Friday Feature (Weelicious)

Fridays I will be Featuring other blogs, websites & recipes that I have tried. If you have a recipe that you would like me to test out and review for you or have a blog related to cooking or parenting and would like to be featured please contact me at Kitchenfullofkids@yahoo.com

Weelicious hands down is one of my favorite sites to browse when I am feeling uninspired by my own recipes. I have tried several different recipes and I have been thrilled with each and every one. Today I tried one that I haven't tried before and I was really shocked at how much I liked them. The kids got awfully excited when they got home from school and they see a container of mini muffins waiting for them on the table. Today we tired out her Banana Wee-eat Germ muffins I had a few spotted bananas that needed to get used today and as much as I love my Great Aunts Banana Bread recipe I wanted something a bit healthier this was Perfect. I used my Rachel Ray mini muffin tins which are likely the most used piece of cook wear in the house. The wheat germ gives the muffins a nice hearty taste and after eating a few where quite filling. These muffins would be great for a breakfast on the go or a lunch treat for the kids. All 4 of my daughters loved them and trust me anything that makes all 4 girls happy makes this mama very very happy!!


Photo from weelicious.com

Waffles on Wednesday

Wednesdays are one of our busiest days of the week. The older girls have school then we have about 1.5 hours to change out of uniforms, do homework, eat dinner and go to church. By the time we get home it's time for a small snack, showers and off to bed. Trying to get so much accomplished in such a little amount of time makes me really glad that I always have tons of frozen waffles on hand. I think kids are drawn to breakfast for dinner because it almost feels like your doing something naughty (mind you I don't by into the concept that you should have pizza for breakfast either lol) I have a very yummy basic waffle recipe that you can add just about anything to it. Most popular in our home are Cinnamon, banana, peanut butter & blueberry waffles. I have even started making cheese waffles that are yummy for sandwiches. I have also discovered Organic batter blaster that I like to keep on hand for the rare times that we have no waffles. It's super easy and makes a really fluffy waffle. Making pancakes with it however was a bit tricky because its so light and fluffy then burn quickly. Waffles are great because they have no rules, they can be breakfast with some fresh berries, a sandwich for lunch, A comforting dinner or even desert with whip cream & honey. My 5 year old likes to eat them frozen right out of the freezer (I think that is crazy but she loves them that way lol)

Waffles (and yes works for pancakes too)
1 1/2 cups Whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt (I use a fine grain sea salt)
4 Tbsp Raw organic sugar (or equivalent sweetener of your choice)
2 large eggs
3 cups milk (you can use any kind of milk I generally use 2% or homemade almond milk)
2/3 cup butter or oil
(add fresh berries, chocolate chips, mashed bananas, applesauce, peanut butter etc)
Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl, Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients careful not to over mix them. Fold in any extras to your batter mix If you are adding fresh berries do not mix them in you will simply toss a few berries on top of the wet batter after your pour it into the waffle maker (trust me on this one)


you will want to take note of the cooking recommendations of your waffle maker. For mine I use 1/3 cup of batter and cook on medium heat for about 3.5 minutes each. You may need to butter your iron or use a cooking spray if your waffle maker requires you to do so. mine recommends it only with you are using fruits and sweet batter because the sugars/juices will make them stick.
This will make about 16-20 waffles

Now as a part 2 to this recipe a new waffle sandwich was born (due to low pantry supplies and over ripe bananas for lunch the other day. We call it the "WWED? Waffle Sammie" (wwed?=what would Elvis do)

WWED? Waffle Sammie
Using the above recipe mix in 1/2 cup of sun-butter or nut-butter of your choice (we used sun-butter) and 1 ripe banana mashed into your batter.
Take 2 cooked waffles and spread Sun-butter over it and top with thinly sliced bananas. And you have a nice healthy Waffle Sammie. We would like to think that if Elvis where alive today he would enjoy this lunch treat.
Enjoy!

Make it Monday (lunches)

Taking a moment here to talk about lunch. School lunches are pretty well BAD. Watch Jamie Oliver's food revolution if you don't believe me. I don't even know the cost of a school lunch but I recall in my day they where a $1 and well.. you get what you pay for. The schools have tried to improve and make more healthy options. Of course moms lunch is always going to be better. Packing 3 lunches a night for children with different request can be a bit daunting but doable!
I LOVE my kids lunch boxes its easy and fun. laptop lunch boxes are well worth the purchase. I try to cover the basics with lunch while making it fun & healthy at the same time. Protein, fruit/vegetable & grains and the occasional treat are the basics here. I am lucky that my kids see fruits or fruit leathers as treats and they are not expecting twinkies.
Now packing lunches if well planned can be a very smooth process. I like to plan a few days in advance and I like to cook things in groups for example I might make banana muffins, banana waffles, banana leathers and banana pudding all at once to use up bananas. Now I wouldn't want to over kill them on bananas all in one week so I think about things that freeze well to. I also know that kids bore easily with the same old sandwiches and salads so I try to think of new things. Sandwich's can be very versatile make them on bread, pancakes, waffles, wraps, pitas, english muffins, bagels etc. You can change up salads to My husbands makes an awesome cilantro lime dressing which is wonderful on spinach salad with craisens. YUM. My older daughter loves Cesar salad. Just take a walk through your produce section and inspiration will find you.