Tropical Waffles

Inspired by this recipe, we made pineapple compote this week and were thinking about how best to use it. It seemed like we had already gotten into a pint of peanut butter-banana Greek frozen yogurt every time dessert time came around, or maybe we just didn't have the right idea for pineapple. But then for Sunday breakfast, this idea seemed just right. These are banana waffles, and that plus the pineapple and coconut makes for a tropics-style breakfast that's almost like a dessert itself.


Tropical Waffles


1 banana (mashed)
2 eggs (separated)
1/4 cup canola oil (more for oiling the waffle maker)
1 cup 2% milk
2 tablespoons cane sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (like Whole Foods 365 brand)
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
Pineapple-Rum Compote (recipe follows)


Toast the coconut flakes in a dry pan until lightly browned. Top waffles with Pineapple-Rum Compote and coconut flakes. Plug in your waffle maker and pre-heat it.


In a medium bowl mix the banana, egg yolks, canola oil, and milk until well incorporated. In a large bowl mix the sugar, baking powder, salt, and flour. In yet another medium bowl, whip the egg whites until fluffy. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and stir to incorporate. Fold the egg whites into the batter.


Using a silicone pastry brush, oil both plates of the waffle maker. Spoon about 1/2 a cup of batter into each section of the waffle maker. Close the lid and cook for 4 minutes or until golden. Repeat until all of the batter is used.


To serve, place two waffles on a place, spoon 1/4 cup of the pineapple compote on top, and sprinkle with toasted coconut. Makes 6 waffles. 


Pineapple-Rum Compote


1 cup chopped pineapple
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup light brown sugar (like Whole Foods 365 brand)
1 tablespoon rum
pinch of Maldon sea salt flakes


Combine pineapple, butter, brown sugar, rum, and salt in a medium saucepan on medium heat. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring it often; it should brown a bit and produce a sticky sauce.

Vegetarian "Chicken" + Waffles

This idea was born out of the Truffled Scotch Egg Chef Andrew Adams and I concocted and served at the Farmer Mixer. He, in all of his culinary awesomeness and food magic,  showed the wife and I how to deep-fry an egg without overcooking the center. His method is incredible and yielded a perfect egg: crispy on the outside with a slightly set yolk. It was the hit of the evening.

I wanted to figure to how to get the same result at home, but I don't have an immersion circulator or an industrial fryer (or an incredible kitchen staff full of talented chefs, for that matter). I tried soft boiling the egg and then tossing it in the flour mixture, but I kept breaking the yolk. It was a mess; we ate it anyway.


Then I figured out how to poach the egg with the flour mixture already in place. That's the ticket. It works every time. Plus, it's super easy.


The crispy egg spiked with the kinds of seasoning you'd normally find in fried chicken plus a little truffle salt makes a really special version of this soul food classic. 



Vegetarian "Chicken" + Waffles

1/4 teaspoon black truffle salt
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
4 12 x 12 inch squares microwave-safe plastic wrap

4 large eggs 
4 four-inch pieces of kitchen twine
canola oil for frying
4 Belgian waffles (freshly made -- or frozen like Van's)
1/2 cup warm maple syrup
1/8 cup parsley for garnish
Maldon sea salt and cracked black pepper (to taste)


In a saucepan over medium heat, bring a pot of water at least three-and-a-half inches deep to a simmer. In a small bowl, mix together the truffle salt, sage, thyme, garlic powder, pepper, flour, and panko breadcrumbs. 


Now lay the four sheets of plastic wrap flat on your work surface. Scatter 2 tablespoons of the spiced flour in a single layer over the center five inches of each plastic wrap sheet. Crack one egg on the center of each. Gather the corners of the plastic wrap. Place the corners into one hand. With the other hand, grab the egg bundle and twist while being sure to push out any air. Tie the twisted portion with the string. Repeat for each. It looks like this:

Prepare an ice bath in a medium bowl. Place egg bundles into the simmering water for five to seven minutes. At five minutes, the white will be set, but the yolk will still by very runny. (If you leave it in for seven minutes, the yolk will be more set if that's how you generally like your eggs.) At the end of five to seven minutes, remove egg bundles and place them in an ice bath while they're still wrapped in the plastic.


In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, bring canola oil up to 350 degrees. The oil should be at least two-and-a-half inches deep in the pan. Using your kitchen shears, snip the plastic just below where it was tied. Carefully unwrap the egg. Using a slotted spoon, lower the egg into the oil for a total of one minute or until it's golden brown.


To serve, place one egg atop a warm waffle. Garnish with parsley, salt, and pepper, plus a drizzle of maple syrup. 


If you're serving this to friends or at a dinner party, you can do all the steps up to the frying beforehand. Then when your guests are hungry, dinner can come together really quickly.

A Really Good Pot of Black-Eyed Peas + Cornbread Waffles & Collard Greens

Okay, so this warm dish of cornbread waffles, smoky black-eyed peas, and collard greens may be just the thing for tonight's dinner. It's a tradition in the South (and in parts of the Midwest, from what we understand) to eat black-eyed peas for good luck in the coming year. We also have greens to represent money or wealth. We have both eaten black-eyed peas and cornbread on New Year's Day every year since birth. It's not that we are particularly superstitious -- we just don't want to tempt fate.

We think our recipe for Collard Greens with Honey, Shallots, and Mushrooms is great because it's so easy. The greens are blanched in super-salty water to leach out any bitterness, and then they are sautéed with a touch of honey. Our Smoked Cheddar and Jalapeño Cornbread is good enough to star on the cover of our cookbook! This time, we cooked the very same recipe in the waffle maker for 3 1/2 minutes. This recipe will make 7 to 8 waffles. We recommend using both of these recipes when putting this dish together. 

To serve, place 1/2 a waffle on a plate, pile on the peas, greens, and plenty of the broth from the pot. Lean the other half of the waffle up against the mountain of peas, and garnish with plenty of hot sauce. (Serves 6.)

A Really Good Pot of Black-Eyed Peas

1 1-pound bag of black-eyed peas (soaked overnight or quick-soaked*) 
1 tablespoon unsalted butter 
1 white onion (diced)
1 portobello mushroom (diced)
1 green pepper (diced)
2 chipotle peppers (minced)
1 1/2 quarts vegetable broth
1/2 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
sea salt and cracked black pepper (to taste) 

In a large soup pot over medium-high heat, melt the butter and sauté the onion and mushroom until most of the liquid has evaporated and the onion has started to brown. Add the green pepper, chipotle peppers, vegetable broth, ketchup, and the soaked and drained black-eyed peas. Add salt and pepper to taste to the pot and stir. Simmer, covered, for one hour. Serve with cornbread and greens. (Makes 2 1/2 quarts.)

*Quick-soaking method: Bring a large pot of water to boil, add dried peas, cover, turn the heat off, and then allow beans to soak for one hour. 

*Quick-soak method: Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add dried peas, cover, turn the heat off, and allow them to soak for 1 hur.

Gluten-Free Cornbread Waffles

Gluten-free is trending now just about everywhere you look, and now Memphis even has two new gluten-free restaurants, Bounty on Broad and Maui Brick Oven. We've been experimenting with gluten-free cooking for a while since one of us was advised to steer clear of gluten to fight a stubborn inflammation. It wasn't a big jump for us, but some of our old standbys had small amounts of flour for different reasons. We've taken a look at a few and have come up with gluten-free versions that are, in many ways, better than the originals. (I'm thinking of you, Amazing Almond-Flour Biscuits!)

Here, we've remade our classic cornbread by switching the flour component for more organic, non-GMO cornmeal (available at Whole Foods). Give these a try, and check out how giving up gluten doesn't mean giving up flavor.

Gluten-Free Cornbread Waffles

Special Equipment: Waffle Maker

2 cups cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 cup smoked cheddar
1/8 cup minced jalapeño (1 large, optional)
1/4 cup unsalted butter + 1 tablespoon
2 tablespoons honey
2 large eggs (beaten)
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat your waffle maker. In a large bowl, mix together the cornmeal, baking powder, salt, cheddar, and jalapeño. In a medium bowl, melt 1/4 cup of the butter. Add the honey, eggs, and buttermilk to the melted butter and whisk. 

Next, add the wet ingredients to the dry. Stir until just incorporated.  Using a silicone brush, grease the waffle iron with the remaining butter. Ladle about 1/2 cup of the batter into each of the waffle molds. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until golden.  Serve hot with greens and black-eyed peas. Makes 4-5 waffles. (Serves 4-6.)

Huevos Rancheros Quesadilla

We're really into making breakfast here at home. You know that feeling when you wake up and have a super good plan for breakfast in mind or something already made ahead that you know is going to be, like, the best? That's the goal.

Sometimes it's just cereal, though. Or peanut butter on a banana before a run. If we're really fortunate to have both the inclination and the time, it's the gold standard: PANCAKES! WAFFLES! MONKEY BREAD! We save those for the weekend.

But this, we hadn't ever made before now. It was inspired by half a can of black beans sitting open in the fridge and a sleepyhead's idea of what would be better than just eggs on top of a tortilla.

Huevos Rancheros Quesadilla

2 teaspoons olive oil (divided)
1 12-inch tortilla
2 1/2 ounces smoked Mozzarella cheese (shredded)
4 large eggs
1 16-ounce jar of black bean salsa
1 large avocado (sliced)
Chives (chopped; to garnish)
Mexican hot sauce (to garnish)

In a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat, add 1 teaspoon of olive oil and the tortilla. Add cheese to one half of the tortilla and fold. Cook for 3 minutes per side or until the tortilla is golden and the cheese is melted. Remove the quesadilla from the pan, cut it in half, and place each half onto a large plate.

In the same skillet  add the remaining olive oil and crack the eggs into the pan. Cook eggs until the bottom of the egg is crispy and the whites have set; this should take 4 to 5 minutes. Remove 2 eggs and place them atop one half of the quesadilla. Repeat with the remaining 2 eggs.

In the same skillet, pour the salsa onto the hot surface and heat the salsa through. This should only take a minute or so. Spoon a generous amount of black bean salsa on top of the eggs on each plate. Garnish with sliced avocado, chopped chives, and hot sauce. (Makes 2 servings.)

Happy New Year! A Vegetarian Guide to Black-Eyed Peas, Cornbread, and Greens for January 1, 2017

We're so ready for the arrival of 2017 on Sunday, and we're happy to close out the holiday season well, finish up 2016 in style, and enjoy the brand-new start! One of the best things about this past year was the November release of our second cookbook, The Chubby Vegetarian (Susan Schadt Press, 2016). Getting the chance to share how we cook during the week was such an awesome opportunity after sharing all of our homegrown favorites in The Southern Vegetarian (Thomas Nelson, 2013). After being encouraged throughout this year to create more videos for our You Tube channel, if only to provide a steady stream of TCV entertainment to family members who love this sort of thing, we have taken the advice to heart and will be posting more about our recipes in the weeks to come.

So we have some exciting (or are they daunting? maybe the best ones are?) resolutions involving TCV and our health this year. Taking the leap into getting a gym membership and lifting weights the past few days in order to beat the rush back to the gym has been quite a new step. Adding something besides running into the mix has been a goal of ours for a while now, and we have already picked up on the 'push day, pull day, leg day' lingo. We'll see how all of this goes and will report back.

But hey, more importantly, we made sure to pick up some dried black-eyed peas from the bulk section of Whole Foods yesterday and have some fun ideas about how to cook them this weekend. We tend to mix it up and do a different beans, greens, and cornbread dish most years; below are some of our favorites from years past. Maybe these recipes will help you find a fun way to prepare your own good-luck meal come Sunday. We're going to make ours at lunch and then have ramen for dinner, which always sounds like a really good plan.

Hope y'all all have a safe and happy New Year's Eve and a relaxing New Year's Day. We so appreciate you reading here and cooking vegetarian along with us. Looking forward to a wonderful 2017 with all of you!

A Really Good Pot of Black-Eyed Peas

Classic Black-Eyed Peas

Cornbread Crepes and Smoky Black-Eyed Peas

Black-Eyed Pea Burger

Black-Eyed Pea and Collard Greens Quiche

Hoppin' John Black-Eyed Pea Butter

Gluten-Free Cornbread Waffles

Smoked Cheddar and Jalapeño Cornbread

Whitney's Coconut Greens 

TCV Collard Greens

TCV Gift Guide: For Those Who Really Love Coffee

The two of us dream about the next morning's coffee and often discuss it at night: What kind will we make? Do we have the right beans for the French press or espresso? Is there whole milk or cream in the fridge? It's kind of cliché and a little obsessive. Drinking great coffee at home seriously is one of the best parts of the day, though!

Here are the things we can't live without, and maybe you or the people on your gift list will love some of them, too.

Our ceramic Le Creuset French Press is something that's so well-made we haven't been able to break it for two years. (That's a big deal at our house. We tend to use our kitchen items a lot.) It's big and heavy and reliable, and it makes great overnight iced coffee as well as hot.

This All-Clad kettle looks nice on the stove and is sturdy. Its broad base allows for quick heating of water for the French press. It also possesses an extremely loud and clear whistle.

French Truck Coffee is our new favorite. Jimmy knows his coffee, and last week, he told us frankly that as much as we like good food, we really should be using better beans than the ones we were used to. He was right; you should try it, too. (He also told us he prefers this coffee bean grinder. It's on order!) If you're in the Memphis area, you'll find French Truck here.

The Gaggia 'Classic' espresso machine is made by an Italian company, which is a plus since Italians invented the espresso method. It really boils down to one thing when it comes to espresso machines: metal. You can tell that a machine is well-made if its parts are metal. The Gaggia 'Classic' has a metal housing, frothing wand, and basket. This means that the manufacturer didn't cheap out when designing and constructing the machine. The portafilter and group head are made with heavy duty marine-grade brass. This ensures a consistent temperature during the duration of the pull. We did extensive research before buying this machine a few years ago, and while it's more expensive than some machines you'll find, it's a bargain compared to what you could spend for what would actually turn out to be a lesser machine. This is our coffee soulmate!

Once you have an espresso machine, you need the right tools. A stainless steel coffee scoop and coffee tamper are useful accessories that people may not automatically buy for themselves, but they'll happily put them to good use every day.

One of the best gifts we've ever received is the amazing maple syrup that you can order from our friend's dad's place in Vermont, Jacob Brook Farm. One of us here at TCV uses maple syrup as a sweetener in her coffee every day, and this particular kind is the best we've tried. (Oh, and on waffles and pancakes, oh my…)

Let us know your favorite coffee-making items from your house in the comments! Also, we have a few more gift guides in the works for December, so feel free to give us some suggestions for topics. We'd love to help you figure out what might be both thoughtful and worth the money this holiday season.