The Best Belgian Waffles

Happy Friday! For me, this is the start of a long weekend in which my fiancé and I will travel to Washington DC for his brother's wedding. At the moment I am sitting in Logan Airport, waiting for our 6am flight. I have been looking forward to this weekend for many reasons.... the weather is supposed to be gorgeous and warm (warmer than August in Boston!), my future extended family is a great group of people, I'll also get to catch up with one of my good friends from college, AND it's rare that my fiancé and I get to spend 4 full days together with our current job/ medical school situations. So I am very excited!

With my weekend starting early, I wanted to share one of my all-time favorite recipes: my very simple and amazing Belgian waffle recipe. I love brunch on the weekends and these grace our brunch table often. It all started last Christmas when I received a waffle maker from my fiancé. We wanted to make brunch so decided to try it out on new year's day. Not having a waffle recipe under my belt, since this was my first waffle maker, googled and found this recipe. We were so lucky to have found a good one on our first try! Since then I've made it my own with various iterations. The biggest change that I made was to add protein powder. I've always been an eggs-at-brunch person because having just pancakes or waffles will leave me sleepy with their high glycemic load. I use Nutribiotics Rice Protein Powder because its texture is very similar to that of flour. To be fair, with all of the talk about amino acids and complete proteins this week, rice protein is not complete. It's lacking in the amino acid lysine but just having the protein makes these such better fuel for your weekend adventures.

These crispy, fluffy waffles are most delicious hot off the iron and can be topped with berries, pears, apples, walnuts, anything you like! Always remember the real maple syrup. :)

The Best Belgian Waffles

1 1/2c whole wheat flour OR oat flour* + 1.5T cornstarch (you could also do a combination of the two)
1/2 c vanilla protein powder (if you don't have protein powder, just substitute more flour)
1 1/2t baking powder
2T brown sugar
1t cinnamon
2c almond milk (or soy milk, coconut milk, rice milk, ect)
1T canola oil

*These waffles amazing in their gluten free version. I make my own oat flour by food professing rolled oats until I achieve a flour texture. The 1T cornstarch per cup of oat flour helps the flour better stick together.

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add milk followed by oil and stir. (If you're new to waffles, the batter should be thicker than you'd like for pancakes.) Since the oil content is low, grease your waffle iron well to prevent sticking. Add ~3/4c batter to your waffle iron and let cook for the recommended time on a medium-high setting. Once done, carefully remove and top with fruit, nuts, and warm maple syrup. Now you're ready to seize the day!