Meatless Fridays: Mommy Waffles with Golden Fruit Salad

My kids love waffles, and the frozen ones can get expensive. We purchased a waffle iron so we could make our own. It takes about 4 minutes to make waffles. While it’s true that you can only cook 2 at a time, it’s easy to keep waffles warm by placing a rack on top of a cookie sheet in a warm oven. Place just-cooked waffles on the rack while you make the next batch.

They still like those frozen waffles, but my kids have named these “Mommy Waffles” even though they all think they’re too old to call me “Mommy.” These waffles go great with fruit salad on a Breakfast-for-Dinner night.

Don’t be discouraged by the egg-separating step. The beaten egg whites makes these waffles really light and fluffy, and it’s not hard to accomplish!

“Mommy Waffles”

2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 TBL sugar
3 eggs, separated
1 3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup oil

Mix dry ingredients. Combine egg yolks, milk, vanilla and oil. Add to dry ingredients. In a small metal bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form (this will take a few minutes); fold in. Cook on preheated waffle iron.
On my waffle iron, they took 4 minutes. This recipe made 18 waffles.

OPTIONAL:  if you like different varieties of waffles, add ONE of these to the batter before folding in the egg whites:

• 1 tsp cinnamon, apple-pie spice or pumpkin-pie spice
• ½ cup fresh or frozen blueberries
• ½ cup mini chocolate chips
• ½ cup finely-chopped strawberries
• ½ cup finely-chopped walnuts, hazelnuts or pecans

Waffle-Iron Survival Tip:  Place a cookie sheet on your table or kitchen counter. Set waffle iron at one end, and keep your batter bowl at the other. All drips or overflow will land on the cookie sheet for easy cleanup.

Golden Fruit Salad

Lisa Hendey's suggestion for a side dish includes any seasonal fruit. She recently shared this simple recipe:

"Sunny Gold" brand watermelon
Ripe Strawberries

Chop fruit fresh from the refrigerator. Serve chilled alongside or on top of Mommy Waffles.

Copyright 2013 Barb Szyszkiewicz