National Waffle Day! Who Knew?!?

Today is National Waffle Day!!!  Who knew that such a day existed???  Andy and I decided it was the perfect excuse to make waffles.  We didn't have time at breakfast so we decided we would have them for dinner.  I have REAL Belgian waffles rising in my refrigerator right now.  Are you one of the many people who think that a Belgian Waffle is one made with BIG holes?  One that is round?  Well you are wrong!  Belgian Waffles contain yeast. 

When I discovered this I started searching the internet for a great Belgian Waffle Recipe.  I found several.  One is called an overnight batter but really any of them can be made the night before, covered tightly and put in the refrigerator until the next morning.  The one I made today does not say it's over night but I've made it the night before several times and made out fine.

Belgian Waffles

Click on the picture above to see this wonderful recipe.  I serve them with warm real maple syrup.  I pour some of my maple syrup into a glass measuring cup and warm it in the microwave.  It's not a pretty syrup container but it works great!  Real maple syrup must be refrigerated and I don't want to pour cold syrup on the waffles.  These waffles are light with a delightfully crispy outside.  I freeze any leftovers and toast them to warm them.  They aren't as good as the freshly made ones but they are still very good. Can't wait for tonight's yummy dinner!

Cracked Wheat Bread and Fonts

Cracked Wheat Bread for Bread Machine

My husband and I love bread.  Good, homemade, filling, yeasty bread.  We love to have it toasted with all natural peanut butter and my homemade strawberry jam, or with a little butter when it's straight out of the oven.  It is a wonderful addition to a meal of homemade soup.

I had some cracked wheat ( bulgar wheat) in my freezer.  It's been there a LONG time.  But it was still fine.  I have an old bread cookbook and found a recipe for Cracked Wheat Bread.  It was grand.  Since getting the cookbook 30 years ago, the Internet has become my main source for recipes.  I did a search and found many recipes for Cracked Wheat Bread.    I haven't made all of them yet but this one was VERY easy.  If you click on the picture, you will go to the website where you can get the recipe.  All of the ingredients can be put in a bread machine.  If you want to bake it in the bread machine you can.  I like to put my bread in a loaf pan so I set my bread machine to the dough setting.  If you slice each loaf into 16 slices, each slice will have 121 calories, 1.6 g fiber, and 3.5 grams protein.  I had a slice for breakfast.  I sliced 1 oz. of Cabot's Seriously Sharp Cheddar Cheese onto the top of the slice and top browned it in my toaster oven.  Yummy!  With a bowl of fresh cantaloupe and peaches, I had a delicious breakfast.

 
As for embroidery, I have been busy this summer.  I'll have to post pictures of some of my projects in other blog posts.  One of the things that has kept me busy for the past month is fonts.  I follow some wonderful embroidery pages on Facebook.  One of the pages, 8 Claws and a Paw , offered a 1 month font membership.  I looked at their fonts and decided it was well worth it.  I purchased the membership and started buying fonts.  Once they are purchased, they are sent to me in an e-mail.  I could only purchase 10 at a time.  It took me many hours of sitting and "shopping".  After receiving the e-mail with the link to download the fonts, I had to create a folder  for each font and unzip each file.  This isn't difficult at all for one or two items but I purchased over 200 fonts!!!  Now I'm creating pictures of the fonts so my customers can see their choices.   As you can see below, I'm working my way through alphabetically.  The fonts below are a small sampling of some of the wonderful fonts I have now.


When you order from Nan's Nappies, you can pick out a few fonts that you like and I will e-mail you a picture of what the words you want will look like in that font. 

Honey Oatmeal Bread

I made homemade bread to go with our chicken noodle soup the other night.  I posted pictures on Facebook  (https://www.facebook.com/NansNappies) and had some requests for the recipe so here it is.

The recipe is in my cookbook that came with my Kitchenaid Mixer almost 20 years ago.

In a small sauce pan combine :

 1 1/2 cups water,

 1/2 cup honey ( I used Agave Nectar)

 1/3 cup butter

 I like to use Agave Nectar because it has a lower glycemic index and is lower in calories.

Place the sauce pan over low heat until the liquids are very warm ( 120-130 degrees F)

As you can see from my thermometer, I got the liquids too hot.  It is important to let them cool before adding your yeast or you will kill the yeast!  I was in a hurry, as usual, and didn't want to wait for it to cool so I filled a bowl with some ice cubes and placed the pan on top. I kept stirring the liquids and in under two minutes they were the correct temperature.

Set the liquids aside.

In your mixing bowl place 5 cups all purpose flour.  Again I changed the recipe.  I used 3 cups bread flour , not all purpose, and 2 cups whole wheat flour.  I sometimes subsitute 1/2 cup ground flaxseed for 1/2 cup of the white flour.

To the flour add 1 cup quick cooking oats.   I do not like quick cooking oats and always use Old Fashioned Oats.

Add 2 tsp salt and 2 packages of dry active yeast.  I always use the jar of Bread Machine Yeast which says 2 1/4 tsp equals 1 package of yeast .

Attach the bowl with the dry ingredients to your mixer with dough hook attached.  Mix on speed 2 for about 15 seconds.

Gradually add your saucepan of warm liquid to the flour mixture and mix about 1 minute.  Add 2 eggs and mix an additional minute.

Continue mixing on Speed 2  and add up to 1 1/2 additional cups of bread flour 1/2 cup at a time, until dough clings to hook and cleans the sides of the bowl.  Knead on Speed 2 for 2 minutes longer.

Place in a greased bowl ( I spray mine with Pam or equivalent but you can also use Crisco or butter in the bowl)  When placing it in the bowl, try to form a ball with the dough.  Then you can either turn it over to get the top greased or spray more Pam on the top of the dough.  Cover with a cloth or piece of wax paper and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk about 1 hour.  If you want it to rise faster, turn your oven on to 200 degrees.  Once oven is warm, turn it off and place your bowl of dough in the oven.  You will know when the bread has doubled if you press it with your finger and it tried to bounce back.

Punch dough down.  That is exactly what you do!  Use your fist and punch it straight down in the center.

  Spray or grease two loaf pans.  Divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a loaf and place into greased loaf pan.  Cover and let rise again until doubled in bulk for about 1 hour.

There are various methods for shaping.  I sometimes place the ball of cough on a flour covered board and roll it out to a rectangle about the width of my bread pan.  Then , beginning on the wide end of the dough I roll it up like a jelly roll, tuck the ends in and place it in the pan.  This does give the bread a good consistency.  If I am too hurried, I just kind of mold it into a loaf and put in the loaf pan.

Turn your oven on to 375 degrees.  While it is heating, take a small bowl and combine 1 egg white with 1 Tbsp water.  Using a pastry brush, brush the tops of each loaf.  Then sprinkle with some more oatmeal.

Now it's ready to go in the oven for  around 40 min. or until the tops are golden brown.

This bread is great fresh from the oven.  The next day it's best when heated a little in the microwave or lightly toasted.  That is my favorite way to eat it!