinnamon.  I did have a problem flipping the cake out onto my powdered sugar towel and later trying to roll it up.  It was very tender.  I probably should have cooked it for a minute more. 

Banana Roll, from Pinch My Salt

Cake:
Powdered sugar
3/4 C. all-purpose flour
1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
3 eggs
1 C sugar
2/3 C. mashed banana (2 medium bananas)

Filling:
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 C. powdered sugar, sifted
6 T. butter, softened
1 t. vanilla extract
1/4 C. powdered sugar for sprinkling on top (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease 15×10 inch jelly-roll pan (also known as half sheet pan); line with parchment or waxed paper. Grease and flour paper; set aside. Spread out a clean, thin dish towel on the counter (make sure the towel is larger than your jelly roll pan); sprinkle liberally with powdered sugar (this can be done using a mesh strainer).

2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda.

3. In a large bowl combine eggs and sugar; beat until thickened. Add banana; beat until well mixed.

4. Stir in flour mixture into egg mixture. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan, easing it carefully to the corners with a spatula.

5. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 13 to 15 minutes or until center springs back when lightly touched.

6. Immediately loosen cake from edges of pan; invert cake onto the prepared towel. Remove pan; carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake in towel while hot, starting with 10-inch side. Cool completely on wire rack (will take at least an hour).

7. When the cake is almost completely cooled, make the filling: beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. (Add some cinnamon to taste to kick it up!)

8. When cake has cooled completely, unroll and spread with filling (or your favorite cream cheese frosting) then re-roll cake. Wrap rolled cake in plastic wrap then refrigerate at least one hour (overnight is best).

9. When ready to serve, unwrap cake and place on a platter. Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired (sift the sugar through a small mesh strainer for a nice presentation). Cut into slices.