Yummy Whole Grain Waffles and a No Sugar High :)

(the picture above has a sprinkling of powdered sugar because it was Micah's,
don't worry I'm staying strong!)

So going off of sugar has made me look at how I cook in a whole new way. The first couple days were pretty hard, but since then I have been trying to embrace the whole foods life and look at all of my other options of what I CAN eat as opposed to what I can't. The blog Unconventional Kitchen by Desiree has really inspired me and given me a lot of healthy recipe ideas. These waffles are from her site.

I decided to start a family tradition, that every Saturday I make a fun breakfast. So today I was excited to try these whole wheat waffles. The recipe says you can use chia seeds or flax in place of eggs, I just used eggs because I needed to use mine up. Desiree of Unconventional Kitchen also said that the batter is very thick, I just added 1 3/4 c. water and it wasn't thick at all, in fact I think next time I might just add 1 1/2 c. water. I think the eggs probably made it a thinner batter. These waffles were so unbelievably good to me. I served them with a raspberry sauce and agave sweetened whipped cream. The whole batter only has 2 tsp of agave. These waffles were like a dessert to me, in fact I kinda felt like I was cheating! With the raspberry sauce, a little whipped cream, and a light drizzle of pure maple syrup (no Mrs. Butterworths here, we're talking the real, all natural stuff:) -it made for such a yummy and fun breakfast. Micah LOVED them! As he was eating he said "we can raise our kids on this stuff, they wont be able to tell the difference". I think that's where my "No Sugar" high comes in, I am getting so excited looking at food, cooking, and eating in a whole new way. I don't have to deprive myself, there are healthier versions of things that are just as good if not better.

It's been a week of no sugar-may sound simple to a lot of you but for me that was a huge accomplishment! You have no idea how much I have been eating, but I have to say I feel very liberated. It's very nice to go to bed at night and not dwell on what I have eaten that day, and feeling guilty about how I went out of control eating that...I now go to bed feeling like I did all I could to nourish and feed my body, and it's a really good feeling. I used to always feel like I had a sense of anxiety in my arms, like a stressed feeling-that's pretty much gone. I don't feel as lethargic and am happier in general.

Yes, there are still some hard moments, but for the most part my big desire for sugar is gone, I actually don't think about it that much, I never thought I would get here, and it's only been a week. I think food is tasting better to me, like vegetables and fruit. The waffles we had this morning weren't very sweet but they seemed perfectly sweet to me, I think it's because I have eliminated the very white sweet sugar from my diet. I also think what's made me be successful so far with going off sugar is having the right food in my house and planning a whole week of meals, so we always have a dinner option in the house and we haven't had to go out to eat. Also it's helped to know Melissa has been off, thanks Melissa for being my support ! :) Are there any of you out there who are off and I just don't know?? Anywho, Just thought I'd share my experience so far :)

Hope you have a chance to try these waffles out, they were really, really good and I think you might incorporate them into your cooking:) And if there are any of you who want to start up the no sugar thing for the month of January but feel it's too late, it's not! If you wanted to start you will still get prizes at the end:)

Whole Grain Waffles

Whisk together dry ingredients in a bowl:
2 C whole grain flour *I used whole wheat flour, Desiree from has more options if you go to here recipe on her site
3/4 tsp salt *I used just 1/2 tsp, don't know why but I thought 1/2 was enough
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 C buttermilk powder*

Wet ingredients:
2 T flax or chia seeds ( or 2 eggs) *again, I used eggs
1 3/4-2 C water
1/4 tsp vanilla *I put 1 tsp :)
1/2 C plain yogurt
2 tsp agave
2 T olive oil

Combine the chia seeds and flax in a blender with the water. Let them sit while you add and whisk the dry ingredients. Once you are done with the dry ingredients, add the vanilla and yogurt to the blender. Blend all of the ingredients well. Mix together the wet and dry ingredients until just combined. The waffle batter is pretty thick, if you want a thinner batter add more liquid. Add the batter to a hot waffle maker, and spread it out (it is thick). Cook a little longer than the waffle machine says to ensure it is cooked all the way through. Top with whip cream and berry sauce.
*You can find buttermilk powder in the baking aisle. If you don’t have buttermilk powder you could substitute 1 3/4-2 C of buttermilk instead of water. Or to cut out the dairy you could add 1 3/4 C nut milk and 1 1/2 T vinegar.

*for the raspberry sauce I just took about 1/2 c. frozen raspberries, put a couple tablespoons of boiling water on them to soften, put them through a blender then strained out the seeds. If you had time it would probably be easier if you thawed out the raspberries.

Agave Whip Cream

*this is Desiree's recipe for it, I just used 1/2 c. whipped cream, 1/2 tsp. agave and 1 tsp vanilla and I thought it was perfect.
1 C whipping cream
2T agave
1/2 tsp vanilla
Combine the whip cream agave and vanilla in a cold metal bowl. Whip with a hand held beater until the cream makes stiff peaks.