A Taste of Fall

I have a new favorite recipe. PUMPKIN WAFFLES! My friend Amber and I have been getting together to try new recipes, and this was one we just HAD to try yesterday. And boy am I glad that we did. We both grew up in places with four seasons, and this triple-digit heat is not cutting it as Fall. So we decided to bring Fall to us. We got this recipe from the Smitten Kitchen. I invite you to bring fall to your kitchen with this delicious recipe.

Pumpkin Waffles
Adapted from several sources

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
4 large eggs, separated
2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil for brushing waffle iron or cooking spray

Preheat oven to 250°F and preheat waffle iron. Sift together flour, brown sugar, baking powder and soda, salt, and spices. Whisk egg yolks in a large bowl with buttermilk, pumpkin, and butter until smooth. Whisk in dry ingredients just until combined.

In a mixing bowl with a whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites until they hold soft peaks (as in, far softer than the over-beaten whites you’ll see in my picture above). Folk them gently into the waffle batter, until just combined.

Brush waffle iron lightly with oil and spoon batter (about 2 cups for four 4-inch Belgian waffles) into waffle iron, spreading quickly. Cook according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Transfer waffles to rack in oven to keep warm and crisp. Make more waffles in same manner.

(Side notes: We had to make some substitutions. I didn't have cloves, so we used nutmeg instead. Mmm! It was a perfect spice blend. I didn't have buttermilk on hand either, so I made sour milk by combining 2 T. lemon juice with enough milk to make 2 cups. Let that sit for about 5 minutes. (The ratio is 1 T. lemon juice or vinegar to enough milk to make 1 cup.) And not that we had to make this substitution, but we decided to use 1 c. of wheat flour with 1 1/2 c. white flour. So good!)

If I had thought about it before we ate it all, I would have taken pictures of our Fall flavors. So you'll just have to imagine, or check out the tantalizing pics on the SK website. Oh, and while you're imagining our plates with scrumptious pumpkin waffles, imagine those golden waffles with plump ruby raspberries dressing up the plate. So pretty and so very tasty!

Enjoy!

9 months ... and teething!

Eva is 9 months old now. And she is teething. I almost want to end this post right there because that pretty much sums it all up. I thought she had been teething before (like since 4 months), which she may have had little spurts here and there. But NOTHING like what she is going through now. It's hard to see our happy-go-lucky little girl so sad and upset and know that there isn't much more that we can do for her than hold her and give her a little medicine here and there. Perhaps the best part from all of this has been that she has been super cuddly with Kyle. He eats it up. :) Eva loves to be held and soothed by her daddy right now. It's really sweet. Sad that she's sad, but still sweet to see her love her dad so much.

Other than that, Eva is healthy and growing on target. She is now 18 lbs 1 oz. I forgot what her other measurements were, but her head is in the 75th percentile and her weight and height are in the 25th percentile. That's where she has been all along. To give you an idea of her height now, she is longer than my torso. She probably is just about as tall as me from head to waist. My prediction is she'll be taller than me. And I will continue the tradition of being the shortest person in the family. (on all sides, mind you.) She loves to read, chase the dog, pull on the dog's ears, babble, walk holding on to our hands, pull on our ears, turn things around in her hands (as if she is examining objects on all sides. very funny to watch), mimic us or have us mimic her, play peek-a-boo, splash in the water, go for walks/jogs in her stroller, play with her friends Rell and Abby, explore, smile and squeal at other kids and babies (it's hard to keep her quiet and still in church because of this), and sitting in the shopping cart like big kids. She doesn't like teething!, strangers, getting dressed, wearing shoes, or being left alone (unless she is tired and in her own bed).

So here is to her teething being done REALLY SOON! And for her having a full set of teeth when it's all over! (one, because with all the pain she is going through there better be a full set of teeth. and two, because we're not sure we can handle doing this all over again, especially when she's getting molars. yikes!)

Love you, Eva!

Where Did They All Go?

Eva has been working on her self-feeding skills. And she really has come a long way.

She can now pick little things up with much more ease and realizes that they're in her hand and haven't just disappeared. But for the longest time, she wouldn't put what she picked up in her mouth. 

Let me clarify that...she wouldn't put any FOOD items in her mouth. :)

I thought this was rather curious since she put everything else under the sun in her mouth.

This past week and half, however, she has started putting the food in her mouth that she picks up.

Kyle and I were excited for her and quite surprised at how well she was doing because every time we looked back at her, the food would be gone and she would be chewing/mushing.

Little did we know that her bib was actually getting more food than she was.

Those are champagne grapes in case you were wondering.

In spite of the lack of food reaching her mouth from her own hands, she is a very happy baby and very determined. She's not camera shy either. ;)

Love this little girl!

Look at her! Standing all on her own!

She has even started taking steps on her own. So fun!