Waffling

This morning I made this whole-grain waffle recipe from Whole Living Magazine. It was comforting and homey and I used one of the pretty brown-shelled eggs we bought from the chicken farmer in the Catskills on Saturday. We all loved the waffs. And because they're whole-grain, they're more filling and satisfying than white-flour lightweights.

I've tried other whole-grain waffles with less success. They didn't taste good. They were dry and unexciting. This recipe calls for a little wheat germ and coarse salt--interesting and tasty.

I made a few tweaks:

• Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Bean Paste*** in place of half the vanilla extract. That was the bottom of my vanilla, so I also used a 1/2 tsp. of McCormick pure orange extract. Yum.
• Used 3/4 cup 1% milk and 3/4 cup buttermilk instead of all milk, because I like tangy waffles.
• Didn't have canola oil...didn't want to use the olive oil we had, though could have... used 1/2 stick [4 tbsp.] of butter, melted. This is much healthier than Dan's special recipe from The Cake Bible, which tastes heavenly but calls for a lot of butter.

Have a good day.  About to force myself to run three miles to train for Saturday's Spring Lake run.

****I requested and received a sample of this product. It is excellent. I've also used it with great results in devil's food cake; vanilla whipped cream; and cannoli pudding. I can't think of any recipe calling for vanilla where it wouldn't be great. Since it's vanilla bean paste, it's perfect for things like crème brûlée or vanilla ice cream, where it's fun to see the dark specks. But I haven't made those lately...I will be buying a new bottle of this potion now.