A Waffle at Home, with Bisquick.

Yesterday morning, I felt like having a waffle for breakfast. It had been a long time since I fixed waffles at home. I have one of those little waffle irons that the cooking surface once closed flips. I’m not sure why it flips, and I really would have preferred to have the old style that you just lift the top lid to pour in the batter, and lift it again, once the waffle is done to get the waffle. Not sure when I last had a waffle for breakfast at a restaurant. It might have been at the Shoney’s that was across town, but that has probably been closed for about a year. And, yesterday I went online to try to find a breakfast restaurant that offered waffles. There isn’t another Shoney’s in town. I don’t want to go to Waffle House. Had a weird experience several years ago at the Waffle House, in front of Lowe’s, down the street. Had ordered, received, and finished my breakfast there, and it was busy… I stood up and went to the cash register and no one was there. There was at least one cook, and several (maybe at least 3) waitresses all bustling around, but no one recognized me standing, for a long time, at the register. *I don’t recall what the catch phrase was, but I finally yelled it out, and the cook and all the waitresses stopped and looked over to me, momentarily. They then went back to what they were doing, and shortly thereafter someone came to the register to assist me. Still, you don’t want to have to make an “ass of yourself” just to pay your bill and leave.

I knew where my unopened box of Bisquick was. I have used almost the entire shelf in my bedroom closet for kitchen related overflow. I have a bunch of empty glass bottles & jars, even keeping some of the smaller spice-type bottles inside the larger Ball/Mason jars. Many of the regular sized Ball jars have the yellow plastic jar lids that I have kept from the myriad of Duke’s Mayonnaise jars I have had in the past. The regular sized Duke’s lids fit perfectly on regular Mason jars. The plastic lids do eventually crack and wear out, but they last a very long time, and you don’t have to fiddle with the two-piece Ball canning jar lids.

NOTE: I don’t recall the name off hand, but there is a company that sells various flavors of popcorn seasoning (dust). *I discovered these, and used several flavors profusely during the heart of the COVID epidemic. They have colorful labels, a different color for each flavor, and these labels are printed on a plastic film which can be peeled off the white plastic container. But each container has a colored plastic, flip lid. You just pop the lid open, sift out the desired amount of flavoring dust, and then pop the lid shut again. I found this sized container good, and useful for some other spices that I use regularly (garlic powder & celery seeds being two). If I could find a flip lid that fits my glass spice jars, I probably would use that instead. They exist, and I have a couple of spice jars that I’ve already put the flip top lid on (nutmeg & mace maybe). Recall that when I fry apples, I sift a little Splenda on the apples, and then use all of the following spices, not just cinnamon (cloves, mace, nutmeg, ground coriander and ginger & pumpkin spice).

So making the batter using Bisquick is as easy as making the batter for Jif-E Cornbread… Bisquick meal, milk, eggs and some oil. *And lately, I have gravitated toward making my cornbread more exotic by using my 3 types of dates, dried cranberries, and almonds or walnuts, etc. *I’ve already gone through my more savory cornbread period adding onion, jalapeno, poblano & various other peppers.

The waffle turned out great. I used some sugar free maple syrup and a little Agave Nectar also with some margarine. Bacon and a waffle, so good. *My waffles had begun to taste a little mealy and dry, so I added some sour cream, Greek yogurt and even an extra egg. Some of that made the waffle more moist and not mealy.

For dinner, I cooked a slab of calf’s liver, and steamed some asparagus, and some broccoli. I also microwaved an ear of corn on the cob and quartered one small Campari tomato.

A waffle and bacon for breakfast is probably the quickest meal to prepare. About 4 minutes to cook the bacon and even less, once the iron is hot, to cook a waffle. Add some margarine to the hot waffle, and pour on some sugar free syrup and Agave Nectar. *Note 12/18/24: The waffles have been a little dry and grainy for a while. I thought to add some Greek Yogurt and sour cream to some of the Bisquck batter and that did the trick. The waffle was moister and not grainy. I should add yogurt or sour cream each time.
Fried apples and bacon is the next quickest to prepare. About 4 minutes to cook the bacon, and about 8 to 10 minutes to fry the apples. Sift on sweetener, and then ground cinnamon, cloves, coriander, ginger, mace, nutmeg & pumpkin spice.
Egg salad and bacon takes the longest time to prepare, because you have to wait for the water to boil and then another 9 minutes for the eggs to cook. Four minutes to prepare the bacon that can be done while the eggs cook. When the eggs are cooked, their shells need to be peeled, and then the eggs mashed, margarine, and also mayonnaise, salt & pepper, ground garlic dulse and celery seeds added.

It’s been a while since I made polenta, or polenta cakes. I don’t see the need to make polenta because it is alot like grits. If I wanted a wet, grit-like item, I would just fix grits. Which I rarely do. But if I make a polenta cake, and that is as easy as cooking some polenta and then pouring the wet mixture into a pan to let it cool and then firm up, also losing some of its moisture. Then I have a base for sopping up some delicious gravy. Years ago, while visiting Asheville and “Trillium a Bistro” when Leisa Payne was the young chef there, I had a delicious polenta cake with some alligator sausage gravy.

Polenta is one of those things that when I fix it, I say to myself “Oh how delicious,” and I greatly enjoy eating it. But then I go a long time without fixing it again… until the next time when I do fix it and say to myself, “Oh how delicious!” I do that with the Curried Apple Soup also.

ANOTHER NOTE: The reason I just thought of polenta again, was because some time ago, I poured the wet polenta into my waffle iron and made a waffled, polenta cake. The idea was to provide even more surface area for gravy. The polenta did not brown up well, but did take the form of a waffle & this should be tried again.

Curried Apple Soup
Garden Pea, Leek & Tarragon Soup
Kielbasa, Shrimp, Zucchini, Onion, Tomato, Pasta Shells, Cayenne & Red Pepper Flakes
Calf Liver
Vegetable Soup – Ground Beef, Onion, Green Beans, Carrots, Corn, Garden Peas, Okra, Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes
Corn on the Cob
Polenta Cake & Gravy
Avocado, Chipotle & Chicken Broth Soup
Avocado, Chipotle, Mango, Sweet Onion, Pineapple, Lime Juice Salza
Black Eyed Peas & Seasoning Meat
Large Lima Beans & Seasoning Meat
Fried Okra
Cabbage & Onion Stir Fry
Round Bone Lamb Chop
Salsa Ranchera, Chicken, Onion, Tomato, Carrots, Sweet Bell Pepper
Baked Sweet Potato with Sour Cream, Cinnamon & Sweetener
Cole Slaw
Sliced or Quartered Raw Tomatoes
Pastrami Rachel – Pastrami, Swiss Cheese, Sauerkraut, Thousand Island Dressing, Toasted Seeded Rye Bread w/ Cold Spicy Dill Pickle & Wavy Potato Chips
Homemade Salsa – Diced Fire Roasted Tomatoes, Sweet Onion, Sweet Bell Peppers, Salsa Ranchera Sauce, Sweetener, Cayenne & Red Pepper Flakes blended.
Waldorf Salad – Large Diced Apple, Diced Celery, Chopped Walnuts, Halved Red Seedless Grapes, Dried Cranberries, Shredded Coconut, Mayonnaise
Greek Salad – Romaine Lettuce, Diced Raw Tomato, Sweet Onion, Kalamata Olives, – Olive Oil, Red Wine Vinegar, Dijon Mustard
Homemade Hummus – Garbanzo Beans, Olive Oil (or Toasted Sesame Oil), Lime Juice, Ground Cumin – Served with Sweet Bell Peppers, Sweet Onion, Carrots, Smoked Oysters, Assorted Olives & Pickles
Fried Apples – Sweetener, Ground Cinnamon, Cloves, Coriander, Mace, Nutmeg, Pumpkin Spice
Egg Salad – Hard Boiled Eggs, Mayonnaise, Margarine, Dulse, Celery Seeds, S & Ground Long Pepper, Ground Garlic