Ginger Bread Waffles

I am a long time lover of breakfast. I love slow mornings that start with a good breakfast and hot coffee. I also start these mornings with blasting a really happy record to get me excited and ready for the day. I love when we have guests over and I get to spoil them in the morning! There is just something so nice waking up and cooking for the ones you love. Plus, there is nothing better than waking up to the smell of waffles.

Ginger Bread Waffle

4 eggs
1 cup molasses
1 cup buttermilk
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup butter, melted
Maple syrup

Start by beating eggs until light and fluffy, add the sugar, molasses and buttermilk and mix until smooth about 1 min. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, spices, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Add the dry mix to the egg mix, stir together when smooth add butter. Cooks in the waffle maker 2-4 min, makes 14 waffles!

Recipe from Spoonful

I don't know about you but I am getting a little tired of the cold and snow, these pretty flowers have helped me see the light at the end of the tunnel.  SPRING will be here... soonish, or at least that's what we are hoping for here in Minnesota. But for now we have these tasty waffles to cheer us up.

Happy breakfast time!

-Bethany

Juice!

I will be the first to admit that I was a little skeptical to juicing at first. My brother did a juice fast last year for 25 days and he lost 30 pounds; I thought that just did not sound fun. But then recently, I watched the documentary "Fat, sick and nearly dead" and it really opened up my eyes to how great raw juice is for you. 

I have been using my moms juicer for the past month, but I have been doing some research and you can get a really great juicer for a decent price. They range from about $30 to $250, I would say for everyday use you should go with a juicer that would last you long time, but if you are like me and would like to make juice a few times a week then something in the $50-$100 range might be a better choice. Like the NutriBullet  by Magic Bullet, I just got one of these, the major difference is with the NutriBullet it just blends everything all together instead of just pulling the juice from the produce. It is a bit of a different taste, but still just as good for you, if not better because you are getting all the fiber. 

I have really enjoyed this new adventure I have taken with food; it is completely different then anything I have ever done before and I feel great! I love it! The juice tastes great, refreshing and I feel healthier already, plus I am getting more fruit and vegetables in my diet than ever before.

OH! SNAP! dis.juice.be.straight.up.delicious.

2 Apples
1/2 Lemon
1/2 Lime
1 Cucumber 
4 Stalks of kale
Sliver of ginger

Cut the apples into wedges and one by one put them through the juicer. Peel the lemon and lime before you run them through the juicer, the sliver of ginger really adds a nice flavor to each juice. I cut the cucumber into four decent chunks and I run the stalk of kale through the juicer one by one, leaf first. 

Here are some great benefits from the produce in this juice that are fantastic!!

Kale: Prevents bladder, breast, colon, ovary, and prostate cancer! It also is packed full of vitamins and minerals that boost cardiovascular health and detoxify the system.

Spinach: Reduces blood pressure, has the bone building molecule vitamin K.

The juice requires a lot of clean up everytime you're done,  It can be kinda a pain, but it takes less time than cooking a meal all together. On the plus side your house smells amazing after you juice! It smells like a farmers market!

Just imagine all the things you could juice in the summer with the freshest fruits and vegetables and if you purchase a CSA  share you would have awesome new recipes to try all summer! Win, win, win!

Have you ever made your own juice? How did it you like it? What are some of your favorite recipes? Please share them with us!!

Love
-Bethany

Sweet Heart Coffee Cake

So I can't lie that I am not the biggest fan of Valentines Day because I think you should show the same amount of love to a person day in and day out. I think it's stupid how much pressure people put on one night out on the town. Wouldn't it be much more romantic to bake this yummy coffee cake and snuggle up with a pot of coffee and just spend time talking and doing "other" things... 

But however you and your honey decide to spend Valentines Day we hope that above all you are happy in celebrating the love and spark that you share, that makes your relationship unique and beautiful.

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Let's get bakin'.

I must warn you this bread is pretty labor intensive, so prepare yourself to make this when you have lots of time on your hands. 

Sweet Heart Coffee Cake

2 cups of sour cream
2 pkgs dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/4 cup softened butter
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
2 eggs
6 cups flour
1 1/2 cups finely chopped California dried apricots
1 1/2 cups chopped maraschino cherries

Icing

2 cups powered sugar
2 Tbls water


STEPS 1-12

STEP 1: Heat sour cream until luke warm.

STEP 2: Dissolve yeast in warm water in a large bowl

STEP 3: Stir in sour cream, butter, sugar, eggs, salt and 2 cups of flour. Mix in enough flour so the dough is easy to handle (no sticky dough).

STEP 4: Knead on floured board for about ten minutes. (I have a Kitchen Aid, so this process is much easier on my end. I use the dough hook.)

STEP 5: Place kneaded dough in a greased bowl, greased side up. Cover and let rise for an hour. After an hour the dough should have doubled in size.

STEP 6: Heat oven to 375 degrees.

STEP 7: Punch down dough (literally punch the middle of the dough on your flour filled surface.) Divide into three equal parts.

STEP 8: Roll each part into a rectangle roughly 15x6 inches. Place on parchment paper on a baking sheet.

STEP 9: With scissors make 2 inch long cuts at 1/2 inch intervals on both sides of the rectangle.

STEP 10: In a food processor combine the apricots and cherries, blend until the mixture is in small chunks. Spread 1/3 of the mixture on the center of the dough and crisscross the strips over the filling, stretch the dough to 22 inches. Repeat with the remaining balls of dough and filling.  Shape pieces into a heart.

STEP 11: Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown,

STEP 12: Brush with melted butter while warm, drizzle on icing (mix powdered sugar and water until desired consistency), and decorate with cherries.

This bread is so good and if you have basic baking ingredients won't cost you much to make!

Have the best Valentines Day!

Love,
Bethany