Gluten-Free & Vegan Waffles

This is our house waffle recipe. In addition to making them vegan, I’ve optimized the fiber and minimized the simple starch as much as I can while still making a tasty waffle. I love the dark, nutty character of these. Because they don’t have any sweetener, they can be eaten sweet or savory. I usually go savory with smashed avocado, some homemade sauerkraut and maybe a fried egg. But pictured above is what I call the Daniel Special: with sliced banana, shaved dark chocolate and a drizzle of maple syrup. And I have to say, it’s pretty darn good.

Teff flour is one of my faves. It’s high in fiber, iron, and magnesium and also contains some calcium and potassium. It’s great for feeding kids and it makes beautiful pancakes as well. Amaranth flour also contains a decent amount of iron and calcium, so I feel really good about serving these waffles for breakfast (even with the shaved chocolate :).

If you come up with other ways to enjoy these, I’d love to hear about it!

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Gluten-Free & Vegan Waffles

Notes: You can play around with the ratio of teff to amaranth flour, as long as the total is 205 grams. As for milk, I use whatever combination of nut milk and coconut milk we have in the fridge. You can use whatever you have at home, though if you use cow milk these obviously won’t be vegan. Also… Waffle irons vary from one to the next. I previously had a waffle iron that made very large, thick waffles and I found that this batter needed less milk (and even then I didn’t love the way the waffles came out). Now I have this simple waffle iron, which I love, and this ratio is perfect for it. I like to cook these waffles on the slightly darker side.

Recipe updated 12/24/2022

Dry Ingredients:
110 grams teff flour
95 grams amaranth flour (I use sprouted)
30 grams tapioca OR arrowroot starch (sometimes called flour or powder)
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon baking powder

Wet Ingredients:
2 tablespoons ground flax seed
1/4 cup hot water
1/4 cup olive oil
1 2/3 cups nut milk and/or soy milk

Measure out and whisk the dry ingredients in a bowl. In another mixing bowl, add the ground flax seeds and cover with the hot water. Whisk and let this mixture sit for a couple minutes to thicken, then add the olive oil and milk and whisk again until emulsified. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, mix well and cook your waffles according to the instructions on your waffle iron.

On our waffle iron this recipe makes 3 large, round, Belgian-style waffles. We usually eat them 1/4 at a time (and my kids are still small enough to do this, although Daniel is currently up to 3 waffle quarters with all the fixings) but depending on how many you’re feeding, you may want to scale it up.

These refrigerate well and can easily be reheated in a toaster oven (I imagine a regular toaster would work as well).

Enjoy!!

Chocolate Cherry Chia Pudding

This is one of my go-to recipes for a quick and healthy breakfast or snack. The chia seeds and milk go into the fridge the night before, and in the morning everything comes together quickly. Chia seeds are often considered a superfood for good reason - they are high in omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, calcium, magnesium and iron. I also use raw organic cacao powder here, which is more nutrient-dense than heat-processed cocoa.

You can use the vanilla-maple flavored chia pudding in a variety of ways (cacao or not). Play around with different fresh and frozen fruits to see what you like. Our favorites are warmed frozen cherries or warmed frozen blueberries.

Note that if you aren’t prepping the pudding the night before, you will need 30-45 minutes for the chia seeds to absorb the milk and take on a pudding texture. If you mix the chia seeds with slightly warmed milk (such as homemade nut milk straight from the blender), they will absorb it faster than if it is cold.

Homemade Cashew Milk: I usually use homemade cashew milk for my chia pudding, which is super easy to make: In a Vitamix, combine a ratio of 1 cup filtered water to 1/4 cup raw unsalted cashews. Sprinkle in some sea salt. Blend on high power for a couple minutes, then pour into a clean glass jar. If you’re using a high-powered blender there is no need to pre-soak the cashews or strain the milk afterwards. It’s the easiest nut milk I know.

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Chocolate Cherry Chia Pudding

Notes: You can easily scale this recipe up or down as long as you keep the ratio of 3 tablespoons whole chia seeds to 1 cup of milk. Also, if you’re serving this to small kids, please give the bowl a quick stir so they don’t inhale a bunch of cacao powder with their first bite (which I learned first hand). Finally, if you are using sweetened cocoa powder, I would hold off on the maple syrup and only add it at the end if you feel like it needs a little.

6 tablespoons whole chia seeds
2 cups milk
Pinch of sea salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons maple syrup

To serve:
Unsweetened raw cacao powder
Fresh cherries, pitted and sliced or warmed frozen cherries (which should already be pitted)

About 45 minutes before serving (or the night before), combine the chia seeds and milk in a jar and give it a good stir (a fork works well for this). Place the jar in the fridge. Come back a couple more times within the next 15 minutes to stir again. This ensures a really smooth (non-clumpy) pudding.

When you’re ready to serve, take the jar out of the fridge and add in the sea salt, vanilla extract and maple syrup. Stir well. Portion the chia pudding into bowls and top with cherries and a sprinkling of cacao powder (see note).

Serves 4

Gluten-Free One Bowl Banana Bread

When I make breads and muffins I try to decrease the sweetener as much as possible. As far as sugar level goes, I've found that in some (not all) recipes you can significantly decrease the amount with minimal sacrifice, particularly recipes that are also sweetened with fruits like bananas, dates and prunes. But if you'd like to make a "special occasion" banana bread, you might increase the coconut sugar from 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup. Conversely, and particularly if you’re using raisins as one of your add-ins, you could even go as low as 1/3 cup coconut sugar.

This bread always goes fast at our house. It is especially welcome in the afternoon with a cup of tea or decaf coffee.

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Gluten-Free One Bowl Banana Bread
Adapted from the One Bowl Banana Bread on 101cookbooks.com

Note: The coconut milk here is from a can, not the milk substitute beverage that comes in cartons. If you don't have a can on hand, the original recipe says you can sub in yogurt or sour cream - I haven't tried either but trust that they work.

2 large eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 large bananas)
1/2 cup coconut sugar (see text above)
1/3 cup melted coconut oil, plus more for oiling the loaf pan
1/4 cup full-fat coconut milk (from a can, see note)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
60 grams teff flour
60 grams brown rice flour (I use sprouted)
65 grams sorghum flour (I use sprouted)
80 grams arrowroot OR tapioca starch (also called flour)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

Optional Add-Ins:
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips / chunks or 
1/4 cup raisins plus 1/4 cup chopped walnuts or
1/4 cup raisins plus 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and use coconut oil to grease your loaf pan.

Break the eggs into a large bowl and blend well. Add the mashed banana, coconut sugar, coconut oil, coconut milk and vanilla extract and mix well. Add the flours and arrowroot powder and mix again. Then sprinkle the baking soda and sea salt over the top of the batter and quickly mix one more time just until combined. Add the chocolate chips / raisins / walnuts if using, briefly stir once more and turn the batter out into your prepared loaf pan.

Bake until done about 50-60 minutes, when the top is golden brown and a knife inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean, or mostly clean. Exactly how long this will take depends on your oven and what kind of loaf pan you're baking in. I use a cast iron pan (which requires a longer bake time) and bake this bread for 58 minutes.

Turn out onto a cooling rack after the bread has been out of the oven for a few minutes, let cool, slice and serve.