OYMST Day #5: Squashy McWaffles

Much like early veganism, Operation Yank My Sweet Tooth is forcing me to come up with creative solutions to replace my usual meals that have way too much sugar. Sometimes it is a hit. Other times, I get a miss. This is a little of both. I tried to make protein rich waffles using quinoa, soy, and garbanzo flour, but the waffles were very moist, almost too moist. Perhaps more flour in the future? I'll have to keep going back to the mixing bowl and see what happens.

For now, give these a try. I imagine they'd make better pancakes. Tell me what you think!
*The crushed rice krispies make this recipe NOT GF, just wheat free. If you are a person who cannot tolerate barley-(and many cereals contain barley malt), try a rice cereal that doesn't include it or use rice flour.

Squashy McWaffles w/ Mango Balsamic Topping

Dry Ingredients
1/3 c quinoa flour
1/3 c rice krispies, crushed or pulverized in a food processor
1/3 c garbanzo flour
1/4 c potato starch
1/4 c soy flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 t cinnamon
2 pinches garam masala
2 pinches clove powder


Wet Ingredients-(blend in a blender or food processor)
1T brown rice syrup
1T canola oil
1 can light coconut milk
1/4 c soy milk (any non dairy milk will do)
2T ground flax seeds
1 c roasted butternut squash (I'm also sure pumpkin or sweet potatoes would be fine)

Balsamic Mango Topping:
1 mango, peeled, pitted, and pureed
1/2 t balsamic vinegar

Mix wet and dry together. The batter will be really, really thick. Spoon 1/2 c in your waffle maker (mine is a cheapy square one) and follow your manufacturer's instructions. SPRAY that iron with canola spray, do you hear me? Mine took about 5 minutes--but they stuck to the iron. They're super moist the moment you eat them, but if you store in fridge for later, they seem to be better toasted in the toaster oven.

For the topping:
In a small sauce pan, heat the pureed mango and balsamic over med heat until you get a nice soft boil. The vinegar really makes the mango do its thang! Spoon over your waffle and top with a little vanilla soy yogurt and extra dash of cinnamon.

Would you buy a 'zine dedicated to waffles and pancakes? Would you prefer paper copy or paying for a PDF download to save trees?

beautiful failures

isn't this a pretty dish? we had some squash growing outta our compost pile, so i scooped out the insides, baked them and made a pesto style sauce to mix in with it, and stuffed the squash. a twice-baked thing, get it? they looked really darling, but i didn't like how it tasted. perhaps i was taking too much of a gamble on using basil. anyone else have any successes with making squash that isn't sweet? don't get me wrong, i love the plain ol' brown sugar and butter mixture--it just gets kind of tiring. i've also spiced squash using curry, cinnamon, and raisins. recently i made a coconut curry butternut squash soup from you won't believe it's vegan! i liked it, but it seems like all of my curries-(no matter how the ingredients vary) taste the same. vin told me to not worry, because my curry is delicious. but i want to achieve that really good restaurant curry taste. what to do?

so just curious: what are some of your recipe beautiful failures? i shouldn't be so hard on myself. the recipes aren't disasters, i just need to be mindful that tastes are different. point in case-- i made a tortilla pizza-(ill post the pic later) with home made sauce, eggplant, artichoke hearts, olives, banana peppers, and tofu ricotta. it was gorgeous, and tasty. my husband hated it. then there's the jen hates macaroni hates cheese yuk i made. my son loved it! in my recipe binder i make little notes on when i served the dish and gave it a score based on our family taste buds.

don't send the VP after me....

no worries, i haven't eaten any animals. i have been killing insects, specifically large scary spiders and those annoying carpenter ants. i know i shouldn't do it--just take them outside and let them be, but big scary spiders well---they just scare me! ants are unsanitary and annoying. what to do?

the food porn is from a recipe i found online for roasted yellow squash hummus pizza. as usual i improvised because i thought the recipe needed more color. i added green squash, roasted red peppers, and sun dried tomatoes. the pitas were packaged as "for kids" and snowman shaped. vin got 'em on clearance a while ago, so we froze 'em for future use.