Favorite Things - In the Kitchen

We've been chugging at life around here.  It's been nice and busy.  Jeff's been out of town a ton and Noah and I have been having fun cooking and making pretend pancakes after work and school... that is until our oven broke.  What a bummer that is.  I didn't even realize how much I used the oven until I actually needed it.  And for the best mom of the year award, I sort of  forgot all about it and broke Noah's heart after watching an episode of Mikey.  It was O'Toodles' birthday and Minny Mouse made him a strawberry cake with fresh strawberries on top.  Of course I thought how awesome would it be if we also made a version of that.  I looked up a recipe for vanilla cupcakes that I was going to top with strawberries Jeff had just picked up, I was so excited, told Noah all about it... and bam, I remembered we don't even have a working oven!  What a bummer.  They're coming to fix it next week, and what a long week it's going to be. Until then I've been trying to figure out other recipes to make on the stove top; something new we haven't tried yet.

For breakfast I've been obsessed with waffles lately and need to figure out how to switch it up a little.  We make normal buttermilk waffles out of a box which is super fast and convenient but after looking at Pinterest I feel like we're missing out on some cool combinations.  I've always loved churros; I look for them everywhere I go and these churro waffles are no different.  I can't imagine they're the healthiest but put some fruit on top and your all set, right...?  Or even better, how about some Nutella stuffed waffles?  I'm drooling already.  If there is something Noah will eat every single time, it's waffles and you can never get bored of waffles with all these options.

For dinner, some awesome stove-top options I've found are this cheesy enchilada rice skillet.  What kid doesn't like cheese and rice?  and really, it looks super easy as you can put it all in one pan.  I'm thinking thought to make it a nice full meal it needs a little chicken, so I'll be adding that in when I make it this week.  A couple more of my favorite recipes are the Avocado, White Bean Tacos for a nice meatless option, and Teriyaki Meatballs & Rice.  A favorite at our house.

Finally, I'll leave you guys with a couple new Noah pictures, because no post is complete without that.  Noah's favorite thing to do in the kitchen, other that pull up his stool and help mommy cook, of course, has been taking selfies, turning on some music "weally loud", and watching old videos on the phone.  This kid is getting way too old too fast.  Jeff told me last night if I'm finally starting to get sad about Noah growing up then maybe we're ready for another baby... Ya right, I'll never be ready for another one.  Why can't we just fast forward to toddler life?