Sunday Brunch & New Kitchen Gadget

One of my favorite things to do on a Sunday morning is to make breakfast if I don’t go out. My go to’s are usually pancakes or waffles and an in-house cafe style drink (if you follow me on Instagram you might have seen some of my drink making Stories). Both are always simple to make and super delicious. The process of making either is really relaxing to me, but then again I find most cooking to be quite relaxing and a sort of “quiet” activity for my brain. It helps me kind of disengage in a good way, keeps me relaxed, and is rewarding—who doesn’t like eating their hard work? I think I really enjoy all the mixing and pouring—that repetitious motion and sound is very soothing to me for some reason. Do you enjoy making breakfast? Maybe you enjoy it better when someone else makes it for you. :P

I have been making pancakes most Sundays for the past months since I started getting into the routine of making breakfast at home. Sometimes the boo and I will go out for breakfast. We had a waffle maker once upon a time ago, but the one we had wasn’t the best and didn’t really cook evenly which drove me nuts. I ended up donating it when we moved.

So since I started making breakfast almost every Sunday the past two months, I started looking into buying a new waffle maker, but found a lot of them to be expensive, too cheap, or with really mixed reviews. It’s like most people LOVE their expensive waffle maker for like a year after they buy it and then the top heating mechanism goes out, or they only used it once a week for 6 months and it suddenly stopped working. I didn’t wanna fork over $50+ for various models just to have them short out on me or be too much of a hassle to clean up. Some models claimed you can put the removable hot plates into the dishwasher, which some people on Amazon did for a variety of models and found that the plates were ruined and not quite usable after or that the non-stick wore off.

I didn’t want to play that game just to make waffles once a week. SO, I started looking into the old fashioned waffle irons that you use on the stove. I honestly wanted a legit, Belgian or Swedish one, where they’re really pretty and quite thin, but the ones I could import were quite expensive for my current budget ($100+ for a really good, authentic iron). Perusing Amazon, I found this one by Nordic Ware. (You can find other styles and designs on eBay too! I wasn’t lucky enough to find a vintage one at the local Good Will or antique shop, so Amazon it was). This one isn’t cheap by any means, but I was willing to give it a shot and I ended up loving it after using it for the first time today! This iron, I originally thought was cast iron, but it’s actually aluminum cast iron, which is similar but far more lightweight. I opted for a stovetop waffle iron because it’s a lot more space conscious for my small storage kitchen. I also wouldn’t have to worry about any heating elements giving out on me, just to replace it a year or two later, etc.

This Nordic Ware waffle iron is great! It’s lightweight and easy to turn over and makes really THICK waffles. Initially, I really wanted the super thin waffle irons but I don’t mind the thickness of this particular iron. The design is really cute, Nordic Ware calls it “sweetheart waffles”. It’s easy to clean, great non-stick, and easy to use. You just have to heat up both sides for about a minute or so on each side before adding your batter, and then cook a few minutes on each side, taking a little longer on the final flip/side as the plate may have cooled off by then. The iron also unhinges for easy cleaning. Not dishwasher safe, but I don’t mind hand washing since clean up was really easy. If you decide to get one of these, I highly recommend having a dish brush with long bristles that can reach the pockets and deep grooves of this iron. The iron cooks nice and evenly. I had perfectly crisp on the outside, tender on the inside waffles. Since they’re so dense/thick, I think just ONE waffle could feed me and the beau on a Sunday morning, so I only have to make enough batter measuring about 1 cup! Storage is also so easy, I can just slide it on its side, in any of my cupboards or drawers. Super happy about this random purchase and would highly recommend!

Do you have a weekend tradition like making breakfast on Sundays? What’s your favorite or go to? Do you have a favorite “old school” kitchen gadget? I’m really interested in people’s kitchens and what’s in them! Share in the comments below, also feel free to leave me recipe links! Hope this was a fun read, see you next time!