Sweet Potato Waffles

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Healthy and economical have been on my mind a lot lately when it comes to meal planning.  I love so many things about a Paleo diet, but I have a few hang-ups as well.  First of all, I don’t like meat to be in all my meals.  It isn’t sustainable, budget-friendly, or, in my opinion, the healthiest way to eat. I do like meatless Paleo meals, but I do find I have to eat a lot to get full. My second problem with all-paleo is the cost.  It isn’t affordable for our family, especially when I like to buy some things organic.  This leads into my last problem, which is sharing meals with friends.  I want food that I can make in large quantities so we can share with other people in our lives.  So, I have been trying to find and develop recipes that are still healthy, often highlight veggies, but are affordable as well.  I won’t be posting quite as many grain free recipes, although I’m not giving them up entirely.  I still often eat grain-free, but I’ve been adding in some select foods that help round out meals. I make a lot of sourdough bread these days.  I love homemade sourdough, as does the fam.  I find that fresh sourdough and cheese next to a vegetable soup is one of our favorite meals.  Healthy, affordable, filling.  

This waffle recipe contains two full sweet potatoes.  It feels like a sneaky healthy recipe since the kids are just pumped to be eating waffles.  Pure maple syrup is something I won’t abandon, so that is what I suggest for your topping!

Sweet Potato Waffles

serves 4


Ingredients:

2 medium to large sweet potatoes, well-cooked and cooled (I microwaved mine)

1 1/2 c milk (dairy or non-dairy)

2 eggs

1/4 c butter, melted plus some for topping

3/4 t salt

1 1/2 t baking soda

 1 t cinnamon

2 c spelt flour (or regular flour)

Directions:

  1. Cook your potatoes any way you like. I find the microwave to be easy in this case. Make sure they are plenty soft.

  2. Scoop the sweet potatoes out of the skin and place in a medium bowl. It’s ok if the potatoes are warm, just don’t have them too hot that you’ll burn yourself or cook your eggs.

  3. Stir the potatoes together with the milk until well combined and not too lumpy.

  4. Whisk the eggs in a separate small bowl and then add them into the sweet potato mixture.

  5. Add the melted butter and stir everything until well combined.

  6. Add the salt, baking soda, and cinnamon and stir well.

  7. Mix the flour into the rest of the batter.

  8. Grease your waffle iron between every waffle. Scoop about 1/2 c batter for each waffle. Serve with butter and pure maple syrup.

Summer Baked Oatmeal (gluten & dairy free)

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We just finished a family bike ride to the lake and I am exhausted.  Hauling kids and beach supplies in a bike trailer has to be a pretty great workout.  We made it to the Lake early this morning for a quick dip.  The water was cold and the sun stayed behind clouds but we have a family motto about jumping in the lake: “It’s always worth it.”  That jump in, even once, is a quick reset for my body.  It’s one of my favorite parts about living on Lake Superior.

We were all starving when we got home.  Thankfully, I was prepared and had a new baked oatmeal recipe ready on the counter! Something I’m really focusing on with recipes these days is making them budget-friendly.  I had a revelation recently.  My kids are getting older and eating more food BUT my income is not increasing along with this.  It seems unfair. :) Thankfully, I love to be creative in the kitchen so I’ll consider this my next challenge.  My kids love oatmeal and would probably eat it for every meal.  Sadly, I don’t agree, so I wanted to make something a little more interesting. Most baked oatmeal recipes are packed with sugar. My goal was to make one with good ingredients that, selfishly, I would also enjoy eating.  This recipe totally nailed it.  The fruit in it makes it taste really fresh.  You could easily mix up the fruit you use, any kind of berry would work.  I’m loving all the summer fruit that’s on sale right now so I wanted to use that up.  We ate this plain, but you could also pour a little cream or milk over the top for something different!


Summer Baked Oatmeal

9 servings

Ingredients:

1 can coconut milk

1/4 c maple syrup plus 2 T

2 eggs

1 t vanilla

1/2 t salt

2 c oats

1 T chia seeds

1 c almond flour

1/2 t baking powder

1/2 c blueberries

1 nectarine, chopped into 1/2” pieces

Directions:

  1. Heat oven to 375 F

  2. In a large bowl, mix the coconut milk, syrup, and vanilla.

  3. Add the eggs and whisk well to combine.

  4. Stir together the dry ingredients (salt, oats, chia seeds, almond flour, baking bowder) in another bowl and pour into the wet ingredients

  5. Stir to combine

  6. Add the blueberries and nectarines and stir to combine

  7. Pour into a greased 9x9” pan

  8. Bake for 45 min, or until knife inserted comes out clean

  9. Remove from oven and drizzle 2 T maple syrup on top

  10. Let cool slightly before serving

  11. Serve as is or pour on a little milk or cream






Chocolate Almond Granola

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I’m still here!  I do still cook, I promise.  I just haven’t been documenting things the same way these days!  When life is busy, prioritizing is a must.  I have been learning the art of “yes” and “no.”  Some things in life are an absolute “yes”: faith, family, relationships, rest.  And some less obvious things more personal to me: music, dinner with friends, dates with my husband.  I have been learning what things I have to prioritize in life in order to stay healthy and whole.  Consequently, this means saying “no” to quite a few things as well.  One of those things is time on my computer.  I have to be on a computer a lot at work.  Once I’m home, it’s just not healthy for me to be interacting with a screen again.  I have to be really careful with my phone too.  I really love documenting my life with food, but it has been on hold for awhile.  I’m hoping to start incorporating it more again, especially as things slow down this summer.  As you may know, I really love the challenge of making food for my family that is healthy, delicious, and affordable.  The latter is getting more challenging all the time.  Right now, I am responsible for a lot of meals every day: breakfast for 3 kids & 2 adults, packed lunches for those same 5 people, separate extra snacks for 2 kids, after school snacks, and dinner for the same 5.  It’s taken me quite some time to get into a good routine with all this.  But I am discovering better ways to stay on top of things and am coming up with some delicious recipes to help out.

This recipe came from spring break.  It was a cold spring break here in Duluth.  I was fine with it.  One of the great thing about kids is they want to go outside no matter what.  So, despite the frigid days, we spent time on the beach, biking, and fishing.  I also made this delicious chocolate granola.  It could be dessert or breakfast.  It’s chocolatey enough to leave the kids with leftover chocolate milk in their cereal bowls, which is the sign of a good chocolate cereal.

Chocolate Almond Granola

30 min


Ingredients:

3 c regular rolled oats

1 c almonds, chopped

1/3 c cocoa powder

4 T butter

1/3 c maple syrup

2 t vanilla 

1/4 t salt


Directions:

  1. Heat oven to 375 F

  2. Stir oats, almonds, cocoa powder, and salt together in a large bowl

  3. Melt butter in small bowl and stir in the maple syrup and vanilla

  4. Pour the butter combo over the oats and stir well until everything is evenly coated

  5. Lightly grease a 9x13 pan 

  6. Pour the granola into the pan and press it evenly into it.

  7. Bake for 22 minutes

  8. Remove the pan from the oven and let the granola cool in the pan completely before removing. After this, you’ll be able to break it up into bigger chunks if you desire!