Banana Cinnamon Waffles

Banana Cinnamon Waffles

Instead of making a pile of pancakes for us to eat throughout the week, I decided to make waffles. The recipe I normally use for both pancakes and waffles is great but I felt like finding something new or at least changing it up a little this week.

There is a lot of inspiration out there. I tend to start with the word "healthy" when searching for recipes on the internet. This usually gives me options most in line with how I like to cook. It mostly translates into using less oil, cream and sugar or adding fruit, veggies or flax to punch up the overall nutrition of something. For example, pasta sauce. I made a recipe that called for 1/4 cup olive oil once as is and once with two tablespoons of olive oil instead. The sauce tasted the same. Don't get me wrong, olive oil isn't bad but I like to reduce things like oil, butter and sugar where I can. However, I'm not one to replace ALL the oil or butter a recipe calls for with applesauce or yogurt. I've tried it and it just doesn't cut it. On the other hand, replacing sugar with honey or maple syrup has been successful in many things I've made. Also, it's common for waffle and pancake recipes to call for some sugar and oil in the batter. I've had no problems skipping both likely because it's usually only 1 to 3 tablespoons respectively. For me, the fun is in the experimenting. I always learn something new.

These waffles are perfect to eat right away or freeze for later. Serve with maple syrup and butter or your favorite toppings. I had maple syrup and chopped pecans on mine. Yum.


Banana Cinnamon Waffles
Makes 8 to 10 waffles
Adapted from here.

1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups buttermilk*
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large ripe banana, mashed
Cooking spray

Directions

Combine flour, flaxseed, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl, stirring with a fork or whisk.

Combine milk, eggs, and vanilla, stirring with a whisk; add milk mixture to flour mixture, stirring until blended. Fold in mashed banana.

Preheat a waffle iron. Coat iron with cooking spray. Spoon about 1/4 cup batter per waffle onto hot waffle iron, spreading batter to edges. Cook 3 to 4 minutes or until steaming stops; repeat procedure with remaining batter.**


*I haven't tried it with regular milk or non dairy milk but it works. Reduce the amount of milk to 1 1/2 cups when not using buttermilk. I have made this swap in other recipes but will be testing it in this recipe soon. If you beat me to it, let me know how it turns out.

**I have a waffle iron that beeps when the waffles are ready. I set it to the highest (7) setting to ensure some crispiness on the outside.

Bancakes!

Not the best pictures. It was an early morning experiment!

I was looking for pancake muffin recipes and came across a two ingredient "pancake" recipe. After making them, I've decided to call mine "bancakes."

I happen to love bananas. I think if I had to pick a favorite food it would be bananas. I put them in my green smoothies, oatmeal, pancakes, eat them with peanut butter and on top of yogurt and ice cream. But I've found that not everyone shares my love for bananas. If you don't like bananas, this isn't your recipe. But if you love them like I do, you'll dig these. They're actually more like a crepe than a pancake. There's no fluffiness. It's more like sponginess. They come out pretty thin and cook up quickly. I added a teaspoon of pumpkin spice to the mixture because it's my favorite spice. It worked really well. You can add any spice you fancy and top with syrup, fruit or even chocolate chips! I think if you were to blend it finer than I did, you could get them super thin and roll them like crepes.

You'll find quite a few of these pancakes on Pinterest (some with much better pictures than mine!). And once you're there, you'll likely get inspired to make other variations like this one. I'll be trying it tomorrow! So if you like/love bananas, you should give this a try. I ate mine plain, I didn't even use a fork. But like I said, these can be dressed up any way you like.

Bancakes
Adapted from here.
Made three cakes

Ingredients:
1 Banana, ripe and mashed
2 Eggs
1 teaspoon Pumpkin pie spice

Directions:
Combine banana and eggs. Add spice and mix until well blended. Spray a pan with cooking spray (I used coconut oil) and heat to medium. Pour batter in pan as you would pancakes and cook for about a minute per side.

Make and Freeze

Over the past few days, I've gathered a bunch of recipes to make and freeze. This is a necessary strategy for busy moms and dads. Planning ahead makes all the difference. I know because I often don't! When it comes to meal planning anyway. If you want to feed the kids and yourself healthy food consistently, having snacks, sauces and other prepared real food items in the freezer will achieve this goal.

I have done the "make and freeze" in the past but have been a bit of a slacker as of late. Big red flag for me the other day was pouring the last of the mini peanut butter cracker sandwiches from Trader Joe's into a snack cup for my two year old after just buying the box three days prior. Um, that's way too fast for us to blow through a box of convenience snacks. I didn't have any other snacks prepared to give him hence the peanut butter cracker binge. I'm all about my "medium food" philosophy, that's why the crackers we're on hand but not having any homemade options available isn't the balance I strive for.

So yesterday I kicked my plan in motion and started with a new banana bread recipe, utilizing my new jar of coconut oil as well. This recipe came from a blogger that has gained a lot of press over the last year or so, Lisa at 100 Days of Real Food. I've followed her journey since the beginning (originally following her Food Illusion blog) and was split on how I felt about the reality of what she was writing about. Not the "real food" part of it but the reality of busy families and more importantly busy families on a budget achieving the real, organic, grass fed, $5 a loaf bread, etc. lifestyle. It was evident that Lisa had a large budget. Which was the discouraging part. Eventually though, she did a budget series (likely inspired by other readers that shared my feelings) which helped by making what she was writing about seem more feasible.

No matter what, 100 Days of Real Food's strategy is in-line with mine even though I make a few adjustments in approach (weaving in some medium food items) and often times opt for some less expensive versions of certain items. Organic ingredients or not, the best of the best ingredients or not, the recipes Lisa has published are smart and healthy. The few I've tried are fantastic. They are simple and contain no or very few processed ingredients. This Whole Wheat Banana Bread is a perfect example. I made it, the family has tried it and it gets five stars. Don't expect a super sweet piece of banana bread because this is not. You will taste the wheat, the banana and a touch of sweetness from the honey and that is it. Brilliant.

I'll be back soon with more successful recipes to help you fill your freezer. Meanwhile, I encourage you to give this recipe a try. If you do, let me know how it goes.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread
Adapted from here.
Makes one standard loaf

2 1/4 cups White whole wheat flour (or whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour)
3/4 tsp. Baking soda
1/4 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Cinnamon
3 Bananas, very ripe, mashed
1/4 cup Plain yogurt (I used organic fat free)
1/4 cup Honey
2 Eggs
1/3 cup Virgin coconut oil, melted and slightly cooled (swap 1:1 with other oil if desired)
2 tsp. Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat loaf pan with nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside. In medium bowl, combine mashed bananas, yogurt, honey, eggs, coconut oil and vanilla.

Gently fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Be gentle, don't over mix. Pour batter (or scoop - batter is on the thick side) into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Mine was done at 43 minutes. Let cool then slice and enjoy.

If freezing, I suggest cooling completely and slicing prior to putting in freezer.

Good snack

I like to bake and enjoy finding and trying new recipes. Upon searching for a replacement for my husband's afternoon snack of packaged fig bars, I found the following recipe from a great blog called Enlightened Cooking.

This bread is fantastic! I changed one ingredient, link to the original recipe is at the end of this post.

Camilla’s Whole Grain Banana Bread with Flax

2 cups white whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons ground flaxseeds (flax meal)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
1 and 2/3 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/3 cup low fat vanilla yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9x5-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl whisk the flour, flax, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg.

In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer (I hand mixed it) set at medium speed until well blended. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the banana, yogurt, and vanilla until just blended. Stir in the flour mixture by hand until just blended. Spoon batter into prepared pan.

Bake 55-60 minutes (mine is always done at 55 minutes) or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Invert onto wire rack, turn upright, and cool completely. Makes 14 slices/servings. (I slice it into 12 pieces.)

Camilla’s Whole Grain Banana Bread with Flax is a must try recipe. Click here for the original post/recipe.