Poifect Waffles

Waffles have an uncanny ability to take me back to my childhood. Many a Sunday morning was spent sitting around the table eating fruit with my mom while my dad fired up the old waffle iron. We’d enjoy each others company and Dad would inevitably be stuck eating the burned waffles, while mom and I enjoyed the golden brown ones. Once we discovered that replacing half the liquid in the batter with seltzer water resulted in the most light, airy and crispy waffles, every time anyone mentioned making waffles, they HAD to be made using seltzer water. So when I started off to make these waffles, I was quite skeptical, as the little voice in the back of my head went “but where’s the seltzer?” Surprisingly enough, with these babies, no seltzer water is needed to get the perfect waffle.

The trick, I’m convinced, is self-rising flour. For some reason, I’ve never used self-rising flour. I have no idea why. But anyways, you can buy self-rising flour, or you can just make your own: for each cup of all-purpose flour, add 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Easy peasy

1 ¼ cups soymilk “buttermilk” (add 1 tbs of lemon juice and then fill up your measuring cup to 1 ¼ cups. Let sit for 10 minutes to curdle)

Egg replacer equivalent to 2 eggs (I used Bob’s Red Mill egg replacer. I stand by its genius)

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon sugar

1 ¾ cups self-rising flour

Grease waffle iron with earth balance and heat. Mix egg replacer and beat in soymilk, baking soda, oil, and sugar mix until smooth. Add flour and beat the crap out of it until no lumps are left. Pour the batter into the waffle iron and cook until steaming stops and waffles are golden brown. We have the “Flip ‘n’ Fluff” waffle iron, which we affectionately call the flip ‘n’ fuck. It makes us giggle and makes great waffles. Who can beat that combo?

Serve waffles with earth balance and syrup, or jam. I had mine with some locally made peach ginger compote, and it rocked my socks off. This is definitely a recipe I will use for years, and makes me love Fannie Flagg for giving me the poifect waffle.

Vegan Buttermilk Hoe Cakes

 
Vegan Buttermilk Hoe Cakes

Sunday. In mine and Lindsey’s house that means pancake day. Really, what is better than sleeping in, rolling out of bed, and munching on fresh pancakes and maple syrup? So, in the spirit of this cooking project, I opened up the WSCC to page 15 and made the “buttermilk pancakes,” which are really more of a hoe cake, since they have cornmeal in them. Apparently hoe cakes are called such because they were originally made on the blade of a hoe over a campfire. So, there’s your history lesson for the day.

Egg replacer for 2 eggs (I use bobs red mill egg replacer for pancakes)

¼ cup vegetable oil

2 cups vanilla soymilk

2 tbs lemon juice

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

¾ cup self rising cornmeal (or ¾ cups cornmeal plus ¾ tbs. baking powder and a pinch of salt)

Mix soymilk and lemon juice and let sit for 10 minutes to curdle. Mix egg replacer and vegetable oil, add soymilk and mix. Mix the rest of the ingredients in order until you have a smooth batter. Pour ¼ cup of batter for each pancake onto a slightly greased griddle. Turn when top is covered with bubbles and cook the other side until golden brown. Serve with syrup or jam. Enjoy your hoe cakes. ;)

A Little Plate of Fried Snacks (Hush Puppies, Onion Rings and Zucchini Fries)

I knew I couldn’t make it long without busting out the deep fryer my friend Jen got me for Christmas, and today looked like the day to do it. Yesterday was a gorgeous day for a long walk, Lindsey and I took advantage and walked though the city, stopping to pick up some gorgeous onions from the farmers market at the Eastern Market. She’s been begging me for onion rings since I started this adventure, and I figured as long as I had the fryer out, I might as well make zucchini fries and hush puppies at the same time. In my opinion, hush puppies are the king of all southern food, you just can’t go wrong with deep fried corn meal batter.  Let the frying commence!!!

 Hush Puppies

(WSCC pg. 115)

2 cups cornmeal

3 tbs all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

egg replace for one egg (I use bob’s red mill.)

1/3 cup extra firm silken tofu, beaten in blender

1 cup milk soy milk with 1 tbs apple cider vinegar (mix together and let sit for 10 min)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

3 tbs minced onion

vegetable oil for frying

Mix first 5 ingredients together. Beat egg replacer, oil, silken tofu, and soy milk mixture. Add to cornmeal mixture, onion and stir until blended. Drop 1 ½” spoonfulls into hot oil (375 degrees, approx) and deep fry until golden brown. Drain and serve. And don’t crowd the oil!

“Why add vinegar to soy milk?” you may ask. Well, when you add vinegar (or lemon juice) to soy milk and let it sit, the soy milk curdles and acts more like a buttermilk. And no, it doesn’t work with rice milk. Unfortunately.

Onion Rings and Zucchini Fries

(WSCC pg. 94)

1 cups bisquick

1/3 cup cornmeal

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp black pepper

1 cup soy milk (or rice)

1 tbs yellow mustard

vegetable oil for frying

1 large onion, peeled, cut into ¼ slices and split into rings

1 zucchini, cut into sticks

Combine dry ingredients into bowl, and beat in soy milk and mustard.

Coat zucchini and onions and place in hot oil until browned, turning once. 

The best to make both of these are probably if you have people coming over. It makes quite a bit for just two people. Even when one of them can eat copious amounts of onion rings.