Roberto Martin's Whole Wheat Waffles with Maple-Berry Syrup

I'm in love. There, I said it. I have always had one go-to cookbook and blogger, and that is Lindsay Nixon of Happyherbivore.com. But for my birthday I received Roberto Martin's cookbook, and hands down - if the past 9 months of being vegan wasn't enough to convince me that this life style and diet was awesome, this cookbook put me over the edge. Roberto Martin, as perfectly stated by Portia de Rossi in the forward (he's Portia's and Ellen DeGeneres' personal chef), Roberto doesn't make vegan food, he makes food vegan.

Hello there handsome. I love you and your recipes.

This morning we tried Roberto's Whole Wheat Waffle with Maple-Berry Syrup, and WOW.

DIRECT EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK:
"VEGAN COOKING FOR CARNIVORES" BY ROBERTO MARTIN

For the Maple-Berry Syrup - I used 5oz frozen raspberries, 1/4 cup water and 1/8 cup of maple syrup. We let this simmer until it was ready to serve (compared to removing from heat as directed). It was awesome.

We made the following changes to the Waffle recipe:

1) Cut everything in half. I'd consider us having a large waffle iron, and by cutting the recipe in half, we got just over 2.5 waffles. 

2) Used Organic Pasty Flour instead of whole wheat flour, we didn't have whole wheat in the house, but didn't want to lose any elements of texture or flavor by using 100% all-purpose flour.

3) Added 2 servings (26g) of Bob's Red Mill Chia. We try to add chia to any baked goods as it's an easy way to add protein and fiber.

Here is a picture of the crispy goodness still in the waffle pan.

Adding the raspberry sauce.

I tried to use self control, but just dumped the entire batch of raspberry sauce on top of my waffle.
Thank goodness Matt doesn't like berries because I don't think I would have shared either way!!!

I took a breath to take a quick picture. I cooked it for 6 minutes in my waffle iron, I probably could have done 7 minutes, since it was a tad soggy in the middle. It could also be that I added the entire batch of raspberry sauce and it soaked in.. Who knows, who cares, I ate the whole darn thing and then licked my plate clean!

Survival of the Vegan..

So - as you all know - I've gotten a bit lazy when it comes to blog posts. Most of it was a direct result of not having a kitchen, thus making it next to impossible to cook a decent meal, let alone create new recipes. Now, the laziness is stemmed from it being summer time - aka Grill Season, Matt and I have been grilling a lot more often, and while our food is delicious, the world does not need another blog post on how to grill a perfect ear of corn, or how to properly season summer squash.


That being said - I don't want to stop posting all together. I enjoy doing this, and it helps keep me honest and faithful to my new lifestyle. I started thinking about it and decided that I will switch the angle of the blog, and blog about survival tactics. What products are out there, that when worked into a healthy diet, help Vegans ensure that they are getting enough protein, enough fiber, or enough dessert! Let's be honest - we're all fat kids at heart.


While I'd love to start with Protein 101, I'd much rather start with my favorite meals (yes - with an 's') of the day are dessert. So, survival tip of the evening - Speculoos.

http://www.biscoff.com/DirectionsWEB/webcart_itemBuy.php?itemid=0816
This picture came directly from the website, but this brand can be purchased at Wegmans!

I discovered Speculoos this past September when I was in Belgium, in my pre-vegan days. I was sitting on a curb with my boss and co-worker, indulging in a true Belgian Waffle with Speculoos, sliced bananas, and whipped cream. Let me sum this experience up for you in one word. ORGASMIC. Yes, there - I said it. This was probably the most mind blowing meals I have had my entire life. Speculoos is produced by Lotus, and was discovered at one of those random food competitions where you have to create something unique out of a given product. The product you might ask - Delta Airline Cookies. These are a mix between a shortbread cookie and a graham cracker, and some ingenious woman decided to turn it into a spread the consistency of peanut butter for this competition. Lotus (same brand who produces the cookies) picked it up and have been mass producing it ever since. Story of Biscoff: http://www.biscoff.com/DirectionsWEB/webcart_static.php?file=static_biscoffSpread.html


I was thrilled to find out that Speculoos was sold back here in the states, under the name Biscoff Spread. I was even more thrilled to find out it was Certified Vegan! This spread can be eaten directly from the jar (my favorite method), on waffles, on graham crackers with melted chocolate and Ricemellow (think S'More with extra punch), melted as an ice cream topping... the list goes on. Trust me - once you try it, you'll create ways to eat the stuff - it's that good, I promise.