Oh Wednesday

I am not sure what it is about Wednesdays. They often end up being the most trying day of the week. Maybe it is because it is mid week for some of the kids and the start of the week for others. Maybe it is because there is no play school to break up the day. I haven't figured out exactly what it is yet, but I do know that often Wednesdays are the hardest day of the week.
This Wednesday was no exception. There was a higher level of pouting, whining, grabbing and yelling going on, and that was just me. I am mostly kidding. Twice we had to have group time outs to help us all refocus (including me) and have little discussion. Discussion #1 - being nice to our friends. Discussion #2 - When Sam says "Time to clean up then come up for lunch", Sam means clean the #@!* up. * disclaimer - no children were cursed at.*  . Looking back at the day I can now see ways I could have aided in the day going smoother. I have been slacking on crafts and activities, which I am sure would have been a godsend today. Even better I could have have gotten my sorry arse organized and taken them outside. Honestly, thought of bundling them all up to go outside gives my a severe case of anxiety. It takes a good 30 minutes and a Valium to get them out the door. It ends in me sweating, someone crying because their scarf is laying at a 47 degree angle when it NEEDS to be at a 45 degree angle and inevitably, someone poops. Of course once we get outside half of them have a blast, one cries because they have snow on their boot, someone else wants to be picked up the whole time, and one wants to back inside. I swear, in the summer we live outside, it is much easier to slather on some sunscreen and slide them out the door.
Okay, enough ranting. On to better and happier things.
First, today is a leap year! Leap year happens to be my momma's birthday. Happy 15th Birthday Mom!!
Second, today was the first installment of Waffle Wednesday!! Typically I have been doing pancakes on Wednesdays but decided to switch it up. I live on the wild side, hold on tight!
Today because the kids drove me bonkers I tried to make peace by making these deliciously sinful looking waffles. Of course because I had 7 kids pulling at my pant leg and ready to chew my leg of if I didn't feed them within 2 minutes, I had to simplify the recipe. Even with my modifications they were amazing. So much flavor, fluffy, so so so good. You should go make them. Now. Wait, stop!! Better read my adaptation of the recipe! *note: lunch time here can be a little chaotic to put it mildly. The kiddos were not patient enough to let me take a picture of the waffles I made, but trust me when I say they looked exactly like the ones pictured on the link. Minus the nuts. And the cream cheese. ;-)

Carrot Cake Waffles

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons of Epicure Apple Pie Spice

2 teaspoons of Epicure Maple Spice Fruit Dip

1 3/4 cups buttermilk

2 eggs seperated

4 tablespoons - melted

1/2 teaspoon Epicure vanilla extract

1 cup raisins

1 1/2 cup finely grated carrots

Cooking spray for waffle iron 

Mix together the flour, salt, sugar, baking soda and spices.

Mix together the butter milk, egg yolks, butter, and vanilla

Add dry mix to wet and combine

Whip your egg whites with a electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter then add your carrots and raisins (walnuts too if using, i didn't because a couple of kiddos have texture issues when I put nuts in things)

Ladle a little over 1/2 a cup of batter into your hot waffle iron and cook about 3-4 minutes or until done. 

As a mentioned before, the texture of these waffles were amazing! Next time I definitely want to "bloom" the spices as she does with the original and I WILL be making that cream cheese.

Sweet dreams everyone!