Gops and Waffles

This picture cracks me up. I didn't know Justin was taking it (hence my rumpled shirt and focused-on-the-dishes look). But I laughed when I saw it because its such a clear picture of what our kitchen looks like most days. I'm either cooking, or cleaning up from just cooking. There are an abundance of cereal boxes on the shelves. Grayson has somehow figured out to make the contents of her play kitchen explode all over the floor. And the poor dog is hiding in the mix, lying there patiently, hoping someone besides the curious toddler will come and pet her or let her out for some relief from the madness.

My favorite Grayson word of the day is "gops", aka "grapes". I made her say it ten times at lunch.

And here is our new family favorite waffle recipe. Gray is a waffle-eating-machine for breakfast, so I've resorted to making them from scratch and freezing them for later. These are actually much better reheated in the toaster oven than right off the waffle iron for some reason. I double the recipe below, we eat them for dinner one night with smoothies and eggs, and then we have enough leftover for a week of breakfasts. I tried to triple it this week, and the batter lost its fluffiness. Stick with doubling if you want leftovers for freezing, or keep it the way it is to try them out. I'd give a shout out to where I found it online, but it was some random Q&A site that I don't really remember and that didn't print with the recipe. Sorry random source.

Best-Yet Waffles:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. sugar
2 cups milk (I used 1 cup milk (1%) and 1 cup water and it was still good)
2 eggs, separated
1 Tbs. butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla (this is optional, I added it because we love vanilla in all things waffle/pancake-ish)

1. Preheat waffle maker (we use our Belgian waffle maker).
2. Sift dry ingredients together in a bowl.
3. Separate the two eggs, then add the milk, egg yolks, melted butter, and vanilla to the dry ingredients and mix well (it will look very liquidy here)
4. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff (this takes a few minutes but is key to the recipe)
5. Fold/gently mix the stiff egg whites into the batter (it's ok if its a bit lumpy from the whites)
6. PAM your waffle maker, pour about 1 cup batter on the bottom grate, cook for 2 minutes-ish? (our maker has a light that goes off when they are done). I read once that when the steam stops rising from the edges of the maker, the waffle is done.
7. Repeat. Lots. It makes a bunch. The recipe as is says that it makes 12. I can't remember exactly how many it makes in real life. This is one of those things where I multi-task and make them while doing something else. They might look floppy when you cool them on a plate before freezing, but trust me, they crisp up perfectly in the toaster. Enjoy!