This was a crazy, awesome weekend. It was my baby girl’s 1st birthday. I can’t even believe she’s one. My, how the time flies… She had a great time. Playing with friends, eating cake, spending time with Papa. This weekend definitely wore all of us out!
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| I’m not sure who was more excited for Little Bee’s birthday! Sibling love. 🙂 |
Such a great weekend. Couldn’t have asked for better weather either! It was pretty toasty but not raining or cloudy. I’ll take it!
I was thinking about what recipe I was going to post today as I was dozing off last night. I have decided I’m going to share more of an idea, and less of a recipe. With the 4th of July coming up, what better way than to start a new tradition with Red, White and Blue Waffles?!
There is a backstory to these, which I feel somewhat compelled to tell you. At summer camp in the northwoods of Wisconsin, one of our traditions was a cake decorating contest. Each cabin received a giant yellow sheet cake, and bowls of red, white and blue frosting. The goal was to create the best looking, festive, 4th of July cake. What actually happened, however, was a giant frosting fight. Not one single person in the entire camp escaped unscathed from the wrath of 100+ young girls with frosting as weapons. And on the loudspeakers of the lodge was none other than the song capturing the spirit of the day, American Pie by Don McLean. It was a super fun tradition, and I’m sure it has held up at camp to this day!
I have been waiting for the appropriate time to introduce my kids to this ridiculous ritual and activity, and last year, after having a one week old baby, I thought “what better time than now?!” But I had to create a somewhat healthier version of it since my kids are still really little. Enter waffles… Same excitement and fun activity, slightly healthier and much less messy (…for now).
Mmmm…
Red, White and Blue Waffles
Ingredients
- Strawberries
- Blueberries
- Cool-Whip (or whipped cream, or white frosting)
- Red food coloring
- Blue food coloring
- Waffles!!!
- YouTube or CD of American Pie by Don McLean to play in the background
(I know, I know… food coloring… full of chemicals and cancer-causing dyes. But it’s once or twice a year that we ingest this stuff, right?)
Directions
Make waffles either from scratch or from a mix. While the waffles are cooking in the waffle iron, assemble the fixin’s!
Wash the fruit, slice the strawberries.
Put about a cup (less or more, to taste) of Cool Whip in three separate bowls. To one of them, add a few drops of red food coloring. Mix until completely combined. Add more as necessary to create red topping.
To another bowl of Cool Whip, add blue food coloring and do the same. Add more as necessary.
Top waffles with whatever you’d like, in any combination you’d like. I tried to make mine look like a flag. It was a big of a disaster. Boo did a great job with his. But my husband is the Grand Prize winner. He took far too much time decorating (in my opinion) but his was by far the prettiest!
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| Assembling Red, White and Blue Waffles! |
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| The “perfect” waffle. |
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| Dig in! |
I hope you enjoy this fun mess! It’s delicious, not horribly unhealthy, and a fun way to start the 4th of July festivities. 🙂 Then on to the cookouts and barbecues!
Aside from birthdays and waffles, I’ve been trying to keep up with my training just in case I decide to run a fall half marathon. There’s one I’ve been eyeing but with this impeding move (?) I don’t know if it’s wise to sign up or not. It has been hot and humid, too. Somehow I’ve been keeping excellent time despite the weather, and I’ve felt great. I much prefer the heat and humidity to the cold. I’ll take it over winter any day!
That’s all from here, friends. I hope you have a great day and week!!
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How was your weekend? Did you run any races or have any big family events?
If you’re a runner, have you begun training for a big fall race? How’s it going?
