Green waffles

So my older boys and husband are gone to scout camp.  It makes it hard for me to be motivated to make a big dinner for myself and the little boys.  Yesterday was supposed to be egg rolls, but when I asked what the kids wanted for dinner, they said waffles.  How could I object?  I didn't have buttermilk to make my regular waffles so I started looking in my new greensmoothiegirl.com readers' favorite health recipes book for a waffle recipe and found this one for pancakes.  I added a bit extra spinach because I didn't feel like making a green smoothie, and just a handful and a half in because that is what I had left in the box.  These made some very green  waffles.  They would be awesome for St. Patrick's day. I can't wait to get a picture of them but alas my camera is at scout camp.  :(
 They did turn out soft and would probably be better suited to pancakes as the original recipe stated.  They were a bit hard to get out of the waffle iron because of their softness.  They were tasty though.
In the future, I don't think they need the honey, especially if you plan to put syrup on them.  If eating them plain, by all means, add the honey.  It is a nice sweetness, but we had ours with maple syrup and peanut butter, and I felt they were a bit too sweet for that.
Here is how I made them. (Which was totally not following the directions - I lazily just made the entire batter in the blender.)

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3-4 grinds of pink himalayan pink salt (or sea salt)
• 3 Tablespoons honey (I will probably omit this next time -or lessen it to 1-2 teaspoons)
• 1 1/2 handfuls baby spinach
• 1/2 banana
• 2 Tablespoons extra virgin coconut oil
• 1 1/4 cup milk
• 1 egg

Directions

1. Place milk, spinach and banana in blender and pulse a few times to blend.  Add the egg, coconut oil and spinach and pulse a couple more times to blend.
2. Add flour, baking powder, and salt.  At this point I just pushed batters on my blendtec.  If you don't have a batters button, just pulse or blend until combined.  
3. Bake in a waffle iron until desired done-ness.  (Or make as pancakes - probably preferred with this dough, but my little boys LOVE waffles.)

blender buttermilk waffles

Update: This is now my goto waffle recipe. I now use all wheat, sometimes 2/3 c bean flour, 2/3 c water, other times 1/3 cup each and 1/3 cup olive oil. Both turn out well. Love this recipe.

 After I taught my bean class, I ordered a downloadable bean book from everydayfoodstorage.net.  I've been trying to try some recipes from there, that this was one of those recipes - modified of course.  All of her baking recipes use bean puree.  I use bean flour.  It is way easier than pureeing beans in my opinion.  I also made these wheat-white and added a bit of vanilla.    I used a smaller portion of wheat than I normally would have because I ran out in the front of the pantry and didn't feel like crawling to the back to pull out another barrel.  However, I really liked this combination a lot.  I'm trying not to use white flour, and will probably end up trying this same recipe using 100% wheat, but I will probably also make these occasionally with white. She also made them in the blender - simple I suppose, but mine was probably dirty from green smoothies -or I didn't want to make it dirty so I could make green smoothies, so I made them the traditional way.   They were very light and fluffy - that is a problem I have with my current waffle mix.  I did double this from the original as well.  I have a large waffle iron and if I'm going to make waffles, I want left overs for another day in the week.  (they fit perfectly in my toaster.  I either refrigerate the extras, or freeze them separated by wax paper for another day.)
For the combination of being healthier than a lot of my other waffle recipes, and being so nice and fluffy I could give them a 5 star rating, but I still think I like tender sour cream waffles better, so they will stay a 4.5.  However, they are an awesome, plain waffle.  I'm planning to try and make a mix based on this recipe if I ever get buttermilk powder again.

Ingredients

• 4 cups buttermilk
• 4 eggs
• 2/3 cups bean flour
• 2/3 cups water
• 2 1/4 cups unbleached white flour
• 1 1/4 cups wheat flour (I use white wheat and again, this is just the amount I had ground.  I'd either go all wheat next time or half and half -1 3/4 cups of each)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions

1. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (bean flour, white flour, wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt) until well blended.  Whisk in remaining ingredients (buttermilk, water, eggs, and vanilla) until combined.
2. Pour in pre-heated waffle iron and bake according to your waffle iron's instructions.  For me, it is until it beeps.  :)  LOVE my waffle iron.

Whole grain chia waffles

These I make different every time I make them.  I have way too much fun with them.  I will write the recipe we were given by Amoreena, but will add my notes.
As far as waffles go, these are just fine - they are waffles.  I figure they don't have to be spectacular if you are going to put some maple syrup on them.  They were also good with strawberry chia jam.  Now when I added some mashed banana (2) and some mini chocolate chips, then made a "syrup" that was 1 part maple syrup, 1 part peanut butter, melted in the microwave.  Now those were scrumptious and got remade a few times in a row.  Yummy!

Ingredients

• 2 cups of flour - really any combination will do.  My original says 1 cup whole wheat and 1 cup spelt, but I've made them with lots of combinations of spelt, oat, wheat, barley, brown rice, and even probably bean.  Have fun.  I just usually keep at least 1/3 wheat.
• 2 Tablespoons coconut sugar
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chia gel
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 1/2 -2 cups almond milk (I usually use vanilla if I'm using almond.  Any milk would do)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Mix dry ingredients.  Then add the rest.  When adding milk, add until you get a nice pouring consistency.  The batter will still be thick.  Cook in waffle iron.

Pumpkin waffles

I wanted to make something pumpkin themed for breakfast this morning, and I have a few things marked that are pumpkin but they were going to take a while.  When I asked Brandon what he wanted he said pumpkin waffles.  The recipe I had seen for those had 1 2/3 cups sugar.  I wasn't about to do that, so I searched for a new one and found this one.  I mean when the site is called pumpkinwaffles and says the guy has tried 80 + recipes what can you do.  However, I still altered this to my liking.  I subbed out some wheat flour, used 1/2 the sugar, used coconut oil, and not as much .....
These were loved by all.  Tavio and I ate a full waffle, no syrup, while cooking the rest.  Aaron ate 2 squares.  These were not tiny squares I have a calphalon waffle iron, It takes me 2 cups of batter to make 1 batch of 4 waffle squares - so that is 1 cup of batter for a little guy who doesn't always eat a great breakfast.  I was super happy because I made these super healthy.  I used an additive that adds fiber, some greek yogurt to add texture and protein, and still used 1/2 wheat and 1/2 white flour.  Not to mention they had pumpkin in them.  Not only were they decently nutritious for a waffle, but they were also just a good waffle.  Tavio gripes that the waffles I usually make are too heavy.  (And they are.)  These were nice and creamy in the center.  (sounds like a weird word to describe a waffle, but that was what I could think of.)  Nice and light.   Just the right amount of pumpkin and spice.  Only think I would have liked a bit more would be a bit crispier on the outside, but I actually baked one a tiny bit longer and that helped.
I did not take a picture and I'm pretty sure that there are no left overs, but they are a waffle.  :)

So this is how I made it.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 6 Tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 1/4 cups unbleached flour
• 1/4 cup hi maize resistant starch (most people don't have this so just add 1/4 cup flour -this just adds fiber.  Not sure why I bought it but I use it when I use white flour a lot.)
• 1 cup wheat flour
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 heaping Tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves
• 1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups 1% milk
• 1 can (15-16 oz) solid-pack pumpkin
• 1/2 cup greek yogurt
• 6 Tablespoons coconut oil, heated just enough to be liquid (It was actually a cold morning so I had to warm it.)

Directions

1. Heat waffle iron.
2. Combine brown sugar and corn starch in a bowl.  Whisk together to break evenly mix.  Add remaining dry ingredients and whisk to blend.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk pumpkin and coconut oil until smooth.  Separate eggs putting yolks into the pumpkin mixture and whites into another bowl (to be whipped.)
4. Whip egg whites until stiff peaks form.  (I did this in my kitchen aide while whisking the other wet ingredients)
5. Whisk yogurt and milk into the pumpkin mixture.  Mix the wet and dry ingredients just until combined.  Gently fold in the egg whites until well combined.  
6. Bake according to your waffle iron instructions.  -My Calphalon waffle iron beeps at me when it gets to my selected doneness.  

waffle mix/ waffles

So, a friend of mine found a new food storage website - www.3DHealth.net.  The woman from the site puts out a cookbook with her food storage plan - while she it totally over the top for me in a lot of things, I really wanted to try her waffle mix.  She uses it for lots of things - waffles, pancakes, muffins, and it is pretty healthy, so how can you lose right?  So I went ahead and tried it with waffles yesterday morning and muffins this morning.  The waffles were fine - sweeter than I would make a waffle, but I really liked the muffins we had this morning.  Tavio actually ate 3 for breakfast and then 4 for lunch, but hey, what was I going to say?  It was a good meal - had veggies, fruit, whole grains, eggs and milk for some protein and even some yogurt - See, how could I say that wasn't a good lunch - even if it was the same as breakfast?  I myself have eaten more than I would like to count.

While this book is full of some useful info I do find it a bit confusing.  For example, I could find no recipe for actual waffles - I just had to guess to make a good consistency.  It is also organized rather strangely, and uses ingredients I just don't have - like powdered vanilla and powdered honey.  And, it is super over the top for food storage - like she sprouts her grains then dehydrates them, then grinds them, and she makes seemingly EVERYThing from scratch including all sorts of Faux meats and milks.  I haven't figured out how you would ever have enough hours in a day to do all that, but like I said, there are great tidbits of info in there and a lot of things I'd still like to try.  Thanks so much Lisa for letting me borrow your book.  I don't at all mind being the guinea pig for the recipes.  :)

Waffle mix
Ingredients

• 10 cups freshly ground whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups powdered honey - I used 1 cup splenda (I have some I need to use) and 1/2 cup sugar - for trial purposes, they were what I had in my pantry.
• 1 1/2 cups ground white beans (I ground small white beans in my grinder with no problem)
• 1 cup egg powder
• 1 Tablespoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon baking soda
• 3 Tablespoons baking powder
• 1 2/3 cup powdered milk
• 1 Tablespoons vanilla powder (I used I think 4 Tablespoons french vanilla non dairy creamer - Because that is what I had that seemed like it would work as a substitution.)

Directions

1. Mix everything together in a large container.  (I used a bucket I had got to make bread in 5 minutes a day - it was pretty much the only thing I had that was big enough.)

To make waffles mix 2 cups mix with 1 1/2 cups water.  That made almost 2 waffles for me.  At first I used 1 1/2 cup mix and 1 cup water.  That filled my large waffle iron perfectly, but they were way too dense.

Tropical waffles

I decided to make some waffles this morning because our 2 year old likes waffles and says the word so cute - who can resist the cute wa - ffull?  Not me.  My computer currently is having some battery issues and can not be unplugged or it will turn off.  (The battery won't hold a charge.) Anyway, since I can't just grab the computer and drag it in the kitchen without having to reboot,  I quickly flipped through a few books and picked a recipe.  However, I went and altered the thing like crazy and had to write myself a few notes.  The resulting waffles were super tasty.  Truly I wanted to make them using the entire can of crushed pineapple, but was worried it would be too much, and I didn't have time to fiddle with it, or be adding extra flour...  The amounts I started with worked, so I went with it.    I actually never use crushed pineapple in heavy syrup, but had a can which I accidentally got instead of the kind packed in juice.   It seemed like a good thing to use that syrup to replace the sugar and some of the oil in the original recipe, plus it helped use up something I normally wouln't use.  Score!    Anyway, here is what I did.  I loved them.  I ate mine plain as I was running around the house looking for kid's shoes.  Why I don't set them out the night before is beyond me.  :)

Ingredients

• 4 extra large eggs (I just happen to have extra large eggs at the moment.  I'll probably use 5 eggs when I don't have the extra larges.
• 4 cups AP flour
• 1 cup coconut
• 1 cup crushed pineapple in heavy syrup drained, reserve juice
• 1/2 cup reserved pineapple juice/syrup
• 3 1/2 cups milk (I used fat free)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 Tablespoons + 2 teaspoons baking powder  
• 1 heaping teaspoon grated orange peel 
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Heat waffle iron.  Beat eggs in a large bowl with a hand beater (or in a mixer) until fluffy.  Beat in remaining ingredients just until smooth.  (I made mine in my kitchen-aide with the whisk attachment.  I beat the eggs very well, tossed everything in but the coconut, mixed it until incorporated, and added the coconut.  Simple.)
2. Pour batter in hot waffle iron and cook according to manufacturer's directions.  (My particular waffle iron usually needs almost 2 cups of mix, but only needed about 1 1/2 cups of this mix.)  

Notes:

Original recipe had more orange peel, but I only had 1 orange.  That would be tasty as well if you want a stronger orange flavor, but I added the almond to compensate for the missing orange, and because I thought it sounded tasty.  Also, the original recipe had macadamia nuts sprinkled on top right before closing the waffle iron.  That would be a tasty addition, but I don't keep those on hand, and these were plenty tasty without them.  Just throwing it out there.  :)

Additional note 1/5 - This can of crushed pineapple didn't have 1/2 cup juice.  I added extra pineapple, but the waffles aren't as sweet today.  I'll probably actually add a bit of syrup. - May want to add a bit of sugar to the recipe if using Dole pineapple.

buttermilk waffles with buttermilk syrup

I found this recipe on Recipe shoebox.  I decided to try it because I needed to use some buttermilk.  I doubled the recipe, but that seemed like so much butter that I used 1/2 butter, 1/2 applesauce.  I also almost always beat my egg whites to stiff peaks and fold them in, but resisted here, and the waffles still ended up fluffy.  I did however think they were actually a bit eggy.  I used 1/2 egg (4 eggs) and 1/2 egg substitute (had some of that to use as well.)   I liked the pecans in the waffle, but not particularly the waffle.  I'd love to try putting pecans in my favorite waffle recipe -tender sour cream waffles.  Yum.
My final comment is that these were really good with the buttermilk syrup.  That is a 5 star.  Loved it.  The waffles were good with the syrup, but I didn't like them very much with regular maple syrup or plain.

Ingredients

• 4 cups flour (I think I used 1/2 wheat)
• 2 Tablespoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 8 eggs (I used 4 eggs and 1/2 cup egg substitute)
• 4 cups buttermilk
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• chopped pecans

Directions

1. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  In another bowl, beat eggs until light.  Add buttermilk, and applesauce; mix well.  Add dry ingredients and beat until batter is smooth.  Stir in butter.  
2. Cook in waffle iron according to manufacturer's directions, sprinkling with pecans just before closing the lid.  In my waffle iron, that is 2 cups batter, and it beeps when it is ready.  

Buttermilk syrup

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 Tablespoon light Karo syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional - I did not use this)

Directions

1. Combine butter, sugar, buttermilk, and Karo syrup in a large saucepan and stir over medium heat until bubbling evenly.   Let cook for 2-3 minutes.  Remove from heat and add the baking soda and vanilla (and cinnamon if using.)  Stir until blended.