Strange Waffles

Yesterday Lisa and I decided that at some point this week we would do a "breakfast for dinner" thing. This afternoon I decided I was going to do it this evening and while I was putting together the waffle recipe I decided I wanted to go beyond the basic waffle. Waffles are great, but really it's just bread that we pour liquid sugar over and enjoy. That's all well and good from time to time but as this was going to be dinner I was thinking we needed something more substantial. We had some leftover ham from some dinner we had had a week or so ago and it was sitting there by the (already grated) cheddar cheese from the tacos we had last week, and an idea was born. I took the waffle recipe from King Arthur flour's website (below and at the link) and added a cup and a half of ham and two cups of grated cheddar cheese.

Lisa then steamed some broccoli which we put on top and then poured maple syrup over it. The sweetness of the ham and the maple syrup worked well together, the cheese crisped up nicely in the waffle iron, and surprisingly enough the syrup and broccoli worked together and mixed well with everything else.

Strange as it is to see it all together, and maybe even hear about, it worked, and I would do it again. This is one for the second cook book to be sure! The recipe and instructions are below.

Health wise things kind of spiraled downward after lunch yesterday. I used the memory of how great I felt in the morning to get me through the rest of yesterday and today. Plus it's nice to know I can still feel that great after all the health issues. This week I will (hopefully) put the final nail in the root canal story, I get to talk to some guys at Google, and also (hopefully) the issue with being charged thousands of dollars extra for meds will be resolved. Should be an interesting week. Thanks for all the prayers and support. Waffle recipe, plus modifications, follows!

Ham and Cheese Waffles with Broccoli
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 1/2 cup diced ham
• 2 cups grated cheddar
• 1 head of broccoli

Instructions:

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl, leaving room for expansion; the mixture will bubble and grow. [Note: Mine didn't.]
2. Stir to combine; it's OK if the mixture isn't perfectly smooth. 
3. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rest at room temperature for 1 hour; the mixture will begin to bubble. You can cook the waffles at this point, or refrigerate the batter overnight to cook waffles the next day.
4. Preheat your waffle iron. Spray with non-stick vegetable oil spray, and pour 2/3 to 3/4 cup batter (or the amount recommended by the manufacturer) onto the center of the iron. Close the lid and bake for the recommended amount of time, until the waffle is golden brown. It took at least 5 minutes with our waffle iron, but they also didn't expand very much, so we also poured more onto the iron in the first place.
5. Cut up the broccoli into small bits and steam for 5-7 minutes depending on how cooked you like your broccoli. Ours was done at 5 and had a little crunch still.
6. Serve the waffles up as they come off or stick them in the oven at 200 degrees to stay warm. Combine with the cooked broccoli and apply maple syrup to the top and enjoy.
   
   Yield: We got about 2 "full sized" (four parts) waffles out of this recipe. They were very hearty and didn't expand very much. 

~B.
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