The key to winning marathons might just be a stop at the Waffle House, if 1978 Boston Marathon winner Gayle Barron is to be believed. According to this Atlanta Journal-Constitution piece, the Atlanta woman discovered the chain best known for its fluffy waffles and late hours a decade ago after a session with her running group. WaHo, as it is known to devotees, discovered Barron's fandom and declared her their spokeswoman. She touts the tastiness and energy boost of her thrice-weekly fix of grilled chicken, hash browns and scrambled eggs.
A member of the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, Barron has won the Atlanta marathon five times and still runs 15 to 20 miles per week. And though a stickler might note these runs are not, er, waffle-powered (a nutritionist notes Barron's meal is heavy in protein), some might say this is a pleasant contrast to hardcore athletes who consume raw egg milkshakes and dry, so-called performance bars. Pass the syrup.
By the time you lug yourself out of bed at 11 a.m. on a Sunday, do you really want to spend another 30 minutes prepping brunch before you start cooking? Try using make-ahead brunch recipes for an even more relaxing weekend morning.
I know it's still early in the week, but it's never too early to start thinking about what you want to cook this weekend. Tuesday afternoon is the perfect time to start planning your lazy Sunday morning meal! If you maintain your own sourdough starter, this recipe is a sure winner. If you don't, why not start one!
If you have your own starter, sourdough waffles are a great way to use up some of the excess that you might normally throw away. This recipe comes courtesy of Bakers' Banter, and you can find great images to walk you through the whole recipe.
I think sourdough waffles are an excellent idea. I'm definitely trying them this weekend, even though I don't keep my own starter. Mixing one half cup each of flour and water with the tiniest pinch of yeast about 3-6 hours before you need to use it should supply the amount of starter needed. The waffles won't taste exactly the same, but it should be pretty close.
For years, I believed that pumpkins were only good for carving. The thick, brownish-orange look and smell of a pumpkin pie was never appealing, so I generally stayed away from anything related to the orange squash. But then I tried an exclusive Williams Sonoma pumpkin spice waffle and pancake mix and fell in love. The mix made the best pancakes, and absolutely divine waffles. Then the buggers added pecans, which put the mix on my nut allergy-led Don't-Eat list.
Luckily, there are other options. First of all, you can make your own. We shared one version back in 2005, and there's also PinchMySalt's version and this one at Epicurious. Or, you can get other ready-to-go mixes. There are, thankfully, tons of options out there -- it's just a matter of picking one of the manychoices.
I'm always on the lookout for the mix or recipe that will replace my lost love (maybe it's above?), so please comment below with all tasty, nut-free suggestions!
Being a foodie with a degree in English, not much is better than the mixture of food and words. Usually, that manifests in a wonderfully written essay or book, but sometimes it comes out in the actual making of food.
BoingBoing has posted about a designer named Chris Dimino who took an old Corona typewriter and made it into a waffle maker called the Corona-Matic. How cool is that? Boring circular waffles will never seem as good now. Unfortunately, there's no DIY instructions yet (not that I have the prowess to pull them off), but here's to hoping this could become a little business -- I'm not talking about fake keyboards, but those actual typewriters repurposed into wonderful machines of waffle goodness. Who's with me?
Yesterday morning, I made pancakes even though I really wanted waffles. The idea of digging around the coat closet (my kitchen storage annex) in order to pull out the waffle iron felt like far more effort that I could muster up on a lazy Saturday morning and so I opted for pancakes, made from mix stirred up according to my father's special recipe. They have honey toasted wheat germ, cornmeal and uncooked millet in them and are lightly sweetened with a touch of cane sugar. My pancakes were delicious, but this picture of a batch of cornmeal ricotta waffles, taken last fall by Jeannette of Everybody Likes Sandwiches, makes me think it might just be worth the effort to pull out the waffle maker after all.
What a fantastic idea: splitting waffles into individual squares and filling them with chutney! Genius.
The recipe comes to us from Vegalicious, and you'll find a recipe for the waffles as well as for the chutney.
Hmm - what if we can't find papayas? Perhaps mangoes would be a good substitute?
And just a reminder: this is most definitely a vegan recipe, so the recipe calls for "egg replacements" instead of eggs, as well as soy milk and soy margarine. And before you go changing the ingredients to real-milk products, try it vegan! You might just like it...
In the world of frozen food, the one frozen meal that has always perplexed me is the frozen breakfast. Why? Why do we make breakfast from the freezer?! Of all the meals in a day, breakfast is quite possibly the easiest one to make "from scratch." Heck, how hard is it to pop two slices of bread into the toaster? And yet the frozen food aisle has an entire section dedicated to frozen eggs with bacon, frozen breakfast sandwiches, frozen oatmeal. What is so difficult about making oatmeal that we have to turn to the frozen stuff?!
However, there is one frozen breakfast item that gets an excuse: the frozen waffle.
Waffles, you see, are not all that convenient to make. They're not difficult, but they do require the preparation of a batter as well as their very own, uni-jobber piece of equipment, a waffle-maker. A frozen waffle, if you find the right one, will not be anywhere close to as good as homemade, but are probably the least lame of the frozen breakfast foods. (About frozen pancakes, we are a little less forgiving because you don't need a special gadget or tool to make pancakes.)
Alright, full disclosure time: I made this rockin' buckwheat waffle from *cough* a mix *cough*. But the cinnamon-sugar apples? Totally my own.
I wanted to supplement the waffle with something from the fruit and veggie group, hence the apple addition. I rough-chopped and simmered the apple (an organic Gala) in a 1/4 cup of water until the pieces were soft, and then sprinkled it with a pinch each of nutmeg, cinnamon, granulated sugar and cloves, and them simmered for another minute or two. I drained the apples on a paper towel, lest the waffle get soggy.
Obviously, dear readers, I am in desperate need of a mix-less recipe for whole wheat or buckwheat waffles. Any suggestions?
Today is National Maple Syrup Day, and while it's common to pour maple syrup on breakfast foods such as pancakes and waffles, maybe we can do something a little bit different today.
You could make a Monte Cristo Sandwich, though the recipesI'mfindingonline don't have maple syrup listed in the ingredients. That's the way I've had them in the past, so maybe you can try it that way too. Having pasta tonight? Forget all about tomato sauce and put some maple syrup on it! Making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? Maybe a dollop or two of maple syrup might make things interesting.
And then top it off with a cocktail made with maple syrup, The Misty Maple Leaf.
There is an annual debate in my house about what to have for breakfast on Thanksgiving morning. Half my family believes that that last thing we want to eat is anything that has to do with Thanksgiving since we'll be gorging ourselves on the same foods for three weeks straight (or however long the leftovers last). The other half of my family thinks that the whole day should be all about autumnal Thanksgiving foods, including breakfast. I change my mind every year, but this year, I may go with the latter half of my family just for Pumpkin Waffles, as made and blogged by Smitten Kitchen. The kicker in the recipe? Fluffy whipped egg whites that make the waffle batter light and airy.
Long before I was born, my dad worked at the International House of Pancakes as a short order cook. Because of that experience, he developed something of an intense pancake and waffle philosophy that included what should go into the batter, how they should best be cooked and what belonged on top of a pancake or waffle. Thanks to him, I grew up eating some really excellent breakfast goods.
It is also because of my dad that I am slightly alarmed by the Batter Blaster. It is a spray canister of pancake/waffle batter that you simply "point, blast and cook!" Oh, and did I mention that it's organic (because if it's organic then it must be good for you)? I believe that if you don't have the time to stir up some batter and cook it, then it's best to choose something else for your breakfast. Or when you make pancakes or waffles on the weekends, make a few extra to freeze for quick defrosting on busy mornings.
Has anyone tried this product? Are you intrigued or repulsed (or somewhere in between)?
Over on my personal blog, I played a game with my readers, and one of the questions that I asked them was about their breakfast preferences: Do you prefer savory or sweet?
A long time ago, I wouldn't have eaten anything other than pancakes, waffles, or French toast dripping with sugared fruits, maple syrup, and whipped cream. These days, however, I find those types of breakfasts more like dessert than a way to start the day. Is it my old age? Who knows? Regardless, I absolutely love a delicious breakfast of eggs in any format, whether it's huevos rancheros, eggs Benedict, an omelet stuffed with cheese and vegetables or simple scrambled eggs.
Which do you prefer for breakfast: savory or sweet?
It's always a struggle for me at breakfast/brunch time. Do I go savory and get an omelet made with farm fresh eggs and stuffed with garden vegetables? Or do I go sweet and basically eat something akin to a dessert in the morning like fluffy pancakes (I mean the word "cake" is in the name) dripping with golden syrup? If I were faced with the image of a chocolate waffle from Daddy O's in Toronto, artfully topped with red ripe strawberries, made up with gorgeous puffs of whipped cream, and dripping with chocolate sauce, and served on a contrasting blue plate, it would be no contest.
Forgive me Slashfoodies, for posting two breakfast food porn in succession. I can't help it because I think I am going through withdrawal for not having had a true Easter brunch yesterday (we had Easter lunch at 2 PM which was fabulicious, but I was hoping for breakfast foods).
Smitten Kitchen made these Rich Buttermilk Waffles from Mark Bittman after she couldn't find a recipe that she had read a long time ago. Though it isn't exactly the same -- not very sweet and with a soft texture -- she was slightly disappointed that the outside of the waffle didn't have a crunch.
Hey, even if these weren't that waffle, I'll take it!
For years, I believed that pumpkins were only good for carving. The thick, brownish-orange look and smell of a pumpkin pie was never appealing, so I generally stayed away from anything related to the orange squash. But then I tried an exclusive Williams Sonoma pumpkin spice waffle and pancake mix and fell in love. The mix made the best pancakes, and absolutely divine waffles. Then the buggers added pecans, which put the mix on my nut allergy-led Don't-Eat list. 
Today is National Maple Syrup Day, and while it's common to pour maple syrup on breakfast foods such as pancakes and waffles, maybe we can do something a little bit different today.
Long before I was born, my dad worked at the International House of Pancakes as a short order cook. Because of that experience, he developed something of an intense pancake and waffle philosophy that included what should go into the batter, how they should best be cooked and what belonged on top of a pancake or waffle. Thanks to him, I grew up eating some really excellent breakfast goods. 
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