Blueberry Waffles

Waffles are for sunny mornings, or mornings I wish were sunny. Blueberries make waking up a little easier, and flaxseeds make me feel better about pouring maple syrup over everything. Omega-3s, y'all.

My breakfast simply isn't breakfast unless I have coffee. If I don't have coffee, it's naptime at precisely 2:00PM. My breakfast is a better breakfast if it has crispy-tender-fruity waffles.


Real. Maple. Syrup. It's the only way. If I'm going to pour liquid sugar over my breakfast treat, I want it to come from a tree.


Waffles can be easy. Flour, buttermilk, eggs, ground flaxseed (optional), sugar, baking soda, salt, blueberries, melted butter, and vanilla extract.


Dry ingredients get a gentle mixin' just to distribute everything.


I really love egg yolks. For realz. I just think they're really pretty. And the fresher the egg the prettier the yolk. Which reminds me that I need to go buy some farm-fresh eggs ASAP.


I also love the way milk and eggs mix together. Is that weird? I'm going with no, but I'm probably not the best gauge.
 
We're so close to having waffles! Gently mix the wet and dry ingredients together. Lumps are totally acceptable in this situation.


And the real star: blueberries. Just fold them in a bit. Heat your waffle iron and brush with a little vegetable oil. I like to use a 1/2 cup as a scoop. I took pictures of this step, but quite frankly I didn't like the looks of any of them. There's no big secret to this. Scoop the batter into the hot waffle iron and close the lid. Like really close it. I didn't have the top down all the way on my first couple of waffles and they came out a little soggy. So just make sure it's on there tight.


And a few minutes later you have a crispy waffle with a tender middle. The blueberries might make a little mess, but what's life or breakfast without a little mess?

And for that matter, what's a waffle without syrup and butter? It's a sad waffle, that's what it is. That waffle you see there? A happy waffle. A supremely happy waffle.

There may have been a time I would've been concerned that I give waffles feelings and share that with the world. To be clear, I've always ascribed human feelings/traits to inanimate objects and most especially food. That's not new. I just don't mind y'all knowing about it. The Internet lowers inhibitions, y'all!

Blueberry Waffles (amount may vary depending on your waffle maker ---I got 6 from mine)

Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens

1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
2 tbs sugar
1-2 tbs ground flaxseed (optional)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 c buttermilk
1/2 c butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pint blueberries, rinsed and picked over
Vegetable oil, for brushing

• In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, flaxseed, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 
• In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs just to break them up a bit. Stir in the buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla extract.
• Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in egg mixture. Gently stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until dry ingredients have been moistened by the egg mixture. The batter will be lumpy and that's just dandy. Gently fold in the blueberries.
• Heat your waffle maker according to its instructions. Brush with oil and pour in between 1/3 and 1/2 cups of batter. Don't overfill the waffle maker, so if you need to use less, use less. Firmly close the waffle maker and cook until golden brown. Repeat with the remaining batter until you have a mound of beautiful waffles. 
• Serve with pure maple syrup or a dusting of powdered sugar. Bacon is recommended.

Blueberry Buttermilk Cinnamon Rolls

I am evidently on a breakfast kick. I do that sometimes, get really into certain foods for a while. Like the spinach smoothies I've been making for weeks (promise, you can't taste the spinach!). One time I went on a ham sandwich bender. And lately I've had a MAJOR sweet tooth. Maj.

Breakfast is my favorite meal by far. Well, brunch really is because when you can get shrimp and grits and muffins in the same meal I'm there with bells on. I tend to gravitate towards sweets when I'm eating a big breakfast...with a side of bacon or sausage. See, that's another thing I love about breakfast. You can get all the important foods: pig, dessert, fruit (sometimes), butter, and bread. At any rate, cinnamon rolls rank right up there with my preferred breakfast foods. Right under French toast.

Cinnamon Toast Popcorn

This list makes me glad my mom never listened to me when I wanted to get a Glamour Shot made. I was a very...theatrical child, so it made perfect sense that I would want to play dress-up and get my picture taken. My mother is a wise woman.

Fried Green Tomatoes

Have you ever seen the movie Fried Green Tomatoes? I saw it once when I was young, probably around 9 years old. It's haunted me ever since. I won't spoil any plot points (mostly because it's all sort of fuzzy now) but don't even think of watching this movie if you don't have a full box of tissues and access to a puppy to cheer you up after watching.

Actual fried green tomatoes are much less sad. In fact, I would go so far as to call them joyful. At least that's how I felt as I was eating 7 of them. The secret is double battering the slices in a cornmeal-flour mixture. And hot sauce-laced buttermilk never hurt. Let's get to it.

Buttermilk Dinner Biscuits

Y'all, a bird scared the bejeesus out of me the other day.  See, we've had such a mild winter and beautiful, warm weather lately, so the wildlife has started to return to my backyard.  The little lizards are figuring out the porch, and the birds are darting back and forth between the bushes.  Except I think two of them were fighting.  Or heaven forbid, mating.  It looked like a fight, so we'll go with that.  Anyway, these two birds were flying at each other and then they were flying at the porch and BAM!  One of them hit the screen, and I almost spit coffee everywhere.