NATIONAL WAFFLE DAY TREATS
Today is ‘National Waffle Day’. Here are some Waffle Treats for you to make for your friends and/or family.
Sweet Potato Waffles – a great way to use leftover Sweet Potatoes or just to use your Sweet Potatoes. Good for Breakfast and or Dinner instead of Potatoes.
Sweet Potato Waffle with Apples
Gingerbread Waffles – this is definitely a ‘makeover’ using leftover Gingerbread pieces. This may not be appropriate for ‘National Waffle Day’ in August but keep it mind for your Winter Breakfasts or Desserts!
Gingerbread Waffles
Hong Kong Waffles – a favorite of mine – fun to make and fun to eat. These Waffles are sold as ‘Street Food’ in Hong Kong but can easily be made with your Belgian Waffle Iron.
Hong Kong Egg Waffles
A Hong Kong Waffle spread with Peanut Butter and Sugar
More Waffles – just an overview of the types of Waffle Irons and recipes available today!
Try one or more of these today or for your weekend Brunch, Lunch or Supper
5 of Hearts Waffle Iron
CULINARY MAKEOVERS # 18 – Sweet Potato Waffles
Our ‘Culinary Makeover’ today is a relatively simple one. Mashed White Sweet Potatoes turned into Sweet Potato Waffles which I served with Chili con Carne.
Chili con Carne
A very delicious meal, but with only 2 people in the household we had Waffles left over which we in turn toasted for Breakfast the next day. They tasted really delicious with melted Butter and Maple Syrup!
Sweet Potato Waffles with Bacon for Breakfast
The Sweet Potatoes I purchased had red skin and I had forgotten that the Red Skinned Sweet Potatoes are not red inside but White. They were a little more starchy than the gold ones but they still tasted good and were perfect for making Waffles.
For the Waffles I used:
2 cups mashed Sweet Potatoes
3 Eggs
1 cup flour
1 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
2 Tbsps. Olive Oil (melted Butter can be used instead)
I had forgotten to put in a leavening agent which would have been maybe 1 tsp. Baking Powder, but the waffles came out very well without it. You can use any type of Sweet Potato or even Russets that had been mashed for dinner the night before. Try your hand at it and see what you can come up with!
Categories: Breakfast Ideas, Dinner Ideas, Leftovers, Main, One Dish Meals Tags: Chili, Eggs, family dinner, kids cooking, Leftovers, Sweet Potatoes, Waffles
GINGERBREAD WAFFLES – A Culinary Makeover
Baking is one of my favorite things to do and during the Winter Holidays I make Gingerbread Houses and I teach other people how to make Gingerbread. This past December, in addition to my classes I baked and built four different houses. One for the Cancer Support Community’s Holiday Boutique, one for a sample for my class, one for home and one as a gift. There are two ways to bake the houses – one is to cut out the pieces from the unbaked dough and the other is to bake the dough first before cutting out the pieces. The advantage of the second method is that the pieces will all fit together without additional trimming after the baking process. The disadvantage is that there are going to be a lot of sections of cookie that will not be big enough for any house, except for the chimney and how many of those do you need? Now we do love to eat the leftovers but when there are a lot of leftovers, you can only so much.
As I said, Baking is one of my favorite things to do, but another one of my favorite culinary activities is to turn leftovers into new products and that is what I did with the leftover Gingerbread pieces. I pulverized them to a fine crumb in my Food Processor and turned them into a Waffle Batter. If you like Gingerbread, then you certainly will like Gingerbread Waffles. Here is how I did it.
- Break up the leftover Gingerbread pieces into sections that will fit in your Food Processor that has been fitted with the Chopping Blade. Use the Pulse Button to break up the pieces into small pieces and then turn it on to finely chop the Gingerbread pieces. You should end up with a medium to fine crumb.
- Measure the Crumbs – 2 cups of Gingerbread Crumbs will make enough waffles for 3-4 people.
Gingerbread Crumbs
- Use your Food Processor (do not wash out the bowl) or a large mixing bowl. Beat 3 Eggs until well mixed and then add 1 1/2 cups Buttermilk and blend together.
- Combine the Gingerbread Crumbs with 1 1/2 cups of All-Purpose Flour, 1 tsp. Cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. Ground Ginger and 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda. Add to the Buttermilk/Egg mixture and Pulse, just until mixed. If doing in a bowl, with a whisk, just mix until the Ingredients are blended – DO NOT OVER-MIX! (Over-mixing Waffle, Pancake or Muffin Batter will make the product tough.
- Stir in 1/4 cup Melted Butter.
Gingerbread Waffle Batter
- Heat your Waffle Iron until the indicator light tells you the Iron is hot. If necessary, lightly oil or spray the surface of the Iron.
- Pour approximately 1/2 cup of Batter on each section of you Waffle Irons Grids (this will vary, depending on the size and shape of our Waffle Iron)
Batter on Grids
- Close and Bake until the steaming stops. Keep the baked Waffles warm in a low oven until you are ready to serve them.
Baked Waffles
- Serve with Fruit Compote and or Maple Syrup and melted Butter. The Waffles in the Feature Photo are served with crisply cooked bacon.
- For the Fruit Compote,I melted about 2 Tbsps. of Butter along with Brown Sugar (2-4 Tbsps.). I then added pitted and halved Cherries, Blackberries and fresh Pineapple pieces. This will work with just about any fruit – Apples are great with Gingerbread as well as Bananas, Mango or Papaya.
Making Fruit Compote
And this is how you use leftover Gingerbread to make Waffles! As a convenience, I have also listed the ingredients below.
2 CUPS Gingerbread Crumbs
1 1/2 cups Flour
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground Ginger
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
3 Eggs
1 1/2 cups Buttermilk
1/4 cup melted Butter
Categories: Bread, Breakfast Ideas, Cooking for Kids, GINGERBREAD HOUSES, Holiday Meals, Main Tags: Apples, baking, butter, Buttermilk, Eggs, family dinner, Fruit Compote, gingerbread, holiday recipes, kids cooking, Waffles
NATIONAL OATMEAL MONTH
Oatmeal is one of those foods which we think of as a Breakfast Item, but it has many more uses than just that for Breakfast. Even though Oatmeal makes a wonderfully satisfying and nutritious breakfast, start thinking about it in other terms. In other words, what Oatmeal can and should be used for besides a breakfast cereal.
Here are some of the things that I use Oatmeal for:
#1 is probably what everyone thinks of as a use for Oatmeal besides breakfast and that is Oatmeal/Raisin Cookies. Well, what about Oatmeal/Raisin Waffles. Combining the Cookie and the Waffle in a newly delicious and nutritious breakfast. oatmeal-raisin-waffles/
Oatmeal/Raisin Waffle
Of course, the Oatmeal/Raisin Waffle is still a Breakfast Food but can be used for Lunch or Dinner as well. And speaking of Dinner, how about using Oatmeal in your Meatloaf instead of Bread Crumbs. It actually works much better because it absorbs a lots of moisture and helps to hold the Meatloaf together better than bread crumbs do. Just substitute and equal amount of Oatmeal for the Bread Crumbs in your recipe. ( I usually use about 1 cup of Oatmeal to 3 lbs. of ground meat.
Let’s not leave out the Cookies, though. Here is a link to a kid-friendly recipe for Oatmeal Cookies.
Meatloaf before Baking
The next item that i use Oatmeal for is for part of the coating for Fried Chicken. Try using my recipe – just substitute one cup of Oatmeal for 1 of the cups of Flour. You will be surprised how good and crunchy it is. /fried-chicken/
Oatmeal Fried Chicken
Categories: Dinner Ideas, Main, National Food Days Tags: baking, Chicken, Cookie Recipes, Cookies, family dinner, Meatloaf, National Food Days, Oatmeal, Waffles
BREAKFAST
September is ‘National Breakfast Month’ and this is a particularly good time for it. With the kids back in school, it is a good time for parents to emphasize the fact that Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. The word Breakfast literally means to break a fast. That Fast is the time between when you eat your last meal of the day and the first meal of the next day. This usually is a period of 10-12 hours. This is the reason that your body needs to replenish its fuel supply to run and to feed your brain. Automobiles can’t run without fuel and neither can the human body. Therefore, skipping breakfast is not good for your body or your brain.
A healthy Breakfast should contain some Protein and some Carbohydrates. If you eat wholesome nutritious foods they will also contain the vitamins you need along with essential fatty acids.
All cultures have a breakfast menu, although some do not call it as such. Breakfast foods as we know them in the West are not necessarily what people in the Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures eat. The typical American Breakfast is actually based on the English Breakfast which traditionally consists of Eggs, some kind meat such as sausage or bacon and maybe potatoes plus fruit and a beverage. And don’t forget the toast!
In Asia most breakfasts include rice of some kind. In China, it is Congee, a porridge made with rice but in other Asian countries rice is just used as one of the ingredients for the breakfast.
Since we could elaborate for miles and miles on the different breakfasts around the world I am going to stick with the Western Variety. This would include, of course European Countries as well as North America.
In Spain and Germany, the first meal of the day is usually just a cup of coffee and a pastry and a larger more elaborate breakfast is eaten a couple of hours later.
In American, many families have opted to have dry cereal for breakfast along with milk poured onto it. This is certainly faster for people in a hurry, but it is not necessarily the best or tastiest way to go.
My favorite breakfast stems back to my childhood when my parents and my brother and I usually had eggs for breakfast. To this day, Eggs are still my favorite food for breakfast.
Since this is ‘National Breakfast Month’ we will devote one blog a week to Breakfasts around the world. This month will be American Breakfasts such as we know them. The traditional American Breakfast at least as I knew it was Fruit Juice or Fresh Fruit, Eggs, Toast and Milk or Coffee for the Adults. Of course, there are many other variations such as Pancakes, Waffles, Crepes (one of my favorite filled with fruit), cooked Oatmeal (with Raisins! or dried Apples!) and the proverbial dried Cereal with Milk and fruit such as Bananas added.
Whatever your favorite Breakfast, just don’t forget to eat it! Remember, Breakfast is the most important meal of the Day! Especially for children who go to school and need the fuel and brain power that a good breakfast provides!
To give you some ideas and recipes for Breakfast Items check out the Breakfast/Recipe section of this Blog: recipes/breakfast-items/
Categories: Breakfast Ideas, Cooking for Everyone, Cooking for Kids, Main Tags: Breakfast, Children's Cooking, cooking with children, Fruit, holiday recipes, Pumpkin, Waffles
HONG KONG WAFFLES
A rolled Hong Kong Waffle
Waffles are a favorite food around the world and wherever you go you are sure to find a local favorite. They are definitely one of my favorite foods. Waffles need not be only a breakfast food. They can be used as a base for toppings for lunches, brunches or even dinners. There are Belgian or Brussels Waffles, there are Sourdough Waffles, there are Corn Waffles, Sweet Waffles, thin waffles, thick waffles, cookies that are made on waffle type irons and so on and so on.
A newly discovered favorite of mine is the Egg Waffle that is sold as a street food in Hong Kong. This waffle looks like a Belgian Waffle but is so soft that it can be rolled up and eaten. The traditional way to serve it is to spread it with Peanut Butter and then sprinkle sugar on it. I discovered a stove top iron that is made for this type of waffle. The grids, instead of being square look like round balls. Because it has so many eggs in it and has beaten egg whites in the batter that provide extra air, the waffle comes out very soft, but at the same very strong.
The Hong Kong Waffles is sweeter than most waffle batters. When I made it, I reduced the sugar by 1/3 and even then, it is still quite sweet. Besides providing sweetness, the sugar also helps to make the waffle softer than the usual everyday waffle. Because of the sweet quality this waffles is really only good for breakfast, as a snack or as a dessert. If the sugar is reduced too much, some of the soft quality will be lost.
This waffle is fun to make, fun to serve and fun to eat. Try them for yourself and see what different kinds of toppings you can come up with. My version combined fresh berries and sweetened whipped cream. I used a regular Belgian Waffle Iron to make these waffles and they came out fine. Even with the berries and cream, I was able to fold them and eat them without the use of a fork and knife. You can try this version or the traditional version which is to spread them with peanut butter or Nutella and then sprinkle them with granulated sugar. Try them and see! For the recipe, check under our recipe section/desserts.
A Hong Kong Waffle spread with Peanut Butter and Sugar
Categories: Breakfast Ideas, Cooking for Everyone, Cooking for Kids, Dessert Ideas, Main Tags: Nutells, Peanut Butter, Soft Waffles, Waffles
