Belgian Waffles

adapted from Simple Daily Recipes

INGREDIENTS
2 eggs, room temp
1 cup milk
4 Tbsp oil
2 tsp butter vanilla baking emulsion
1 cup cake flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 Tbsp sugar

DIRECTIONS

Separate the yolk from the whites of your room temperature eggs.

Combine yolks with milk, oil, and vanilla emulsion. Beat until combined. Set aside.

In a clean metal or glass bowl, whip egg whites until stiff peak stage. A KitchenAid is your best friend for this. Reserve one quarter cup of stiff egg whites.

Turn on waffle maker to let it come to temperature.

In a medium sized bowl, thoroughly combine flour, baking powder, kosher salt, and sugar. Whisk in your wet ingredients, until mixture is homogenous. Slacken batter with 1/4 of egg whites, then carefully fold in the rest.

Fill waffle iron according to the directions, and bake in iron until it has reached the desired color. No one likes to clean up the mess of an overfilled waffle iron.

When you have approximately 1/4 of your batter remaining, gently fold in the remaining quarter cup of stiff egg whites. The last bit of batter is never quite as fluffy as the begging of the batch, and this has prevented me from having the dreaded waffle iron mess.

Serve with your favorite waffle toppings, and enjoy!

Ever have those moments when you see something that would make all of your childhood dreams come true, but you recognize that you're an adult and don't actually need that dream to come true? Well that was me with this Mickey Mouse Waffle Maker… and I resisted, until they came back in stock and my favorite Disney Instagrammer was like, "they're baaaaack!" Well friends, I don't regret the decision because this waffle iron has several settings, and a super even heating element. It's just pure quality… especially with this waffle recipe.
I didn't take very long searching for the perfect recipe. And then I was committed to making waffles, even though we didn't have regular flour OR vanilla extract, but the adjustments to the recipe are now necessary. Cake flour is a little sweeter, and much lighter, and Butter Vanilla Baking Emulsion is HEAVEN SENT. The trick of setting aside some of the stiff egg whites has also been loads of help, because the batter tends to be denser, and will just ooze out like lava if you don't have set it aside to add later.

Rainbow Chip Cake Mix Cookies

INGREDIENTS
1 box Betty Crocker Rainbow Chip Cake Mix
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 jar Betty Crocker Rainbow Chip Frosting

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Prepare cookie sheet with parchment paper or silpat, then set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs in the oil. In a medium bowl, whisk the rainbow chip cake mix to break up any lumps. Then dump the eggs/oil on top, and mix until combined.

Using a small cookie scoop, scoop out the dough, and place at least 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 9-10 minutes, remove from oven and allow to cool for 2-3 minutes on the cookie sheet. Transfer from cookie sheet to cooling rack, and let come to just above room temperature.

Frost cooled cookies with your Rainbow Chip Frosting, and then have at it!

Fried Chicken Bites

INGREDIENTS
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons pepper
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup flour
Oil

DIRECTIONS
Cut chicken into 2-inch pieces, and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, combine egg, salt, pepper, and 1 tablespoon oil and mix well; and add chicken.
In a separate bowl, combine the cornstarch, and flour.

Heat about 1/2 inch of oil in a skillet, over medium heat (to about 375* F).
Carefully dredge the egg covered chicken in the cornstarch/flour mixture, and shake off excess.
Add chicken in small batches, and fry 3 to 4 minutes or until golden and crisp.
Remove chicken from oil with slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
Then enjoy!

In high school, my favorite thing to get for lunch was 2 chicken tenders, and a 2 "potato logs" with lots of ranch from the LCL gas station. I'm 99% sure that they must have laced their ranch with heroin because I would just CRAVE those chicken tenders, and this is coming from a girl that hates breading on meat. I hate breading so much that I literally threw up the chicken parmesan a boyfriend spent hours making for a romantic dinner because I couldn't handle it.
Anyway, I was making Orange Chicken to celebrate the fact that we got custody of my niece, and as I was frying up the chicken for the Orange Chicken, I decided to taste test what I had so far, and I found the answer to my LCL chicken prayers, and these super simple Fried Chicken Bites were born.
Now all I need is some of that ranch in the tiny little cups, and my life will be complete!