12/16/13

Gingerbread Waffles with Cinnamon Butter

Did you know Christmas is 9 days away? 9!! It’s crazy to think this year is almost over. With Christmas right around the corner, I’ve been feeling very festive lately. We’ve rode our bikes around looking at Christmas lights, I’ve done some Christmas shopping, and we went to a Christmas themed birthday party. This really is my favorite time of year! The best part will be going home in a few days to see my family. I can’t wait!

In my family, my sister and I were are always up early on Christmas morning. Even when we both moved out, we’d still head over to my parents house early in the morning to open presents and spend time together before everyone went their separate ways.

A good breakfast usually follows the presents at our house. My Gingerbread waffles will be a great addition this year. Served with a side of yummy bacon and we’ll have a meal. It is the holiday after all. Calories don’t count on Christmas… Right?

For this recipe, I used the new waffle iron I bought Huck, as a joke gift, for his birthday. They’re light and fluffy with lots of flavor, and they freeze well. I made a full batch of these and put the leftover in the freeze. In the morning, when I want more, I’ll just pop them in the toaster like the store bought waffles. These are way better, though.

I used Bison Brewing Co. Gingerbread Ale in this recipe. It’s a holiday Porter brewed with Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Ginger. If you can’t find a Gingerbread beer, look for a Stout or Porter with cinnamon or nutmeg. I’ve only seen two Gingerbread beers here in South Florida, and I cant remember the other ones name. If we can get Bison here, I’m sure you guys can find it easily.

You can also use Whole Wheat or half and half Flours for a healthier waffle. My baking supplies are low right now, so I just used regular AP Flour. King Arthur’s Flour is the best by the way.

The batter for this recipe isn’t very sweet, either. Once you add {Real} Maple Syrup and the Cinnamon Butter, they’re perfect. If the waffles themselves were sweeter, I think once the syrup was added, it would be to much. So, keep that in mind if you do not like syrup and want a sweeter waffle batter.

Christmas Card Photo

Yesterday, Huck and I went to the beach to take our Christmas Card Photo. We like rubbing in the fact it’s warm here and cold every where else! The best part is we’re wearing short and flip flops in the middle of December! LOVE IT!

I’ll be back soon to share our adventure to Fort Pierce and Sailfish Brewing Company.

What is your favorite Christmas morning meal?

 

Gingerbread Waffles with Cinnamon and Maple Butter

Serves 16

Ingredients

  • WAFFLE BATTER
  • 1 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
  • 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon Salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon Ground Allspice
  • 1/4 teaspoon Ground Ginger
  • 2 large Eggs (Separate the whites and yolks)
  • 1 cup Beer (Stout or Porter {I used Bison Brewing Co. Gingerbread Beer})
  • 1/4 cup Melted Butter
  • 2 tablespoons Sugar
  • CINNAMON BUTTER
  • 1/4 cup Soften Butter
  • 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
  • 1-2 tablespoon Real Maple Syrup

Directions

Combined Flour, Baking Powder, and Salt together.
Add Egg Whites to a mixer with a wire whisk. Beat until they form stiff peaks about 1-3 minutes. {When you dip the whisk into the whites, they should stick to the whisk and form a peak.}
While the Egg are mixing, combined Beer, Melted Butter, and Sugar. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir.
Add the Egg Whites to the bowl. Carefully stir the White into the mix.
Prep heat Waffle Iron. Once preheat, add waffle batter. {I have a small/cheap waffle maker and it's 1/8 cup of batter per waffle. All waffle irons are different.}
For my waffle iron, it took 3-4 minutes. I like mine a little crunchy.
Combined Butter, Cinnamon, and Maple Syrup. Serve over warm Waffles.

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12/8/13

Crock Pot Tomato Soup with Pizza Beer

Is it cold where you live? If so, I hate to say this, but I’m a little envious. It’s still in the 80’s here. It’s just really hard to get in the holiday spirit when you’re shopping for your Christmas tree in a sundress and flip flops, right? We’re going to Georgia in 2 weeks, though. I’m sure it will be super cold, and I’ll be running home to the warm temps.

There are not many things I miss about cold weather. Layers, heavy jackets, waiting for your car to warm up, freezing after getting out of the shower, frosted windshields, etc. I do miss reading by the fireplace, enjoying a hot bowl of soup on a cold day, drinking hot chocolate while looking at lights, and the possibility of a snow day. The fact that it’s still hot as hell outside doesn’t keep me from enjoying a bowl of warm soup, though. I made this recipe a few weeks ago. It was actually a little chilly that day. By chilly, I’m talking mid 70’s. I’m a sissy when it comes to the cold!

Mamma Mia! Pizza Beer was the star of this yummy Crockpot Tomato Soup. You may remember my recipe for Beer Bread a few weeks ago using this same beer. It really tastes just like Pizza. You can go to their website to see if this beer is available in your area. I’m sure if we get it in South Florida, everyone else should find it fairly easy.

This recipe makes enough soup for an army! I used some of the leftovers for stuffed shells {recipe to come soon} and had a quart leftover in the freezer.

I recommend serving this soup with my Beer Bread hot out of the oven.

In Other News

I’ve been a little MIA lately. This weeks been a little crazy.

Wednesday, we went to TBC for their Movember contest.

I had the pleasure of looking at this every day last month… Thanks TBC! Luckily, it was gone shortly after we arrived home. I love Huck’s beard… not a fan of the handlebar look!

Karl and Holly joined us at TBC for the event. Like Karl’s new haircut? Huck didn’t win this year, but did come in 2nd, and passed the crown on to the winner.

Thursday, I had the Barley Doll’s meet-up.

We started at Das Biergarten in Abacoa. Das has a good craft beer menu and the turn out was really good. We had a few newbies but most everyone was repeats. As people started leaving, some of the ladies decided to headed to Jumby Bay for wine. The Barley Dolls do not discriminate against alcohol. We do drink responsibly, though!

Friday was my company Christmas party.

We met at the owner of my companies house for drinks and our secret Santa exchange before heading to Morton’s Steakhouse in West Palm.

Doesn’t Huck look fancy with his sweater vest and red wine?

And Saturday, I worked on Christmas Crafts and watched Football.

For the ornament frame, I bought an 8×10 frame and ornaments from the Dollar Store and hot glued them together. Now, I just need a picture of us.

My other project was a tree skirt for our Christmas tree. Last year, I found directions for a DIY ruffle Tree Skirt on Pinterest {Are you following me on Pinterest?? You should!}. I had a box of leftover fabric from our wedding reception and thought this would be a perfect way to reuse the fabric and have a tree skirt with more meaning. It took me about 4 hours total from cutting the fabric into 2” pieces to hot gluing everything together. The other lady used an old tree skirt, but I just used my old skirt as a template and made one with plain white muslin fabric. I didn’t want to waste my original skirt if my project didn’t work out. I wish it was just a little bigger. I may go in and add one more layer to the end… Maybe. Hot gluing burlap SUCKS!

It doesn’t really match the tree, but it’s special and I like it! I still have a bunch of fabric left and plan to make matching stockings for us and the yahoos. That may tie everything together a little more.

Crock Pot Tomato Soup with Pizza Beer

Serves 6+
Prep time 15 minutes
This is a thick tomato, pasta sauce, soup. Crusty bread or Beer Bread is a must with with soup.

Ingredients

  • 4 cloves Garlic (Minced)
  • 1/2 Red Onion (Small Diced)
  • 2 large Carrots (Grated)
  • 28oz cans Tomatoes (Crusted)
  • 4 cups Chicken Stock
  • 1 cup Pizza Beer (or a light lager)
  • 1 teaspoon Dried Thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon Dried Oregano
  • 1 large Bay Leaf
  • 1 Parmesan Rind (Optional but I recommend it!)
  • teaspoon Salt and Pepper to Taste
  • Extras (Parmesan, Parsley, Crusty Bread)

Directions

Add all ingredient into a slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours. Serve with extra Parmesan and crusty bread for dipping.
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12/1/13

Thanksgiving Vacation

Huck’s Birthday

My four day weekend started Wednesday at 2PM. I practically ran out of the office screaming “I’m free!!”.

Wednesday was Huck’s birthday, and I was happy to be off early to celebrate. We started the birthday celebration at TBC, of course!

Our celebration continued to downtown Abacoa for Food Trucks and drinks at Das Biergarten with some friends. We were home fairly early. 

Turkey Day

For Thanksgiving, we went to our friends Nate and Sue’s house for dinner. Nate smoked a turkey while Sue whipped up so amazing sides.

 

I brought Butter Corn Casserole, Beer Bread Rolls, and Cranberry Cheesecake. The Cranberry Cheesecake turned out really good. I followed SkinnyTaste’s recipe for Strawberry Cheesecake, but substituted strawberries for leftover cranberry sauce. 

EG and Laura’s visit- Friday and Saturday

Friday, EG and Laura drove over from Tampa to spend the night. We went to Square Grouper and Dive Bar for dinner. Saturday, we took them to Berry Fresh for breakfast and Loggerhead Marine Life Center to check out the sea turtles.

Did you know Juno Beach has one of the most active nesting beaches in the world? I didn’t either.

The turtle below was going for his weekly weigh-in.

Each turtle has a little information posted about his condition, treatment, size, and age. The turtle below was found floating on his left side, and he was very anemic and hypoglycemic. He had a large, old, scare on his back from a boat propeller. He’s doing better since he arrived at the center.

He also went to the Juno Beach Pier.

The wind and waves were crazy.

While walking on the pier, some “kids” caught a 5 foot shark.

And people wonder why I don’t go swimming in the ocean…

It made me very sad to see the way the people treated the shark. They were taking pictures holding it and flipping it off. While holding it, they keep dropping it, and the shark was trying his best to get away. I secretly wanted the shark to whip around and bite everyone of them. Nothing serious. Just an F U from the poor defenseless shark.

EG and Laura left around 2PM, and Huck and I left for his homebrew competition at Roxy’s in West Palm.

Huck entered two beers into the competition and came in 2nd and 3rd. He was beat by a Blueberry Porter. He wasn’t very happy about “being the first and second loser”. I’m super proud of him for placing, twice!

There were large TV’s setup outside Roxy’s playing the UF vs FSU. We were watching the end of the UGA vs Tech and Bama vs Auburn game at a local restaurant/bar. The place went crazy when Auburn scored at the very end of the game. It was AMAZING!!! Oh and UGA won too. It was a great day!

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