Eat Well, Be Well, Live Well

If you’ve been following my blog for any length of time, you know I’m always looking for ways to incorporate vegetables into meals, especially those the children eat since they are less likely to simply tuck in to a kale salad or plate of braised asparagus.

The recipe for these Carrot, Coconut, Pecan Waffles is an adaptation of a recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s “Waffles: from morning to midnight“. As always, I’ve incorporated more nutritious flours, reduced the sugar and substituted some fats. The natural sweetness of the currants and carrots combined with the slight crunchiness of the pecans and coconut make these waffles my current favorite and one of my kids’ favorites, too.

You can easily make these gluten-free. See my note (*) below.

Ingredients

1/4 cup moist, plump currants (pour boiled water over them in a ceramic or glass bowl and let sit for 5 minutes)

2 carrots, peeled and grated (about 2/3 cup packed)

1/3 cup pecans, finely chopped (I use my mini-Krups processor)

1/3 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut

2 tbsp. coconut oil, melted

2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

3/4 cup whole-grain spelt flour*

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup buckwheat flour

1 tbsp double-acting baking powder

1/4 tsp sea salt

3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup milk (substitute almond, soy or rice if you prefer)

1/2 cup coconut milk

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

*Replace 3/4 cup spelt flour with 3/4 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour (I like this brand), and substitute 1/2 cup almond flour for the all-purpose.

To Make

Drain currants, and pat dry with a paper towel. Toss together with grated carrots, pecans and coconuts. Set aside.

Preheat your waffle iron.

In a large bowl, stir together the flours, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger and sugar. In another bowl, lightly whisk the eggs. Whisk in the milks and vanilla. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Fold in the carrot mixture and melted butter and oil.

Lightly butter or spray your waffle grids. Spoon out 1/2 cup of batter into each grid (depending on the size of your grids). Cook until light golden brown.

Serve with maple syrup and/or honey-sweetened plain yogurt. Makes 6-8 waffles depending on grid size.

Enjoy!