With Chinese new year celebration, Valentine’s day and my birthday coming up…it’s been a busy month in our household. Justice wrote his first Valentine’s cards for his friends in his class and it was the cutest thing. I loved receiving a little something from my friends back in school. It warmed my heart. And I want to make my little guy feel special as well on Valentine’s Day.

Here’s what I made for him for breakfast. He loves getting a surprise breakfast like this just as much as I love making it for him.

How to make this Valentine’s Day breakfast

I used a fluffy pancake recipe then made the batch ahead of time. In order to use the cookie cutters to cut the shapes. I froze the pancakes in the freezer ahead of time. Once they are frozen, it was a lot easier to cut them into different shapes including small pieces like the hearts.

After all the pieces were cut, I wrapped them back up in Saran Wrap and put them back to the freezer until next morning to assemble.

Prepping ahead of the time really helps me as we all know time is usually rushed in the morning with kids at home….I was a little disappointed that we ran out of strawberries at home (like how could I let that happen??). I had to improvise and use strawberry rhubarb jam to create little blobs of hearts and eyes because it was lacking some colours.

For the ears and mouth, I used Nutella mixed with a bit of milk so that I got the thinner consistency to draw in.

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And that’s it!

Hope y’all have a happy valentine’s day!

Happy New Year everyone!

I can't believe another year has gone by so quickly. I took a week off from work to just snuggle at home away from the cold for the holiday. And even though, I've been eating 'til my belly drop almost every day but that's still not enough to stop me from whipping up new recipes in my kitchen. If you're curious about what I've made in the past, you can check out my homemade holiday goodies here and here.

For some reasons, my craving for sweet stuffs gets more serious when I'm on holiday. So, I took a look at my pantry and used what I have on hand to create this holiday guilty pleasure.

Let's get started!

{Recipe} - Chocolate Chips Waffle with Caramelized Pears

Ingredients 

• 2 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp white sugar
• 1 3/4 cups milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 pear*
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

*  I used Asian pear because that's what I had on hand.  Asian pear is less sweet and is crispier in texture. You could use another type of pear of your choice.

Instructions 

{Waffle}

1. Preheat waffle iron
2. Beat eggs in large bowl with electric mixer until fluffy
3. Add in milk, oil, sugar, baking powder, and salt
4. Sift and add in flour
5. Beat all ingredients until smooth
6. Fold in chocolate chips
7. Spray preheated waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray
8. Pour mixture onto waffle iron
9. Cook until golden brown

{Caramelized Pears}

1. Cut pear into 1/4 inch thick wedge form
2. Melt butter in frying pan over medium heat
3. Sprinkle brown sugar over top until bubbling and melted, approximately 3 minutes
4. Add in lemon juice
5. Add sliced pears 
6. Sprinkle cinnamon on top
7. Cook and stir until mixture is caramelized or until pears are soft
8. Pour over hot waffles

These are so easy to make. The batter can be made ahead and kept in the fridge as well.

Happy 2017!

I’m linking this project up at some terrific blog parties – you can find my complete list of places I party HERE.