It’s hard to believe that Summer is almost at its end and that Fall is just around the corner. I’m not quite ready to wave adieu to warm, sunny days, melons of every variety or ice-cold drinks, but I am looking forward to all the changes Autumn brings. Cool breezes heavy with the scent of fallen leaves, apple picking and warming drinks like homemade pumpkin spice and honey-vanilla lattes. Yes, I’m looking forward to those - not to mention meeting my new students as classes begin and I switch back into teacher mode.

The breakfast in this post is, I think you will agree, very summery - light, refreshing, colorful. Basic waffles embellished with a topping of strawberries and cream is an easy way to dress up your breakfast table (or even the dessert table, I love breakfast for dinner!). It will tickle your tongue with its buttery flavor and delight the eyes with vibrant hues of red berries against white whipped cream. Tomorrow is the first day (of my last year!) in graduate school, and it’ll be back to my Kashi ‘Heart to Heart’ cereal for breakfast - all the more reason to indulge in waffles like this today.

I discovered something when I began writing this entry: this is my 100th post on Baking and Books! I thought it’d be nice to commemorate this milestone by highlighting my 10 favorite posts in the past 100. You can see all of the recipes that have been posted on Baking and Books in the Recipe Index - and here’s to another 100 posts to come!

• T Minus 20 Hours
• Rick Bayless’ Arroz Con Leche
• Simplicity 48 Hours in the Making
• Sweet Madeleines & A Honey-Vanilla Latte
• Hazelnut Raspberry Cake
• Dumph Noodle Anyone?
• Caramelized Onion & Spinach (Stuffed) Pizza Pie
• Foggy Day Chili and Farm Stand Cornbread
• Baked Sandwich Surprise
• Coffee-Glazed Chocolate Chip Scones & Iced Cardamom Coffee

September’s giveaway features two copies of The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry, by Kathleen Flinn. August’s winner has been posted on the giveaway page, where you can learn more about this monthly event.

Basic Waffles
From the Good Enough to Eat Breakfast Cookbook by Carrie Levin.
Ingredients: Makes 5 large waffles

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons wheat germ
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups whole or 2% milk
• 6 tablespoons melted butter (reserve 1 tbs to brush on waffle iron)

Preheat the waffle iron (check the manufacturer’s setting and adjust according to how well done you like your waffles). Using a fork, cut the dry ingredients together thoroughly in a large bowl. Beat the eggs, milk and lemon zest together with a fork or whisk and pour into the dry ingredients. Mix together with the fork until there are no large clumps, but as with pancakes, don’t over mix! Cut in the 5 tablespoons of butter last.

When the iron is ready, brush some butter on the top and bottom of the iron. Ladle on just enough batter so that it won’t squirt over the edges when you close the iron. Sprinkle a dusting of poppy seeds over the surface of the batter and close the iron. When the waffle irons beeps or blinks (or when the waffles have been cooked to your liking), take your waffle out. Serve with berries and cream topping, recipe below.

Note: Freeze extra waffles in a ziploc bag between layer of wax or parchment paper. Reheat in a 300 degree oven or toaster when you feel like enjoying homemade waffles without the effort of making them!

Strawberries and Cream Waffle (or Pancake) Topping
From Marthastewart.com

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound strawberries
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Toss strawberries (hulled and quartered) with 1/4 cup sugar. Let sit until juicy, 20 minutes. Whip heavy cream with remaining sugar until it holds soft peaks.

On Friday I arrived home around 5pm after being away at a conference for a week, and the first thing I wondered was: what am I going to make for dinner? I hadn’t seen my husband in a while and I wanted to have something special waiting for him when he got home, but I was pretty drained from traveling. So after eyeing our take-out menus for a few minutes and realizing I had only 1 1/2 hours before my husband arrived, I decided to take a hot bath and drink a glass of wine. If there is one thing I’m good at, it’s prioritizing!

After exorcising the week’s tension thusly, I had about 40 minutes left. Not enough time to order in - at least, not from a good restaurant and at this point I was desperately craving a home cooked meal. The pressure was on! So naturally, I poured another glass of wine - you know, to hone my culinary senses and spur creativity. It must have worked (weeknight dinner tip #101: drink a good glass of wine?), because a couple sips in I remembered one of the most delicious pasta dishes I’ve made in a while: Fettuccine with Mascarpone and Sage-Walnut Butter. Sounds fancy, I know, and the dish has five-star restaurant flavor to be sure. But perhaps its best feature is the fact that it takes about 30 minutes to put together - which was about how much time I had left at this point.

Moving with the agility of a relaxed ninja I put a pot of water on to boil, snipped some sage leaves from our window garden, then combined the mascarpone, Parmesan, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Being the carb-loving woman that I am, I also split the half-baguette on the counter in two, put some butter and minced sage inside, then wrapped it in tin-foil and placed it in the oven to warm. By this time the water was nearly boiling (our stove gets nuclear hot in no time, which totally rocks) so I chopped the walnuts, tossed the fettuccine into the pot and started putting dinner together. All in all it was pretty intense work, lazily stirring the walnuts, sage & butter as I sipped my wine and watched the pasta boil. Whoo whee.

When my husband got home about 15 minutes later I was having a 50’s housewife moment: setting two plates of gourmet pasta down on the table, then adding dollops of the mascarpone mixture to each. “Wow! What’s all this?” he exclaimed. “You didn’t have to make dinner!” I just smiled and said, “I know, but I wanted to enjoy a special meal with you. Don’t worry, I didn’t work too hard.”

And I hadn’t. And it was delicious.

Don’t forget about the August book giveaway! You can find out more about this new, monthly event by clicking on the photo to the left or by clicking here.

Fettuccine with Mascarpone and Sage-Walnut Butter
From A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen, by Jack Bishop. Recipe can be found here, as well as below.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 lb dried egg fettuccine (I haven’t been able to find egg fettuccine so I just used regular, whole wheat fettuccine)
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh sage leaves

Bring 4 quarts of water to boil in a large pot for cooking the pasta. Combine the mascarpone, Parmesan, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the pepper in a small bowl and beat with spoon until smooth. Set aside so the mixture can come to room temperature.

When your water boils, add 1 tablespoon of salt and the fettuccine and cook according to package instructions.

As soon as the pasta goes into the pot, melt the butter in a large skilled over medium heat. When the foaming subsides, add the nuts and cook until the nuts are very fragrant and the butter is golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the sage and 1/2 teaspoon salt and remove the pan from the heat.

Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water and drain the pasta. Add the pasta and 1/4 cup of the cooking water to the pan with the nuts and toss over low heat until combined, adding more water as needed to moisten the pasta. Divide the pasta among individual bowls, top with a dollop of the mascarpone mixture, and serve immediately.