Waffles Can be On Your Diet!

Our wacky waffles are gluten free, vegan and packed with healthy antioxidants. By combining two cups each of buckwheat and garbanzo bean flours as a base, we can move on and combine our favorite baking ingredients to create flavorful batters and doughs. So, for these tasty waffles, we used our flour combo with some baking soda, a teaspoon and a half or so, (aluminum free) and stirred. Then, to keep things moist, we move on to our wet ingredients. I used freshly pressed almond milk and a dash of unsweetened soy milk (I use either Eden or Westsoy), water, vanilla, and about three cups of butternut squash, steamed. To sweeten things up a tad, we added maple syrup and molasses but brown rice syrup would work as well. Batters do not need to be sweet especially if you are eating the waffles or pancakes with maple syrup. Try to use as little as possible and taste the batter as you go. Vanilla extract adds to the sweet sensation without adding sugar so use plenty...combine ingredients really well.

For waffles, we use coconut oil to grease our waffle iron, heat it really well, pour in the batter and cook 'em up. (For absolutely complete disclosure, two kids chose dark chocolate chunks which we put on the batter after pouring it and covered with more batter~otherwise, the chocolate will make a mess of the waffle iron.) My biggest problem with waffles is that I get a line of four kids and one husband that never lets up. We split the waffles for two people but next thing you know, that line is there again...anyway, while these were heavy and more filling than our usual fare, they are high fiber, high protein, gluten free and have vitamin C and beta carotene, so they are pretty much guiltless...cozy food for winter special occasions...