A few weeks ago I was watching Rachel Ray and she making Chicken and Waffles. Chicken and waffles never appealed to me. I love to mix salty and sweet, but something about the heaviness and the idea of the maple syrup on chicken always turned me off. One thing Rachel did made me go ah huh. It was that she did not make a traditional waffle but made a savory one. Rachel made her waffles with Parmesan cheese. Being more of a savory person myself I thought that was a great idea. I wanted to experiment with making savory waffles. What kind of cheese should I put in? Should I put in meat? Do I use maple syrup on them?
Fast forward to yesterday where I was again watching Food Network but this time I was watching Five Ingredient Fix. Clare Robinson was making a panzanella salad. A panzanella salad is a Tuscan Italian salad using pieces of day old bread, lettuce and tomatoes. I just happened to have finished some test batches of the savory waffles and decided to put the two together.
The final result was a quick, easy, and healthy meal. I cut up the waffle into large cubes. The waffle became a very yummy warm mushy crouton. I concocted a maple citrus dressing. The dressing was a Weight Watcher salad dressing recipe with some modifications. The waffle tasted more like bread than a traditional waffle. I liked the warm waffle with the combination of the cold salad. Perfect and light for spring. The waffle croutons made the simple green salad a meal. The best part was that one batch made six waffles. I froze the other five separately in zip lock bags. Next week when I come home tired from work I can pop one in the toaster oven and have dinner ready in five minutes. I used whole-wheat flour and though it tasted good and hearty. You can use white flour if you want a lighter waffle or don't have any whole-wheat flour on hand.
Recipe: makes six waffles
Ingredients:
1 ½ cup whole-wheat flour
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon honey
1 ½ cups milk
1 egg
½ stick melted butter
1 cup shredded cheese (I used cheddar, leftover from the quiche)
1 cup diced ham (Leftover Easter ham would be perfect)
Method:
- Mix flour and baking powder.
- Mix honey, milk, eggs and butter.
- Combine dry and wet ingredients.
- Mix in cheese and ham.
- Cook waffle batter in waffle iron.
Time: 10 minutes, 25 minutes total
Nutrition Facts: Amount Per Serving
Calories 387.4
Total Fat 24.2 g
Saturated Fat 14.5 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 6.7 g
Cholesterol 107.7 mg
Sodium 671.2 mg
Potassium 215.5 mg
Total Carbohydrate 28.6 g
Dietary Fiber 3.7 g
Sugars 2.9 g
Protein 16.4 g
Weight Watcher points: 9
*The salad I made was a simple green salad made with red leaf lettuce, tomato, and red onion. The dressing was made using 1/3 cup orange juice, 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt/pepper, 1 tablespoon mustard, lemon juice from 1 lemon and 1 tablespoon maple syrup. I didn't really measure the amounts, just tinkered with it till I got it to my liking.