Whole Grain Buttermilk Waffles and Raspberry Sauce

Happy Fathers Day, Scotty!! Here is one of my Fathers Day gifts for my sweet husband, breakfast in bed. I chose waffles, whip cream, and berries, for Scottie's sweet tooth. I don't normally like to use a lot of dairy when cooking, but I made an exception for Fathers Day. The waffles had a yummy whole grain taste, that paired well with the light whip cream, and raspberry sauce. The waffles are really good, but a bit heavy, I think I will play around with the recipe a little bit more to get it perfect.

I added chia seeds and flax instead of eggs. I just taught a class for UVU, and we talked about chia seeds and how good they are for you so I decided to try them in this recipe. I have used chia seeds in breads and granola bars, and other baked goods and they make baked products rise and make them moist. Chia seeds are so good for you. They have more omega 3's than salmon, and more anti oxidants than blue berries. They also keep you hydrated longer because they asorb water in your body. Athletes use them for endurance.

I didn't cook the sauce to give the meal live enzymes to help digest the waffles. That is something I have been trying to do with all of my meals. Make sure that every meal has something not cooked to help with live enzymes necessary to digest food.

Here they are in bed, Isaiah with Daddy eating his waffles. He is so cute, whenever he takes a bite of something he likes he says, mmmm.

His jammies say handsome like daddy, which is SO true!!

Whole Grain Waffles

These waffles are pretty thick, if you want a thinner waffle, add more liquid to the batter. If you don't have flax and chia seeds, go ahead and add 2 eggs in the batter.

Whisk together dry ingredients in a bowl:

2 C whole grain flour ( I used 1 C teff, 1 C oat, but 2 C whole wheat would work just fine)

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 C buttermilk powder*

Wet ingredients:

2 T flax or chia seeds ( or 2 eggs)

1 3/4-2 C water

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/2 C plain yogurt

2 tsp agave

2 T olive oil

Combine the chia seeds and flax in a blender with the water. Let them sit while you add and whisk the dry ingredients. Once you are done with the dry ingredients, add the vanilla and yogurt to the blender. Blend all of the ingredients well. Mix together the wet and dry ingredients until just combined. The waffle batter is pretty thick, if you want a thinner batter add more liquid. Add the batter to a hot waffle maker, and spread it out (it is thick). Cook a little longer than the waffle machine says to ensure it is cooked all the way through. Top with whip cream and berry sauce.

*You can find buttermilk powder in the baking aisle. If you don't have buttermilk powder you could substitute 1 3/4-2 C of buttermilk instead of water. Or to cut out the dairy you could add 1 3/4 C nut milk and 1 1/2 T vinegar.

Agave Whip Cream

1 C whipping cream

2T agave

1/2 tsp vanilla

Combine the whip cream agave and vanilla in a cold metal bowl. Whip with a hand held beater until the cream makes stiff peaks.

Berry Sauce

3 C raspberries

1 tsp lemon juice

1/4 C agave

Blend until smooth. You need a high powered blender for this to break down the rasberry seeds, or you could do it in a normal blender and just have little seeds, like jam.

Naturally Sweetened Chocolate Cake with Whip Cream Frosting

I made this birthday cake for my friend's daughter. My poor friend is on bed rest and can't do anything but lay on her side. She asked me to make a birthday cake for her daughters birthday, as a surprise. I was honored to make it. My friend eats only whole grains, and natural sweeteners. So this cake of course was made with natural sweeteners, and whole grains. The cake itself was very rich, and had an intense dark chocolate flavor. To lighten it up I added marshmallow frosting in between the layers, and topped it all with a chocolate whip cream frosting. What baked good doesn't improve with a little frosting? Making frosting without refined sugar can be kind of a trick to get the right consistency. Luckily I found two frosting recipes that fit the bill. The marshmallow frosting is from elana's pantry, and the whip cream frosting is from 101 cookbooks.

Looking back I think the cake would be a little bit better as a sheet cake, under baking it slightly so it is still moist. I think I slightly over did the baking trying to make sure that it was done all the way through. Also the whip cream frosting tends to separate when you add the dark chocolate so make it right before you are going to serve it, or add cocoa powder, instead of dark chocolate so that it won't separate. My friend also thought maybe you could mix all of the ingredients for the frosting, chill all of them, and then try whipping it, so that it wouldn't separate, who knows it's worth a try.

Below is the chocolate cake recipe from 101 cookbooks with my adaptations:

Chocolate Cake

2 1/2 cups whole grain flour ( I used kamut)

3/4 C cocoa powder (make sure this is quality because the taste affects the cake)

1 T baking powder

3/4 tsp sea salt (fine grain)

1/2 C barely melted coconut oil

1 C agave (or maple syrup)

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 C coconut milk, room temp.

1 dark chocolate bar finely chopped, (mine was 3.5 oz), she uses 8 oz.-(that is a lot of chocolate)

Preheat oven to 350 F with a rack in the middle of the oven. Grease and flour 2 round cake pans. Sift the flour, ,cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl whisk together the coconut oil and agave or maple syrup. Whisk in the eggs, vanilla, and coconut milk. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, stir to just combine, DON"T overstir. Fold in the chopped chocolate, gently. Pour into the baking pans and bake for 30-40 minutes. Take out when a tooth pick comes out clean. If doing a sheet cake slightly underbake it and pull it out when a tooth pick inserted still has a few crumbs that stick to it. Let cake cool COMPLETELY before frosting it or trying to get it out of the pans.

Frost the in between the layers with marshmallow frosting (recipe below), and cover the whole thing with chocolate whip cream frosting, top with fresh berries.

Marshmallow Frosting

2 egg whites

1/2 C agave

Whip the egg whites until they form stiff peaks with a hand mixer on high speed. Once the egg whites have formed stiff peaks, pour in the agave in a slow drizzle while beating. The frosting keeps for 48 hours in the fridge, but it will separate, in that case beat it again until it comes back together.

Chocolate Whipped Cream Frosting

(taken from 101 cookbooks)

2 ounces bittersweet chocolate (chopped)
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup heavy cream, whipped to stiff peaks

To make the frosting melt the chocolate in a double-boiler, or in a bowl placed over a pan of boiling water. In a medium bowl beat the butter until smooth and fluffy. Beat in the maple syrup. Then add the melted chocolate. Stir until silky smooth - any flecks of butter should be melted. Pour the chocolate mixture over the whipped cream and fold the chocolate into the cream. Keep going until the chocolate is well incorporated. Use an offset spatula to frost the completely cooled cake. If the cake is at all warm, the frosting will weep and melt. It still tastes good, but isn't what you're after.

Makes one 8x8 or 9x9 cake.

Easy Fruit Salad

 

This is such a good breakfast, mid day snack, or dessert!! There has been a ton of strawberries on sale lately, and other berries, so I have been eating this yummy salad almost daily.

5 strawberries
1 mini pineapple
1 oarnge
1 banana
1 mango
1/4 C walnuts
1/4 C coconut**
drizzle of honey

Chop up the fruit, and walnuts, put in a bowl. Drizzle with honey, and the coconut. Simple, but so delicious.

Any fruit would be good in this, just throw whatever you have in on hand.

** Make sure the coconut is not sweetened, you can get it at the health food store, look for it in the bulk section. Coconut that is sweetened is soaked in high fructose corn syrup and a lot of other preservatives, who knew!!

Money saving tip: When fruit is on sale, buy double or triple of it, and freeze half of it for smoothies