Reader Recipe Friday - Waffles

First of all, I apologize for the lack of photographic evidence, but these waffles are seriously off-the-charts divine. Actually, the missing photo is BECAUSE they are so good. We eat them so quickly, there is no time for taking pictures.

Second of all, I know you probably all know this recipe by now. It's been around for a long time. But I have "cleaned" it up a bit, just to get rid of some of the less-than-perfect ingredients. And it is no worse for the wear! It tastes exactly the same. Now I don't know about you, but THAT is how I like my healthy recipes: tasting exactly the same as the unhealthy ones.

Third of all, here's the recipe:

Whole Wheat Blender Pancakes (yield: 6 large waffles)
1 C. wheat *
1 1/2 C. milk, divided
3 tsp. baking powder
1 egg
1/2 C. coconut oil (melt it on low in the microwave while you blend the wheat)
1 tsp. salt
1 TBSP honey

Combine wheat and 1 C. of the milk in blender. Blend on high for 3 minutes. Add the rest of the milk (1/2 C. if you weren't keeping track) and blend 1 minute more. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until mixed. Let it sit for a couple minutes while your waffle iron warms up, as it will thicken. Cook.

*I have substituted already-ground whole wheat when I didn't want to wake someone up who was sleeping (grinding the wheat for 4 minutes is really loud, as you can imagine), and it worked just fine, so that's an option. Just play with the amount a little - I think I used more than a cup. It's not AS good, but it works. Also, if for some reason the batter ends up really runny (like mine did this morning - probably because I 1-and-a-half timesed the recipe), add some whole wheat flour until it's the desired consistency. Basically, you can't go wrong.

Fourth of all, this morning I topped my waffle with peanut butter, maple syrup and blueberries. DEeeelicious!

Topic for Friday Announced

Once upon a time I got a waffle iron for my wedding. It sat, unopened, for a couple years.

Then I had a baby who was allergic to basically everything I ate, so I made waffles for practically every meal for 15 months while she nursed:

Waffles with raspberry jam. Waffles with applesauce. Waffles with syrup. Waffles with peanut butter. Waffles with peach preserves. Waffles with cool whip (non-dairy, of course).

Waffles and I were close. Too close. Especially since my waffles were always limp and dejected-looking. My husband wouldn't touch them, but I eventually forgot that waffles are supposed to be crispy, and I survived.

Until I stayed with my sister, and she made waffles for breakfast. REAL waffles. The kind of waffles that make you want to cry. And eat until you throw up.

It was then (but mostly after I got her recipe and tried it over and over with disappointing results) that I realized the problem: my waffle iron was a hunk-a-junk (unless you, reader, are the person who gifted it to me, in which case I say, "Thank you. It was a thoughtful gesture always to be remembered."). So I tossed it in the trash. Then I bought a fancy Belgian waffle iron, which worked alright, but which broke (as in crumbled into a heap of burning-hot rubble) half-way through a batch of waffles.

I swore off waffles. Who needed them? Not I! My house was a waffle-free zone for over a year. And then someone posted something on facebook or Pinterest about waffles, and I suddenly felt that I would sell my first born if it meant I could have a waffle.

So it was time to start shopping, again, for a waffle iron. My previous experiences with waffle irons had traumatized me into being very anxious about buying a new one. What kind was best? What brand was trust-worthy? How much money would I have to fork over? I actually ended up stumbling upon one at D.I. It was in its original, unopened box (otherwise, my overly-germ-freaked husband would have had nothing to do with it), and it was $8.00. It was fate! Especially when you consider that it has a fire-alarm-volume beeper that tells me when the waffle is finished cooking. Fate knows me so well.

I made waffles that night for dinner. AND THEY WERE SO GOOD. So I made them for breakfast the next day. And lunch. And now we have them twice/week. Once as a breakfast, and once as a dinner (usually Saturday nights when I have some wonderful gourmet thing planned, but then always decide that the last thing I want to do is cook).

Anyway, that was a very long and winding road to our destination. Which is the topic for Reader Recipe Friday:

WAFFLES

I want your favorite recipe or favorite way of changing up an old recipe. Or topping suggestions.

I can't wait! Cause, you know, Saturday is (unofficial) waffle night.

Too Darn Tasty to be Healthy

Hey,

It's been a while.. I am not a good multi-tasker, so I basically took an Internet hiatus while getting my bearings on everything else in my life.

So, I lost the filter to my wheat grinder a couple weeks ago, and thought I might try grinding some wheat without it.. after all, it's just a little spongy disk thing.. I was sure I could get away without it until I got a new one.

Yeah.. not so much.

That is just a small little sample of what the rest of my kitchen looked like. I quickly got on the Internet and ordered some replacements. But they wouldn't arrive for who knows how long, so it was a long and unhealthy week of white dinner rolls, pancakes, and noodles (yum). Store bought wheat tortillas (eh), and bread (yuck). I think the kids were in bleached flour heaven, but I was missing my fresh ground whole wheat like crazy!

Once my new filters arrived, balance was restored and I have a weeks worth of whole wheat recipes to share.

Last night we had breakfast for dinner. I'm not usually in the mood to mess my kitchen up first thing in the morning, so we like to go all out at dinner time.

What you see below looks too gooey and delicious to be healthy, but I'll shed some light on exactly what is in the photo. And let me assure you it is certainly at least as good as it looks.

These are Whole wheat pancakes, sugar omitted, and coconut oil added. Coconut oil is really good for you, it's actually the only oil that is stable enough to withstand heat, according to this dude. (BTW, if you click on any link, it will take you to studies and listed health benefits)

On top of the pancake, you will find 100% natural peanut butter, bananas, and topped with walnuts toasted in 100% natural maple syrup, and then drizzled with said syrup. (Not too much. It's already pretty sweet.)

And that's it.

The recipe I use (and adapted) is Marianne's. I think she's married to Andrea's brother.. Anyway, I got it from our trusty Orton Family Cookbook. Just a little shout out to Marianne here; Her recipes have been some of my favorites, and I hope if she reads this she'll feel inspired to contribute to all the recipe Fridays.

Marrianne's Favorite Pancakes

1 1/4 cup Flour (whole wheat)

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 T sugar (which I omit)

1 egg, beaten

1 cup milk

2 T oil (I melt the coconut oil in pan and add to the mix. stir fast so that it blends well.. it's hot)

Combine dry ingredients. in separate bowl combine egg, milk, and oil. Add to dry ingredients. Cook on medium heat in lightly greased skillet until golden brown and set. Turn once. Yields about 6-8

Strawberry Oatmeal Muffins

There's nothin' like California strawberries. They say folks came for the gold, but stayed for the strawberries.. ok, no one said that.. that I know of, I made it up. But I wouldn't doubt if it were true. Or maybe they stayed because there was no way in H-E-double hockey sticks they were going to go back over the Rockies through a blizzard, past Savage native American tribes, and icy rivers for months on end with little food or provisions, burying family along the way..

I feel like we need to take a moment of silence.

I'm serious. Can you imagine?

Anyhow, I have been juicing, juicing, juicing, and between my parents visiting (best weekend ever), and having a SUPER busy week full of running around and planning and preparing, my juicing schedule has been a little thrown, and my goal a little fuzzy. I know, it's disappointing.. I am still juicing, but this morning I woke up and looked at all of the beautiful strawberries and felt adventurous. I found a recipe at allrecipes.com and modified it to suit my preferences. I ground up some wheat, omitted the sugar, and added a couple tablespoons of honey. If I would have had bananas, I would have added one for sweetness. Oh, and I am out of coconut oil (haven't been cooking much these days), otherwise I would have replaced the olive oil with it which would have enhanced the flavor even further I'm sure. Also, I didn't really measure the strawberries, I just chopped/mushed what I felt was adequate.

They're baking now..

The house smells divine..

pulled em' out. snapped photos..

recipe here

And now for the review: Subtle homemade bread flavor, but definitely muffin consistency. I can see where the sugar would enhance the flavor, but I do love the taste of the strawberries without it. I would make these again. I'm now on my second one.. But I am anxious to try them with coconut oil, banana, and more strawberry chunks!

I feel that I should add that my kids wont try them per the strawberry chunks.

OH YES!! I am a recipe Friday (among other things) flake. So sorry I didn't give you a category.

I'm going with breakfast, since that's what I have contributed today, so if you have a favorite healthy breakfast recipe or ideas, do tell!

Love Muffins

For Dr. Seuss's birthday (March 2nd), I made green eggs and ham for dinner (didn't you?). I needed something to go with it, since I knew my kids would eat exactly 1/2 a bite of green (kale) eggs, and I am not keen on the idea of filling up on just pig. So I made these babies: Whole Wheat Muffins (with banana and blueberries). After drizzling melted butter on top of them right as they came out of the oven, I declared them the best baked good I have had since January 2nd (the day we stopped eating sugar/processed food). And my kids ate 4 each. Four!

So I made them again the next day.

The recipe can be found here. 

I recommend you make them right away.

Then yesterday, around 11 a.m.,  I could feel myself getting hangry (hunger-induced anger: it is an on-going battle for me), and needed some lunch STAT. So, I made one of Merica's salads from last week - the Pear and Pomegranate one. Only I didn't have any pears or pomegranates around. Or pecans. What I did have was mixed baby greens, parmesan, craisins, mango, and candied walnuts (this is why I keep them always on hand). I whipped-up some of the Orange Vinaigrette , and tossed it all together, and well. My goodness. You can see what was left of it by the time I managed to get my camera out. It was heavenly. And that Orange Vinaigrette is like liquid summertime. So fresh and delicious! Try it. You'll be glad you did.

My testimony of salads was strengthened.

I feel a little more confident in my salad-making abilities, and can say with conviction that I really like salad. A lot. In fact, it might be my new favorite meal.

I mean besides brownies, which I can't have anymore, so they don't count.

Anyway, I guess what I am trying to say is that almost anything is good in a salad.

And now I am supposed to announce the Reader Recipe theme for this Friday, so you can start gearing-up for it.

Ready?

Fish.

That's it: Fish! What is your favorite clean fish dish?

Now I'm starting to sound like Dr. Seuss.

Good Clean Cornbread

My girls love cornbread for breakfast, and can you blame 'em? It's warm and filling, and pretty much just cake.

Add a little maple syrup, and what's not to like? Or, if you're like my husband's Southern family, maple syrup belongs nowhere near cornbread, and you'll reach for lots of butter and honey instead (I made my husband cornbread once when we were dating, and set the syrup down next to him, and he looked at me like I was insane - too bad I was a jobless college girl and couldn't afford honey. Poor boy just had to be polite and choke it down dry).

The only problem is that those little Jiffy mixes aren't so nutritious. Delicious, but devoid of good things.

So this morning I whipped up a batch of better-for-them cornbread that I was sure they would hate.

But what do you know? They loved it! Even my youngest ate it - and he will never touch the Jiffy stuff.

Here's the recipe:

Good Clean Cornbread

1 C. Cornmeal (you could even grind your own)
1 C. Flour  (Hard white wheat flour is good. I haven't tried hard red wheat flour alone in this recipe. I think that would be a bit heavy. Today I used .5 C. hard white + .5 C. hard red).
1 TBSP. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
2 Eggs - beaten
1 C. Milk (I used almond milk today)
2-4 TBSP. Honey
1/4 C. Oil (I used half coconut oil, half butter - just stick it in the microwave and melt on low while you mix the dry ingredients)

1. Grease bottom and .5" up sides of 8x8 (or 9x9) pan (I used some butter and coconut oil).
2. In mixing bowl, stir together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the center.
3. In another bowl, combine eggs, milk, honey, and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to dry mixture. Stir just until moistened.
4. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake @ 425 for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Serve with pure maple syrup if you're cool. Honey if you're not.

Just kidding.



                                                   

Granoly Moly!

I made granola two days ago. A new recipe.

I am making it again tomorrow*. That is how good it is.

I am a life-long admirer of granola, and this one is THE one. All others are now dead to me.

The first day, warm out of the oven, we broke it in chunks and ate it like granola bars.

Second morning, I cut up kiwi, strawberries, blueberries, and bananas, and let the kids choose their toppings after we poured (almond) milk over it.

(warning: some small children like it plain without "vegetables, like fruit" on it)

An hour after that, I filled a bowl with the left over chopped fruit, and topped that with dry granola.

For dessert that night, my husband poured chocolate almond milk over it.

This afternoon I ate it plain like trail mix.

Tonight I was planning to make banana "ice cream" (just frozen bananas blended up in the blender with a little coconut milk) and top it with the stuff, but went into the kitchen to discover my children lined up at the bar, finishing off the last of it.

That is why I am making it again tomorrow*.

And probably the next day.

Cause I want to try the bar method with steel-cut oats (and dates and currants and dried berries), but I've got to have the regular cereal kind on hand in case we have a snack emergency.

Which, in this house, is not a question of whether.

It is a question of when.

And the answer to that question is always.

Now go forth and nourish!

Recipe HERE

*I will try it with coconut oil instead of butter next time
*I want to try half honey/half maple syrup sometime, but not until I run out of my sacred, hoarded tiny jar of wild honey (from the depths of the jungles of South Carolina) that looks and tastes exactly like molasses, and which I am sure took the recipe from great to magical.

Update: I tried it with coconut oil and all regular honey, and it is still really good!