breakfast blogger

Living in the Pacific Northwestern section of the United States has been pretty tough lately. 100 degree temperatures are just not something we’re used to, considering 10 months of the year we’re wishing that the rain would stop just long enough to run and check the mail.

This last week, we’ve been stuck with the heat. Dawn to dusk and back again, the mercury hasn’t gone below 60 Degrees Fahrenheit, at best.

For those of us who live without air conditioning, and rely on the few fans we have to most efficiently cool our living spaces, limiting our heat producing activities basically every hour that the sun is up… This means the oven and stove top are just off limits during the waking hours.
After a week of cold cereal for breakfast, I finally had enough. I needed something warm in the morning. Something fresh. Something that didn’t come from a can, or require the usage of my microwave or toaster, because even they put off a lot of heat, which I normally wouldn’t notice if I wasn’t living on the surface of the sun already this summer.
So I dug through everything in my kitchen. Every cabinet, every drawer. I shuffled through gadgets and gizmos and Pannini Makers and George Forman grills, and then I found it. The perfect, all in one, lowest radiant heat producing, most heat efficient multi tasking cooking device ever created. It was as if the heavens opened and down it came with guilded wings…
The Waffler.

And that is exactly what I used to make today’s breakfast. No other heat producing surfaces needed.

The MacGyver Waffle Sandwich-

I know, I know, they make specialty machines that you can use to do the same thing, but… do you really want to buy a special machine for that? Its just as easy to use your regular waffle iron. I mean, doesn’t everyone have one? I personally have two. I chose to use the belgian style waffler for this project, simply because I wanted more doughy waffle crust. Any waffler will do. For those of us here in the Northwest you can buy a cheap one just about anywhere for under $10 USD.

So first, I set about making the outside of the sandwich. The waffles. I made some cheddar cheese waffles, an idea I got from the brilliant Brillynn of Jumbo Empanadas (she loves waffles too, you should check out her waffle sandwich) I could have eaten these by themselves, but why stop there-

When you’re done with the waffles, just crack an egg (or scramble them in a bowl) directly into the waffle iron pockets, close, and in a matter of no more than a minute, you’ve got a nice waffled egg, perfect for the waffle sandwich.

Last, but not least, you can actually waffle your bacon. This is why I call this the MacGyver waffle sandwich, because where MacGyver can make a bomb with a toothpick, some tin foil and a coconut- I can make an entire breakfast sandwich with one single machine. All from scratch, all fresh, all delicious.

Making breakfast today used minimal energy, required minimal dishes and minimal cleanup, since everything was made using one single device.

Oh yeah, did I mention its delicious?

So here’s a great recipe for cheddar waffles-

1 cup milk
4 eggs
1/2 cup melted butter
2 cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup shredded cheddar (any cheese will work, depending on your taste)

Whisk together the liquid ingredients. Add the salt and baking powder to the flour, and then stir the flour mixture into the liquid mixture. Lastly, add the cheese a quarter cup at a time, stirring lightly between each addition, so it doesn’t form a big cheesy glob in the center of the batter.

All depending, this should make about 5 bread slice shaped waffles (my iron makes 5 inch square waffles, and it made 5 of them)

You can add whatever you like to the inside of your waffle sandwich, and enjoy it without heating up the whole house, or being at the mercy of whatever “extra” ingredients you’d find in a store bought breakfast sandwich.

Until next time, when I’ll bring you more adventures in waffleing (Can anyone say WaffleOmlettes?)-

ENJOY!

-A.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 14th, 2007 at 9:19 pm and is filed under Breakfasts, Recipes, Muffin's Recipes, Muffin's Breakfasts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.