In my teenage years, my Dad (my Popsie) did most of the cooking in our home. Even though he wasn’t much of a cook, he always tried his best. We usually ate the same five dinner dishes, which he perfected, on rotation. Aside from dinner repetition, the one meal time he always did really well, was breakfast. To this day, I still use updated versions of his granola recipe (coming here soon) and his apple cider porridge (his snow day specialty). The breakfast he made best though, was waffles!
My family was pretty routine oriented growing up. We still laugh about certain family member’s general dislike of change. So, it was only natural that every Saturday morning growing up, my Dad made us waffles for breakfast. This was a family tradition we all enjoyed – the adults and myself, as waffles were quite a treat in our house. We ate very healthy all week, with very little sugar, so waffle weekends were sometimes wild with maple or fruit syrups.
For Valentine’s Day this year, I have company staying with me for the weekend, so I decided to create a breakfast board fitting of the holiday of hearts. My Dad’s waffles will be the star (or the heart!) of the breakfast board.
While I’m usually not one to purchase single-use appliances, I couldn’t pass up the cuteness of the Dash mini heart waffle maker (image above). Dash mini appliances come in different colours and are so small they are portable - I just love them (this is not an ad)! There are regular single waffle irons, griddles, grills and egg cookers. They would be perfect for dorm rooms, small space living or even glamping!
While I chose to keep my Valentine’s Day Breakfast Board simple, with only waffles and fruit, you can make yours as big or as small as you need, adding any breakfast items or sides that you and your family love – eggs, muffins, pancakes, cut tomatoes, bacon and sausages, it’s up to you!
I hope you and yours have a heart-filled Valentine’s Day full of all the breakfast board foods you love!
Enjoy,
Krista xo
Valentine’s Day Breakfast Board & Popsie’s Waffles
Ingredients
For My Popsie’s Waffles
serves 3-4 people , or makes 25 mini heart waffles
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 eggs, beaten until fluffy
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
Method
In a large bowl, add flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir to incorporate ingredients. Make a well in centre of the dry ingredients.
In a separate bowl, whisk eggs until frothy. Gently mix in milk and melted butter.
Pour liquid mixture into the dry ingredient mixture's well. Whisk until just mixed.
Pre-heat waffle maker (the Dash mini heart waffle maker heats up in 1-2 minutes).
If using the Dash, spray irons with a non-stick spray and fill hot waffle iron with one small cookie scoop of batter (about 1 heaping tablespoon) and cook for 1 minute or until the light on the waffle maker goes out, waffles will be golden brown. *All waffle irons will vary in amounts of batter used and cooking times.
Place cooked waffles on a cooling rack on top of a sheet pan. Keep them warm in a 200 degree oven until ready to eat.
In addition to the mini heart waffles, I decided to continue the Valentine’s Day heart shaped theme throughout my entire Valentine’s Day Breakfast Board. I used heart shaped cookie cutters of various sizes to create a de-constructed fruit salad & side dish of heart shaped applewood smoked bacon pieces.
For The De-Constructed Heart-Shaped Fruit Salad
Here is a list of fruit, easily cut into different sized heart shapes with cookie cutters (wash all fruit first):
2 bananas, peeled, sliced and then cut with cookie cutter
1 pint strawberries, stems removed, halved and then cut with cookie cutter
2 blood oranges, peels & pith removed, heart shape cut and then sliced
2 tangerines, peels & pith removed, heart shape cut and then sliced
1 grapefruit, peels & pith removed, heart shape cut and then sliced
5 figs, halved, heart shape cut
*red plums would be great here as well
For The Applewood Smoked Bacon Side (use thick slices)
Cook bacon according to your usual preferred method (I'm really liking the oven baking method at the moment). Allow bacon to cool slightly, then using a sharp cookie cutter or knife, cut heart shapes.
Recipe Notes
*It’s okay if you don’t have a heart shaped waffle maker, you can use this recipe to make regular waffle iron waffles (which we had growing up), or if you are set on hearts, you could make waffles and then cut out heart shapes with a big cookie cutter.
* These waffles freeze well, so they are an excellent option for a make ahead Breakfast Board. This gives you time to work on sides or other items that need to be made right before serving!
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