Whole Wheat Mango Waffles with Raspberry Sauce

When I first considered making waffles for my friend who was visiting from Kansas, I didn't think I could pull off an egg-free, sugar-free, whole wheat waffle. I was also convinced we'd have to break out the syrup to combat the dry whole wheat texture. I was so very, very wrong. These waffles were amazing!

 Whole Wheat Mango Waffles
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 stevia packet
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 cup vanilla flavored almond milk
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter extract
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 large mango, chopped
Mix dry ingredients in one bowl, wet ingredients in another.   Then slowly add the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix lightly. (Over mixing the batter leads to tough waffles that can be used to defend against home invaders.) Once everything is combined. Add in half of the chopped mango. Before you pour this delicious batter into your preheated waffle iron, make sure your raspberry sauce is ready and waiting.

Raspberry Sauce
1 1/2 cups frozen raspberries
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp butter extract
2 tbsp water
Add all ingredients to a small sauce pan.  Bring to a boil. Stir frequently to break apart berries. Remove from heat when it's hot and looks saucy.

Top each waffle with raspberry sauce and the remaining mango. This same recipe also tastes great with Strawberry Sauce (same ingredients as above, only change the berry). Not to brag or anything, but they are my new favorite waffle. For those of you who love sugar and don't need to part with it...try this recipe served with a light dusting of powdered sugar.

This recipe makes 4 large waffles with toppings. If you eat the whole thing you'll take in 394 calories, 8.8 grams of fat (of that, only 1.2 are saturated), 253.6mg of Potassium, 7.9g Fiber, 10g Protein and more vitamins than I have time to re-type.

The MS Badge

Oye vay! I finally get my head wrapped around the hypoglycemia lifestyle and now it's changing. After a stressful month of doctors and tests and waiting, I get to add the Multiple Sclerosis Badge to my medical sash. Well...technically I don't get the badge yet. You see, the MRI and the spinal tap confirmed MS but I've only had an isolated episode.

So now I wait and pray the next one isn't bad.  Thankfully I have a great neurologist who isn't pushing me to medicate at this point. If I wanted the medicine, it would involve daily shots of Copaxone. (Ummm...no, not with the estimated 30% success rate. Seriously, would you go to Vegas with those odds?) Instead the doctor suggested that I try the Swank Diet. This is a low saturated fat diet that is backed by a 34-year study of people with MS who followed his diet and how it helped. So I'm thinking, 'Diet? Yeah, I know how to do that, bring it on.'

Here are the rules:

1. Saturated fat should not exceed 15 grams per day
2. Unsaturated fat (oils) should be kept to 20-50 grams per day
3. No red meat or pork for the first year; after that, a maximum of 3 oz. (85 grams) of red meat per week
4. Dairy products must contain 1% or less butterfat
5. No processed foods containing saturated fat
6. A good source of omega-3 (oily fish, cod liver oil, cod liver oil tablets, etc.) along with a multi-vitamin and mineral supplement are recommended daily
7. Wheat, gluten or dairy product quantities are not restricted. But foods which cause allergies or reactions to an MS sufferer should be avoided.

This seemed easy enough at first. However, I quickly learned that I had no idea how much saturated fat was in anything I was eating. The first big change came with my cherished cheese and crackers. They had come to be my safety snack at work, but they can no longer be a regular visitor because of the saturated fat found in most cheeses. That same day my family accidentally tortured me with their dinner of hot dogs and french fries. The meltdown that followed resembled one of a teenager losing her car. "But I LOVE hot dogs, and everyone else gets to eat it. It's not fair!! What am I gonna have nooooow!?"
Clearly I wasn't taking this well. By no means was this like the meltdowns I had when I was diagnosed with reactive hypoglycemia, but it still made the books.

In all fairness, I'm sure that anyone wrapping their head around one restrictive diet, and then having to integrate another has probably had one of these moments. It's confusing and frustrating. Hopefully there isn't anyone out there struggling to learn both of these diets, but in case there are, I will share what I learn as I go. Future recipes will still follow the hypo rules but also be lower in saturated fat, and will be beef and pork free for the year. Perhaps I'm being naive, but if this could help me avoid an episode it is worth the struggle. And perhaps, after a year of this I'll have totally earned a Swank/Hypo Badge.

Mexican Chicken Corn Chowder

As I'm writing this I can tell you that it isn't really soup weather. The sky is clear of clouds and I sincerely hated the black leather seats as they scorched my skin. That said, I still want this soup. I want this spicy delicious goodness so much that I plan on making another batch, just to freeze and keep on hand.
Did I mention this is the easiest soup I have ever made, and it is also pretty darn healthy.

 
Mexican Chicken Corn Chowder
1 can fat free cream of chicken soup
1 can fat free chicken broth 
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can yellow, no sugar added, corn
1 small can diced green chiles
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 cup shredded (or chopped) carrots
1.5 pounds chicken breast, no skin, chopped
6 oz low fat cheddar cheese, cubed
1 cup fat free sour cream
Combine everything but the cheese and sour cream into a crockpot. Cook on low heat for 4 hours or so until the chicken is cooked through.
Stir in the cheese and sour cream, heat another 10-15 minutes until the cheese is melted.
This version is very mild, I like to add Siracha or hot sauce to my bowl before devouring and licking the bowl clean. 

This makes a lot of soup, in fact when I first saw how much it made I was a bit nervous we wouldn't be able to finish it.  After sharing with friends I was still able to sneak it for lunch several days in a row before my family had a chance at the leftovers.

I mentioned it was healthy. Not only did I find this soup filling, it is also low cal, and pretty low fat. Obviously cutting out the cheese would make a difference here, but the Minnesotan in me couldn't do it.
Here is the nutrition info based on the ingredients I used:
1 recipe makes 9 servings.

Calories                          193.6
Total Fat                         3.2 g
  Saturated Fat                1.4 g
  Polyunsaturated Fat       0.4 g
  Monounsaturated Fat     0.7 g
Cholesterol                      55.7 mg
Sodium                            767.6 mg
Potassium                        326.9 mg
Total Carbohydrate          14.0 g
Dietary Fiber                    2.3 g
Sugars                              3.8 g
Protein                             24.7 g

Vitamin A         42.7 %            Vitamin B-12       6.9 %          Vitamin B-6       23.2 %
Vitamin C         11.4 %            Vitamin D            0.0 %          Vitamin E           1.2 %
Calcium           15.6 %             Copper               3.0 %           Folate                5.5 %
Iron                 5.7 %               Magnesium          7.9 %          Manganese         4.3 %
Niacin             45.0 %             Pantothenic Acid  8.8 %          Phosphorus        26.4 %
Riboflavin        8.5 %               Selenium               24.0 %       Thiamin              5.2 %
Zinc                7.3 %

Vegetable Mind Games - Garbanzo Beans

 I don't like beans... and it's only been in the last few months that I had any interest in learning to like them.
That said, I've been reading a lot lately about Garbanzos. I like hummus, and I had this amazing appetizer at an Indian restaurant that used them. Maybe this can be my gateway bean.

When I stumbled across a recipe for Roasted Garbanzos I knew I had to try it. The first batch was so good and so easy that I got Monkey involved for the second round. (She agreed to try the first batch after I called them Bean Chips, and has been asking for them ever since.)


























Bean Chips

2 cans garbanzo beans
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and other seasonings to flavor the beans
Preheat the oven to 400. Drain both cans in a strainer and rinse well until the water is no longer cloudy. Now dry the beans. We chose to rub them with paper towels until they were dry.

There is debate over whether or not you need to remove the skins. We tried both and found no difference in taste or texture. Plus removing the skins could easily waste hours of my life that I'd rather spend thumb wrestling or drooling over food blogs.

Once the beans are dry, drizzle olive oil over them and toss around till they're all coated. Cook for 30-40 minutes until the beans are crunchy. I like to stir half way to make sure the guys on the edge of the pan don’t burn. Season after you remove them from the oven.


We've tried spicy bean chips and garlic, but Monkey's favorite is just plain old season salt.
Have you made bean chips before, and if so what's your favorite flavor?