Healthy Pumpkin Waffles!

Pin It Happy Last Day of 2012!  As many spent the holidays saying that they would start their diets in 2013 our family has spent the last month striving to be healthy with our eating habits.  We started out by dusting off the juicer and coming up with some tasty and not-so-tasty combinations for breakfast!  A few days, when there was extra juice I even extended it to snack and lunch time.  After about two weeks of juicing off and on, I switched myself over to a mostly plant based diet and feel great!  No meat, no dairy, no eggs, for the most part, and whole grains all the way.  I do love my cheese and yogurt so it was hard at first, but when I think about how I feel now, compared to how I felt before, it's worth the sacrifice!

Today I really wanted Aunt Jemima to come and visit me with a huge stack of pancakes, slathered in full-fat butter, and hot maple syrup drizzling off the plate!  I came across an "Almost Martha's Pumpkin Pancakes" recipe on food.com that claimed to be milk free and decided to check it out.  I substituted a mixture of ground flax seed and water for the egg, heated up the waffle maker, and let the fun begin.  Here's my modified recipe:

Step one - In a medium bowl mix:
1/2 c.       whole wheat flour
3/4 c.       all-purpose flour
2 tsp.       baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp.    cinammon
1/4 tsp.    salt

Step two - In another bowl mix:
2 Tbsp.     firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 c.        pumpkin puree
2 Tbsp.     oil
1 Tbsp.     ground flax seed
3 Tbsp.     water
The ground flax seed and the water take the place of the egg.

Step three - Into the pumpkin bowl add
1 c.           almond milk (or other milk substitute)

Step four - Add the flour mixture and stir just until moistened, leaving it a little lumpy.

My four year old helped me mix everything together.  He got a little excited at the beginning so we lost a little pumpkin!  So thankful that there was more in the can.

We added a ladle full to the waffle iron and watched it puff up and start to cook.  They smelled heavenly!  I opened the first one before the waffle iron light went off because I thought it was ready....mistake!  It came apart and I ended up having to pry it off.  I switched to a baking spray with flour in it for the next waffle and waited until the light turned off before opening it and solved the problem.

My son could hardly contain himself until everyone came to the table, and cried when he had to share the stack with everyone else, so I suggest doubling the batch if you plan on feeding more than three hungry bears!

We added a few veggie sausage patties and delighted in our light, fluffy (and secretly healthy) waffles that we will definitely be making again soon! 

If you try this recipe and come up with any other variations let me know how they turn out!

-Casandra

Here are some other tips I learned in my online research:
  You can substitute up to two eggs in a recipe with flax seed and water.  You can also substitute 1 Tbsp. of oil with 3 Tbsp. of ground flax seed.  This works for up to 1/4 c. of oil in any recipe.  For greater amounts, finish substituting with applesauce.
NOTE: You can substitute flax seed for the egg or the oil, but not for both.

30 Second S'mores

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When I was a little girl living in Torrejon, Spain, I would sometimes see other kids running around with chocolate smeared on a slice of bread and I would wonder what kind of disgusting peanut butter they were eating!  Fast forward, um many years, and I had learned that the dark brown spread was called Nutella and was made from hazelnuts not peanuts.  I still eyed it with caution until one day I took the plunge at a friend's house and was hooked.  A simple graham cracker and a little spread was all it took to win me over.
 

Now I know there is nothing "new" under the sun but after sprinkling a few marshmallows on our crackers and spread today the idea hit me that I could make a s'more in the microwave!  One thing that always turned me off about making s'mores was the cost of the ingredients.  My boys are huge marshmallow fans and now I had everything on hand to make my chocolate dreams come true.

It wasn't rocket science and only took 7 seconds for the mini-marshmallows to puff up nicely. It was so good I had to make two and plan to make the boys some after they wake up from their naps.

However, a word of caution about marshmallows!  We buy the minis because the large ones can be a choking hazard.  Also, heating them up can make them too hot to eat right away, or too sticky for little mouths to chew without gagging or choking.  I plan to give the boys "uncooked" or "open-faced" s'mores instead.  Normally they like to pick the marshmallows off and eat them first, followed by scraping or licking the chocolate off, and occasionally eating the graham cracker.  It can be a messy, good time, and makes for a fun treat every now and then.

If you need a quick chocolate fix, grab some Nutella today, and happy s'moring!

-Cas

 


Side note:  We found a Nutella wanna-be at a local dollar store and though my husband tried to convince me that it was very good, it was not the same as the "real deal"!