Banana Walnut Waffles

I never knew until the morning I made these waffles that my boyfriend hates walnuts. What the? How have I been with this man for 2 years and not know something like this? Additionally, HOW CAN SOMEONE NOT LIKE WALNUTS? I think we either need to breakup or have an intervention – maybe both.

Well, or I can just get double the walnuts in everything from now on. That’s pretty much what I do with avocado since he’s allergic to it. Every possible opportunity I can to eat avocado I’ll eat it since I can’t do much with it at home.

In other news, I loved these waffles walnuts and all.

BANANA WALNUT WAFFLES
(source)

Ingredients
3 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup mashed banana
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat your waffle iron.

2. In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and brown sugar.

3. In a medium bowl whisk together eggs, vanilla, buttermilk, bananas, and walnuts. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir until incorporated.

4. Cook according to your waffle iron instructions.

* serves 4
* Shared with Foodie Friday 

Lemon Scones

I go through “things” as I like to call it. I’ve been through the cupcake “thing,” a pancake “thing,” and I think now I’m stuck in a scone “thing.” In the past few weeks I’ve bombarded my house with scones. I just can’t get over how easy they are. These lemon scones were made because one of the attorneys in the office I work in brought a 5 lb bag of lemons to work and told everyone to take them, because his lemon tree is going insane. I took about 4 lemons. I still have 3 left after making these scones, so I need some more lemon ideas.

These were delicious and crumbly.
I love scones.

Lemon Scones

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup crisco
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp lemon zest
Additional sugar for topping

Directions

1. In a medium bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut in the crisco so the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add buttermilk and lemon peel. Stir until just mixed.

2. On a lightly floured surface knead gently about 6 times. Shape into a ball.

3. On a greased baking sheet, pat the dough into a circle about 1/2 inch thick and 8 1/2 inches in diameter. Cut 8 wedges into the dough, not cutting all the way through. Top with the additional sugar.

4. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

* makes 8 scones

Blueberry Waffles

Part of my weekend breakfasts this week included waffles. For as much as I like to cook, I’m going to admit I have never made a waffle before these blueberry waffles. Matt gave me this old waffle maker last year that he found when moving. It has sat in my kitchen supply cabinet since then. It actually even survived a move from my apartment to this house.  But I’ve still left it sitting in the kitchen supply cabinet, along with the equipment I actually use on a normal basis (my rice cooker, slow cooker, blender, etc.)

I had a bunch of leftover blueberries this week, so I was trying to use them all so I wouldn’t have to throw them away. Unfortunately I think I used way too many blueberries in this recipe and probably should have cut it in half. I used 1 cup of berries, which was clearly too many and caused some burning on part of the blueberries in the waffle maker. Whoops! This was definitely a learning experience, that’s for sure.

There were two things I learned from this experience:
Lesson One: Don’t put too many berries in your waffle mix.
Lesson Two: Make lots of waffles!

Blueberry Waffles

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1/3 cup blueberry yogurt
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp milk
2 tbsp water
2 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 cup fresh blueberries

Directions

1.  Preheat your waffle maker.

2. Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl mix the wet ingredients. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients, mixing with a wooden spoon. Make sure to stir enough to get rid of any dry clumps.

3. Fold the blueberries into the waffle batter.

4. Spray your waffle maker with cooking spray. Pour 1/2 cup of waffle batter into your waffle maker. Cook for 5-7 minutes, or as long as your waffle maker takes to cook a waffle.

* makes 4 waffles
* 229 calories per waffle
* This waffle recipe is being shared with What Makes You Say Mmmmm? Monday Linky.

Banana Pancakes with Blueberry Sauce

I don’t make breakfasts enough. Usually I’m in such a hurry at breakfast time that I just rush out the front door. If I have a little bit of time I’ll blend together some fruit, yogurt, and juice in the blender and call it a smoothie. Today however I took the day off of work because I’ve been sick all week and am still feeling the effects of it. My stomach however is finally in the condition to eat solids, so I decided that I would make pancakes this morning.

When I make breakfast, I remember how much I love making it. I’m not a bacon and eggs type of girl. I love sweet foods for breakfast. These pancakes were very sweet.

The only thing I didn’t like about them was that they really stuck to the skillet I was using. This is partially the fault of myself, since I own very cheap pots and pans. This can be credited to the fact that I’m a poor law student and don’t have a ton of money to be throwing around. But that does remind me my mom told me she had a cast iron skillet I could have. I need to remember to grab that next time I head home. But these pancakes do stick more than the usual pancakes I make.

I’m making a vow (that I might not keep) to make breakfasts like this on days where I’m not going to class or work. So hopefully you’ll be seeing more breakfast foods in the future!

Banana Pancakes with Blueberry Sauce

Ingredients

for the pancakes
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp kosher salt
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
5 tbsp milk
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
2 bananas, mashed
1 tbsp vegetable oil

for the sauce
1 cup fresh blueberries
2 tbsp water
1/4 cup orange juice
3 tbsp sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp almond extract
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions

 for the pancakes

1. In a medium bowl sift together the dry ingredients. In a small bowl combine the milk and vanilla extract. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir, until well combined and no dry spots are left.

2. Mix in the mashed bananas and olive oil.

3. In a heavy skillet, heat either butter or olive oil. Once hot, drop the batter into the skillet into 2 tbsp size servings. Once the pancakes start bubbling on the raw side, flip. Cook until golden brown on both sides.

for the sauce

1. In a small pot combine the berries, 1 tbsp of water, orange juice, and sugar. Mix well and bring to a boil.

2. Once boiling, in a small bowl combine the cornstarch and other 1 tbsp of water. Pour into the blueberry mixture. Lower the heat and simmer, stirring frequently until the sauce becomes thick.

3. Take off heat and stir in the almond extract and the ground cinnamon.

4. Serve over pancakes.

* makes 6 pancakes
* 317 calories per pancake and sauce
* These pancakes are going to be shared with Friday Potluck at EKat’s Kitchen.