Cinnamon Waffles

My kids absolutely love to wake up to the smell of fresh waffles on the griddle. I believe that if I gave them their way, I would be preparing a batch every morning. Knowing this, my wonderful husband gave me a restaurant quality waffle iron for Christmas that I absolutely LOVE and it makes baking waffles so much fun! Ulterior motive?? Maybe!

The other morning the breakfast fixins' were pretty slim (I had neglected to make it to the store) and I knew that I would have my hands full with grumpy kiddos if I didn't figure out breakfast quick. I rapidly searched All Recipes for a waffle recipe with ingredients I had on hand. I liked this particular recipe because the batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week!

These were light and fluffy and absolutely wonderful!! They had just the perfect hint of cinnamon flavor and I'm thinking I just might add a touch of nutmeg to them next time too. I can't wait to prepare these again and serve with some fresh fruit Yummo!

From the heart of my kitchen to yours, may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Waffles

2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons white sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat waffle iron. Beat eggs in large bowl with hand beater until fluffy. Beat in flour, milk, vegetable oil, sugar, baking powder, salt and vanilla, just until smooth.

Spray preheated waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray. Pour mix onto hot waffle iron. Cook until golden brown. Serve hot.

This batter can be stored in the fridge, covered, for up to a week. Whisk well before using again.

Source: All Recipes

Pork Tostadas

These tostadas were the second dinner prepared from the original Spice-Encrusted Pork Tenderloin posted earlier. I was so excited to be using left-over meat to prepare an entirely new and exciting meal.

These were absolutely delicious!! The combination of the spicy pork, salsa, and beans was perfect and packed with huge flavor! At first, I was tempted to leave out the black beans and salsa combination, that the recipe called for but after tasting the first bite of my tostada I was so thankful that I went ahead and prepared it! To be honest, the beans didn't look appetizing at all, but..oh, my they had tremendous flavor!

This meal was another successful one for our household, not only delicious and packed with tons of flavor but also a great savings on the weekly budget! Hooray!

From the heart of my kitchen to yours, may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful. Enjoy!

Pork Tostadas

3 tablespoons corn oil
6 (5-inch) corn tortillas
3 cups Seasoned Black Beans (Recipe follows)
1 (15.5-ounce) jar prepared salsa
Guacamole (I omitted)
2 pork tenderloins, warmed and shredded
1 (16-ounce) container sour cream

In a large nonstick skillet, heat corn oil over medium-high heat. Cook tortillas on each side until golden. Drain on paper towels.

In a small saucepan, add beans, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until all liquid has evaporated. Use a potato masher to mash beans.

To assemble tostadas, layer beans, salsa, guacamole, shredded pork and sour cream on each tortilla. Garnish with fresh cilantro, if desired.

Seasoned Black Beans
(I halved this recipe for our tostadas)

4 (15-ounce) cans black beans, drained
2 (10-ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

In a medium saucepan, combine beans, tomatoes, salt and pepper. Cook according to above directions.

Source: Cooking with Paula Deen Jan/Feb 2009

Spice Encrusted Pork Tenderloin

Lately I've been on the search for dinners and recipes that will offer and provide a couple of different meals throughout the week for our family. Trying to stretch our family grocery budget has become a priority with me not working over the summer months. And it never hurts to tighten up the budget strings anyway...just ask my husband! :)

Pork tenderloin was not on sale the week I had this on my menu so I hesitated a moment at the meat counter. These two loins were a total cost of $10.34. As I stood and figured out that I would be preparing three different meals for the six of us, I realized that the cost per person per meal for the meat was right around .55 cents. WOW-not such a bad deal after all!!

This recipe was quick and simple to prepare. After rubbing the loins with all the spices, I browned the meat for a few minutes per side to seal in the flavor and juices of the meat and then baked them for 20 minutes. Pretty easy, huh?!

The flavors of the spices on the tenderloins were fantastic!! It definitely had a little "kick" to it, but not too much that the kiddos wouldn't eat it.

In my next post I'll be sharing a recipe for Pork Tostadas using shredded pork reserved from this recipe!!

From the heart of my kitchen to yours, may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful. Enjoy!
Spice-Encrusted Pork Tenderloin

2 tablespoons ancho chili powder
2 tablespoons ground coriander
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons Mexican oregano
2 tablespoons garlic salt
2 tablespoons cracked black pepper
4 (1.5-pound pork tenderloins, trimmed)
1/4 cup olive oil, divided

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil; set aside.

In a small bowl, combine chili powder, coriander, cumin, kosher salt, oregano, garlic salt, and pepper. Coat tenderloins evenly with spice mixture.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Cook 1 tenderloin for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, or until browned. Remove tenderloin and place on prepared pan. Repeat with remaining olive oil and tenderloins. Bake for 20 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of tenderloin registers 155 degrees or desired degree of doneness. Slice to serve.

Source: Cooking with Paula Deen Jan/Feb 2009

And The Winner Is.....

I'm sure that you all have been waiting to see who the incredibly lucky cookie winner is! Well, today my niece Taylor, and Megan sat at the kitchen table and wrote down everyone's name, then folded them and shook all of them up in Nathans hat, then Lauren chose the lucky winner. Before I give away the name, I would first like to thank everyone who entered this contest and became a follower. I can tell everyone really would love to win these cookies, and we have a winner! The name on the paper that was pulled out was... CaSaundra Leigh! Congratulations CaSaundra Leigh, I will start working on your cookies very soon!

CaSaundra, if you could please e-mail me a way to contact you, and also your mailing address. Thanks, ChristyOoley@yahoo.com :-)

From the heart of my kitchen to yours, may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful. Enjoy!!

This post was written by my talented niece-Taylor.

Father's Day Cookie Giveaway!

You may have read in earlier posts about the cookies that my friend Sarah and I have been making lately. . . we've been creating hand painted sugar cookies for all different holidays and events. Our Mother's Day cookies (pictured above) were a hit and we decided that it would be fun to do a Father's Day Blog Giveaway!

We are giving away a box of 9 hand painted, personalized "Father's Day Theme" sugar cookies-- to be shipped anywhere in the continental U.S. One box will be given away to a random winner on this blog and another will be given away to a random winner on Sarah's blog.

Here's how you can win:

* 1 entry for leaving a comment on this post

* 1 additional entry for signing up to follow this blog

* 1 additional entry for linking back to this post from your blog (be sure to leave me a note letting me know that you have done this!)

As an added bonus, you can go to Sarah's blog to have added entries on her giveaway! This contest will run through June 6th, at midnight EST. That way we can be sure to have these shipped out in plenty of time for Father's Day.

Good Luck!