I {heart} breakfast

One of the first things I had to do when I started working to lose weight a couple years ago was to start eating breakfast.  Mornings are busy with trying to get kids out the door, and with all their various schedules, by the time I was done with all that, it was late.  I had tons of other stuff to do plus I just was never hungry.  Everything I read said breakfast was important, and it should be a good healthy meal.  So I started eating...forcing myself at first...and since then I have found out I love breakfast now.  I even wake up hungry, which is a whole new experience for me.  I have especially loved learning to cook really yummy, healthy breakfast including whole grains.
These waffles are really GOOD!  The recipe is pretty huge, so it makes a lot of waffles, leaving me leftovers to throw in the freezer.  It has made waffles on a school morning easy to do--just pop them in the toaster and they're good to go in just a few minutes.
A word of warning...these are WHOLE WHEAT waffles, but they don't taste any different from waffles made with white flour (I have never made this particular recipe with white flour, so I don't know if the recipe is the same or not).  For a person that isn't used to eating wheat....well...consider yourself warned.

WHOLE GRAIN WAFFLES

4 egg whites, 2 egg yolks (separated)

3 1/2 cup skim milk

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 Tablespoons vanilla 

2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or white whole wheat flour)

1/2 cup milled flax seed

3/4 cup all purpose flour

2 Tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons baking powder

2 Tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

Separate eggs and whip the 4 egg whites until stiff. (Really stiff--sorta like meringue)  Keep 2 of the yolks and put them in another bowl.  Add the milk, oil, applesauce and vanilla and mix well.

Add the flours, flax seed, baking powder, sugar and salt all at once (no need to do them one at a time) and mix until the batter is smooth.

Fold in the egg whites and mix until thoroughly incorporated, but do not beat!  The batter will appear a little bit lumpy and the egg whites will show just a bit.

Preheat your waffle iron and coat with cooking spray.  Pour in a fair amount of batter (my waffle iron makes 4 waffles at a time and I use about 1 cup of batter per batch).

The egg whites are what make the waffle puff up in the waffle iron.  Continue to cook according to directions with your waffle iron.  They should be crisp and light brown (not really golden)

 Top with your favorite topping!  I prefer buttermilk syrup and I usually add fresh raspberries when they are in season.  Blueberries would be good too.

BUTTERMILK SYRUP

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 pint buttermilk

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the sugar and buttermilk and bring to a boil.  Boil for 2 minutes, then remove from heat.  Whisk in the vanilla and baking soda (the baking soda will make the syrup foam up when you whisk it hard).  Serve right away or refrigerate and reheat.