Morning Sunshine

Two and a half is in full swing in our household, leaving me feeling silly about this post where I went on about how wonderful the two's were.  It's good that I was so positive.  But now, "things" have gotten more complicated.  Instead of waking up joyful and ready to play, lately my sunny boy has been cranky and irritated.

All week long the first hour of our day has included yelling (him, not me), demanding one thing after the next in rapid succession and threats of the dreaded "time out."  He says "no" to everything, even to things he actually wants!

Thank goodness for waffles and distraction tactics.  He really likes to watch the red button on the waffle machine and tell me when it turns green.  It seems to hold the same excitement as waiting for the train.  He likes that waffles are versatile and he gets to choose between plain, spread with sun butter, jam or drizzled with syrup.

photo taken during happy moment 

It's hard to describe the semi-insanity of parenting a toddler full-time.  I've had some pretty tough days where I catch myself staring in the mirror wondering if I'm qualified for this job.  Roman bounces back quickly, but I'm the one who can't quite shake the after effects of one of his full blown temper tantrums in the streets of NYC.  It's quite clear that Roman is not about to put out a classified ad for a new mom, and maybe it's my cooking skills that save me.

These waffles have a combination of white and wheat flours, coarse bran, hazelnut flour, pear- all of the things I tend to put in most muffins or pancakes that we eat around here.  Perhaps because Roman has never had conventional white flour waffles, he doesn't know the difference and he loves these.  Or maybe it's just that they're that much more delicious.  Whatever it is, it's nice to have one thing I can count on in the morning to spread a little sunshine.  I know, I know, 3 is going to be even harder. 

Hazelnut Pear Wholegrain Waffles

Based on this recipe on Allrecipes.com

Makes about 4 large, depending on the size of your waffle maker

2 eggs

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup white flour

3/4 cup wholewheat flour

1/4 cup wheatgerm or coarse bran

1/4 cup ground hazelnut or almond flour

1/4 cup ground flax seeds

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 teaspoons baking powder

one pear, peeled and grated

In a small bowl combine the first four wet ingredients.  In a larger bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.  Combine the wet and the dry, fold in the grated pear and make the waffles according to your machine's instructions.