A Frugal Ima Frugal Recipe - Whole Wheat Banana Waffles

I've had a change of heart - a big one.  Get ready for this. I've found value to potchkening in the kitchen. A lot of value.

You see, when you are potchkening over something in the kitchen, there is usually heat involved.  A hot stove or appliance is dangerous for small children to be around.  They could pull a cord, yank open the oven door, drag a stool over to a hot range top. So, by kicking my children out of my potchkening presence, I am being a good mother. I don't want them running around my ankles because I want them to be safe. I'm not a bad mother at all. Not in the least! Quite the opposite, actually.

Ahhhh.  Potchkening is awesome.


I have hesitated to post this recipe because it goes against my anti-fuss mantra, but in light of this realization, I'm going to give it to you now.

My kids love waffles for breakfast.  It is one of the few foods they will consistently eat. Store-bought frozen waffles are easy, but they are neither cheap nor healthy.  When I found this recipe for whole wheat waffles, I figured I could make them and freeze them, pulling them out and putting them in the toaster oven when I needed them.  That worked perfectly, but I was still bothered by the amount of oil in the batch.  1/2 cup of oil for 8-ish waffles seemed a little excessive to me. Then, this morning, I spied these beauties on my countertop:

I decided to try subbing mashed bananas for 3/4 of the oil in the recipe.  And guess what?  It worked, and gave them an even greater depth of flavor and more beautiful golden brown color. These waffles being 100% whole wheat and pretty low fat, I'll even eat one myself. I like to make a double batch, so I don't have to stand over the waffle iron again for awhile.

Here's what you'll need:
6 c whole wheat flour
1 c sugar
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp baking powder
6 c buttermilk
8 eggs
3/4 c mashed ripe banana (about 1 1/2 bananas)
1/4 c vegetable oil
4 tbsp vanilla extract

Combine dry ingredients in your mixer.


Then add banana, oil, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Mix them until combined and (reasonably) lump-free. Grease a hot waffle iron (you'll need to do this for each waffle) and drop a heaping 1/2 cup full of batter in the middle of the iron.


Cook for 4 minutes, then cool on a cookie sheet.


Nom nom.


Here's the price breakdown:
Whole Wheat Flour: $1.25
Eggs: $1.15
Buttermilk: $1.50
Bananas: $.50
Vanilla: $1.25 (being conservative)

$5.45 for 18 waffles = $.30/waffle. I figure that each of these waffles is equal in size to two frozen ones, so if you get a box of 10 frozen waffles for $1.50, (which you could find with a good sale) they would be the same cost as making these.

 These are healthier, tastier, more impressive, and give you an excuse to kick your kids out of your awesome presence for at least a good half hour.  So I'd say these win.