Mashed Potato, Cheddar, & Chive Waffles

(Oh my glory these are good! Stole this from Joy the Baker)

Ingredients
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
2 cups mashed potatoes
2 tablespoons chopped chives
2 Tbsp real bacon bits
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup grated cheddar cheese (or any good mix. I used a good Mexican blend)

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium-low or medium heat.  As the butter melts it will begin to crackle and pop.  That’s the water evaporating out of the butter.  Continue to cook the butter until the crackling subsides and the butter begins to brown a bit.  The butter will smell nutty.  Immediately transfer the browned butter into a medium bowl.

Whisk in buttermilk and eggs until thoroughly combined.  Add the mashed potatoes, bacon bits, and 2 tablespoons chives and gently stir to combine.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.  Use a spoon to mix until all of the flour is thoroughly combined.  Try not to overmix the batter.  Just stir it until the flour is combined.

Heat a waffle iron to high and grease if necessary.

Dollop batter (about 1/4 cup per waffle) into the waffle iron.  Cook until golden on each side.  The amount of time depends on your waffle iron.  3-5 minutes or so?

Remove waffles from the iron and place on a cooling rack to rest.  The cooling rack will keep the waffles from getting soggy on the bottom as they cool.

Just before serving the waffles, turn oven to the broiler setting.  Place waffles on a baking sheet and top with cheddar cheese.  Place waffles under the broiler until cheese is melted, about 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Dinner Plans

I've not been here in quite some time. And I've been eating horribly the last few weeks. I have to get back to cooking, eating better, and paying better attention to my health.

For right now, I figured I'd at least use this to list my plans for dinners. We'll see how long that lasts. But I can post any new recipes I use as I use them. I'm hoping this will also help me be a bit more intentional about what I'm cooking/eating.

Friday
Steak and mushroom kabobs. I'm either going to use a Middle Eastern marinade that I tried on lamb a few weeks ago (really good, but I didn't get a real lamby taste, and beef is cheaper) or I'll try a coffee and ancho chili powder rub. I'll likely serve that over basmati.

Saturday
Billy's broccoli rigatoni

Sunday
Kotwal Indian chicken curry

Monday
I'll likely have enough left overs to just do left overs

Tuesday
Thai spicy green beans

Wednesday
Likely left over Thai spicy green beans

Thursday
Spaghetti. I bought garlic spinach chicken sausage and I think I'll brown that up and throw in a jar of spaghetti sauce and a few aromatics, etc. Maybe over spinach pasta.

Cooking Plans

I've been trying to cook more lately, in part because I found myself eating horrible food on campus at the student union way too often. I fell off that particular wagon a few weeks ago, so I'm trying to get back to it. I'm back to making steel cut oats for breakfasts and I'd like to get back into eating salads for lunch. But I want to cook decent dinners. This week, I'm thinking about

1. The Pioneer Woman's Heavenly Hummus Wraps
2. Chicken Stir-fry lettuce wraps (from delish.com)
3. Sizzling Fajitas from Smitten Kitchen (with steak)

and maybe
4. The Pioneer Woman's Chicken Mozzarella Pasta

Paella

In the description of this blog I say that I want to learn how to make things like paella. Well, I tried making paella, but it didn't quite work. I didn't check the serving size and it was this HUGE batch and I didn't have a pan big enough to get it all crispy on the bottom. It was basically spanish-style jambalaya. Tasty, and I made my own saffron rice, but not really paella. I'll try it again, though.

Tonight I'm making risotto, I think. Beej is out with some friends and, although I can't understand this, he doesn't like risotto. I haven't made it in at least a year, maybe 2, so we'll see how it goes, but it's still cold this week and it sounds good.

More cooking

I'm not much for New Year's resolutions, but it is a good time to think about some goals. So yeah, I guess those are like resolutions. Anyway, this year I'd like to cook a bit healthier, so I bought two healthier cooking cookbooks and I'm going to work through some of those recipes. I'll try to remember to post recipes here. I also just want, in general, to cook more, and to cook more kinds of food. I'm not as picky as I used to be, but there are still a number of things I'm not a big fan of. I don't like beans, except steamed green beans. No cooked or refried beans, and I'm not a fan of cream sauce (like alfredo), and I hate chicken eggs. So sometimes it's a bit tricky in terms of new recipes. I tend toward Italian, chicken, somewhat spicy, etc. I've been working on an Indian curry and  I think I'm close to a recipe I like, so I'll post that next time I make it. I'd like to try making paella, too. Neither of these things is particularly healthier, but I'm not going to be all strict about that.

Right now, though, I have a terrible cold. If I had the car, I'd likely run get stuff for chicken noodle soup, but i don't, and I feel cruddy, so I've just been making miso. Salty, but good.

Anyway, keep an eye out for a few new recipes.