Nourishing Waffles by Ruth Paget
I learned that waffles, even toaster Eggo waffles, contain protein and calcium thanks to the egg and milk in their ingredients in my health and nutrition classes in junior high and high school in Detroit, Michigan where many descendants of Dutch origin live.
According to Wonderful Mini Waffles by Catherine-Gail Reinhard and the editors at Dash, waffles are Dutch and came to what is now the United States in the 1620s when the Dutch founded New Amsterdam (later named New York).
From New York, waffles spread throughout the US especially with Dutch settlers like my teachers and classmates in Detroit. My thin teachers told us to limit ourselves to two small waffles with two tablespoons maple syrup to keep calories down. (Maple syrup was readily available to us in Michigan.)
When I moved to Europe in the late 1980s, I ate warm waffles with powdered sugar on them that I bought from street vendors in Brussels, Belgium as I toured comfortably well off Brussels that is rich on lambic beer and the income of Europe’s civil servants.
Belgium is also a famous country for waffles thanks to the country’s Flemish population. The Flemish are the Catholic cousins of the Protestant Dutch north of Belgium.
Waffles are easy to make at home with a waffle iron. You have to remember to only fill the bottom of the iron with batter. You lower the top lid on top of the base. The waffles ingredients will make the waffle rise to double its size with the heat.
I own an excellent cookbook that has recipes for both sweet and savory waffles (162 pages) that was written as a companion book to go with a Dash mini waffle iron (4-inches in diameter). The cookbook entitled Wonderful Mini Wafles, was written by Catherine-Gail Reinhard. Three sweet waffle recipes stand out to make this book a great purchase.
The stand out recipes include:
-classic recipes made with eggs, milk, flour, and batter (waffle batter is made with more butter than pancakes)
-Belgian Liège waffles made like classic waffles with the addition of vanilla, honey, and cinnamon
-banana bread waffles made with mashed bananas, buttermilk, and brown sugar
Readers who might enjoy this book include:
-young families
-college students
-baby sitters
-lacto-ovo vegetarians
For everything about sweet and savory waffles, Wonderful Mini Waffles by Christine-Gail Reinhard is an excellent purchase.
(Note: To try waffles in Salinas, California check out Waffles Breakfast and Lunch Restaurant on North Main Street by Saigon Noodle and Grocery Outlet or IHOP on West Davis Road by Carl’s Junior, Sonic, Mountain Mike’s, Vallarta Supermarket and taqueria, 24-hour gas station, and AAA.)
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click for Ruth Paget's Books