Healthy Pineapple Banana Waffles
Yesterday, our 4yo hopped up on his kitchen stool and said, “I’m hungry.” Two seconds later, our 2yo climbed up on his stool and said, “I’m hungry.”
Our 4yo I believed. But our 2yo simply repeats whatever his brother says. We refer to him as “the two second pause.” Sometimes, his mimicry is nice. If we send our 4yo to time-out, our 2yo indignantly follows (a two-for-one deal). But at other times, they feed off each another, like two tornados crossing paths.
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I set their plates out and gave them grapes, carrots, and a slice of toast with peanut butter on it. Then I poured milk. Organic milk, which costs $5.99 per gallon at SuperTarget. Three bites in our 4yo announced, “I’m done.” And then, sure enough, two seconds later, our 2yo echoed, “I’m done.”
“You’re not done,” I said, staring down at their plates. Ever since I started paying attention to my grocery bill, I automatically calculate what their waste is costing me.
“I’m full,” our 4yo said. And as frustrated as I was, I thought, who am I to contradict him? I’m not going to be looking over his shoulder all his life. He needs to learn to trust his body. Forcing him to eat when he’s not hungry is just as much of a waste of food as throwing it in the garbage.
Eating his leftovers (I pretend I’m throwing the chicken nuggets away but usually they end up in my mouth) isn’t good for me. And these days, given its price, organic milk is more precious to me than breast milk. I can’t bare to dump the remainder down the drain.
So, I’ve started composting on my kitchen counter. I store leftover fruit in one container and leftover veggies in another (I draw the line at my friends’ kids food; what they don’t eat at my house goes in the garbage). I store the leftover milk in the fridge, and try not to think about what washed out of their mouths and into it.
Then I bake with the leftovers. Cooking kills all germs, right?
Today I made waffles. Waffles are a great breakfast food because you can use your leftovers as snacks or in school lunches. I cool them on a rack so they don’t get soggy.
My friend Meg says pineapple covers up the taste of anything, so today I decided to test her theory. I sliced up a green pepper that was about to go bad and put it in our blender, along with two tablespoons of pineapple.
I made additional substitutions to make the waffles healthier:
Adapted from How to Cook Everything:
1 3/4 cup unbleached flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 cups milk (sometimes, I use yogurt if I need to clean out my fridge)
1 egg
1 banana (to replace one egg)
3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 tablespoon applesauce (to replace 1 tablespoon of butter)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 whole green pepper (optional)
2 tablespoons pineapple (only if you put something rank in there)
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Verdict: You could smell the green pepper, but the pineapple covered up the taste. Matt said they were okay. They were definitely edible; the kids didn’t notice the difference plain or with syrup on them. I would make them again, skipping the green pepper.
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Thanks for the hint (pineapple covers up anything), and the laugh for the day. I never knew that my waffles were a missed opportunity to add veggies for the five-a-day.