Sweet Lemon Waffles

I love sunny, weekend mornings. 

To wake up on Saturday and see the sun streaming through the blinds always puts me in a good mood.

Unfortunately, Mr. Vittles only shares this feeling with me one day a week.  He works Sundays March through September.  So on Saturdays, he usually gets up super early to make the most of his day.  Which means that even when I wake up in a good mood (like yesterday) big weekend breakfasts are usually not in the cards.

But yesterday I was really feeling like some waffles, so I decided... why not have breakfast for dinner?

I happen to like my waffles sweet & crispy, so I adapted Mark Bittman's basic waffles to include more sugar and also lemon & coconut milk - Mr. V said they tasted like fortune cookies!  He put real maple syrup on his, but I opted for fresh whipped cream & strawberrries.

Sugar, lemon, whipped cream, strawberries.... whooo-eee!

Ok, so maybe it was more like having dessert for dinner?

Sweet Lemon Waffles
 

• 1 1/2 C. flour
• 2 1/4 t. baking powder
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1/4 C. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 C. milk
• 1/2 C. coconut milk
• 1 t. lemon zest
• 1 t. lemon juice
• 4 T. butter, melted & cooled

 
Preheat waffle iron.  In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients (flour through sugar).  In small bowl, whisk eggs with milks, lemon zest and lemon juice. Add butter and whisk to combine. 

Make a well in dry ingredients, then pour in wet.  Mix just until dry ingredients become wet - do not overmix.  Grease waffle iron and cook according to manufacturer's instructions.  Makes 3-6" waffles.

Recipe Adapted from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything"

Whole Wheat Yogurt Waffles

 
Breakfast for dinner is the best.  We just ate these waffles with scrambled eggs and it was awesome.

But if the meatloaf I posted last week was like having a Big Mac & fries with a Diet Coke, this recipe is like having a green salad with vinegar... and a milkshake.

The waffle itself is super healthy.  Although if you eat it as Mr. Vittles and I did (as pictured), the real whipped cream brings the health factor down a bit.

However, neither of us put syrup on it because I doubled the sugar in the recipe (relax, its only an extra 2 tablespoons for the entire recipe - you'd consume way more than that if you drowned it in syrup!) and added a bit of sugar to the whipped cream.

Mr. V doesn't like healthy foods anyway.

When I asked my standard question during every meal "How is it?" I got the standard answer "It's good."

But when I replied "Good - not bad for being healthy," Mr. Vittles immediately turned his nose up.

"Eww. Healthy."

I think he was only half-kidding, and that's probably being generous.

I guess if I had a job where I was literally running around a golf course for over 12 hours a day, I probably wouldn't care much what I put in my mouth either.

But alas, the activity level at my job equates more to that of a bump on a log.

So it's whole wheat yogurt waffles for me... at least until I get old enough to eat chocolate coconut blondies all day.

Whole Wheat Yogurt Waffles

• 1 C. whole-wheat flour
• 1 C. all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/4 t. baking soda
• 1 1/2 C. nonfat buttermilk**
• 1 C. nonfat plan yogurt**
• 1 large egg, separated
• 1 T. canola oil
• 1 T. vanilla extract, (optional)
• 2 large egg whites
• 1/4 C. sugar (or, you can use 2 T. if you plan on putting syrup over it)

Stir whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a large bowl. Whisk buttermilk, yogurt, the 1 egg yolk, oil and vanilla (if using) in a separate bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon just until moistened.

In a separate bowl, beat the 3 egg whites in a grease-free mixing bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add sugar and continue beating until stiff and glossy. Whisk one-quarter of the beaten egg whites into the batter. Fold in the remaining beaten egg whites with a rubber spatula.

Preheat a waffle iron. Brush the surface lightly with oil or spray with nonstick spray & cook according to waffle iron manufacturer's instructions. (Or: Fill the waffle iron two-thirds full of batter. Cook until the waffles are crisp and golden, 4 to 6 minutes, depending on how you like them.)  Serve with syrup, or powdered sugar, or whipped cream and fruit.

**Note: I made these waffles with nonfat Greek-style plain yogurt, not regular plain.  I like the Greek style because its heavier and has a ton of protein, but I'm sure you could use whichever you have.  Also, I rarely have buttermilk on hand but I always have milk - so I usually put 1 T. of vinegar in the bottom of a liquid measuring cup and add lowfat milk to the 1 C. line.  Stir a little & let sit a few mins and you have your own buttermilk substitute!  Also - if you don't have a waffle iron I bet you could make pancakes with this batter.

Recipe Adapted from Eating Well