Pumpkin Waffles With Maple-Cream Cheese Sauce


One of the things I love about cooking is changing with the seasons. Even though we don't get much change in the weather here in Florida, I find that my cooking style definitely changes!

Fall has definitely come to Florida - I'm sitting on my couch, watching the Gator game, while a breeze from outside tickles my toes. When the weather reaches this point, I get the urge to make everything pumpkin. When I checked out How to Cook Everything Vegetarian (a great book by the way) from the library back in June, I just had to set this recipe aside to try when it cools off! I made breakfast for dinner recently, and these Pumpkin Waffles were the main dish - they were light and fluffy and WONDERFUL! They were definitely different from the traditional waffle recipe I usually go for, but they were a nice change. And they came out such a beautiful, golden-orange color!


The recipe was a little fussy - you have to prepare the dry and wet ingredients seperately, which is par for the course, but you also have to whip egg whites (below) to add to the batter at the last minute. This really makes them fluffy, but it's also an extra step. But with my Cuisinart Smart Stick Hand Blender, it was no problem.




The last step - making the cream cheese-maple sauce! I let the cream cheese sit on the counter while I made the waffles so it could get to room temperature, then used the tiny food processor attachment on my Smart Stick to whip it up in a jiffy. By the way, I'm not getting paid to advertise for Cuisinart or anything - I just love my hand blender!! The maple-cream cheese sauce really completes the waffles. Yummy!

Playing Catch-Up

WOW I have been a bad blogger lately! Sorry 'bout that. It's just that by the end of a long day, I don't have a whole lot of brain power to write my usual clever prose. This post has been in the works since we bought a ham on sale after Easter. First, Mike smoked it on the Big Green Egg, which we enjoyed with mashed potatoes.

Mike LOVES ham....really, really loves it. He never says "ham," he says "haaaaaaaaaaaaam," complete with a dreamy look in his eye. Part of the reason why is because of the LEFTOVERS:

First up, ham buns. They feature swiss cheese, with dijon mustard and poppy seeds. These were done on brown-and-serve dinner rolls, because I had some in the freezer that needed to be used, but I usually do them on hamburger buns. They make great appetizers on mini buns. And great lunches for Mike the next day :)

Next up, White Cheddar Scalloped Potatoes. This was a new recipe from Taste of Home, and since I had a LOT of ham leftover, I was glad this recipe calls for a full 3 and a half cups. This recipe was a lot of work - slice the potatoes, chop the onion and ham, shred the cheese...not something I'd make all the time, but it was so worth it!

Yum.

I decided to make this into a breakfast-for-dinner, along with fruit salad and what has quickly become my favorite pancake recipe, Blueberry-Buttermilk Pancakes. Unfortunately, the casserole and the pancakes weren't done at the same time, but it was still delicious.

As an aside, the berries I used were a new product, and I just had to say how good these berries were. It had a blend of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries, and they taste almost like fresh. I am totally addicted!

Breakfast For Dinner (and Three New Recipes - Whoa Buddy!)

I haven't tried any new recipes in a loooong time, so tonight I tried THREE new ones and we had breakfast for dinner. First, Raspberry-Stuffed French Toast, a lighter version of traditional stuffed French Toast from Kraft's Food and Family magazine. It's supposed to have a custard sauce that you drizzle on top, but I didn't realize that I forgot to make it until I was plating the dishes - argh! I decided to forgo it rather than let everything get cold, especially since the Cinnamon Stewed Apples took less time than expected (note: I adjusted the recommended cooking time in the recipe). The third new recipe I tried was our beverage: Herbal Iced Tea from the Barefoot Contessa. It features fruit-flavored herbal tea and apple juice. The last feature of our breakfast-for-dinner was a tad bit of bacon.

The verdict
It was so much fun to try new recipes! I've missed trying new things, and cooking so much made me realize how much I'm looking forward to getting into a house and a kitchen that's bigger than a shoebox. The apples were a nice side to the French Toast, although they tasted more like chunky applesauce, partly because they cooked a long time and also I think they need a little more spice, and maybe a tad of sweetener. Honey, perhaps? The Stuffed French Toast was good even without the custard sauce, but I think I'll try it again with the sauce. I might try different berries, too. The Herbal Iced Tea was refreshing and slightly sweet, and I plan on making it again. I give this meal 4 out of 5 stars for taste and 3 stars for health.