"Make the Waffle Great Again"
This is my tried and true hyperfixation meal. Try it if you dare.
I used to be notoriously obsessed with oats. Don’t get me wrong—I still love a hot bowl of oatmeal but it’s no longer a hyperfixation meal in my daily routine.
It’s true, it’s true. I’m one of those types of semi-neurotic, but still high-functioning people. Once I try something and find it fits my taste, texture, and nutritional desires there’s a high chance I will eat it every single day until I get bored. And frankly, I don’t get bored of hyperfixation meals too easily.
Here’s a little backstory on how I grew reasonably addicted to protein waffles and my quintessentially Andrea Mew recipe for you to, perhaps, try if you’re curious.
Perhaps it all stemmed from a desire for control over my body, but I’m deeply interested in the ingredients in all foods… not just ones that I eat. I’m legitimately that girl, walking down the grocery store aisles, picking up packages of food products I’ll never buy, just to look at the ingredient list and briefly noodle on the macronutrient breakdown.
Growing up, I always read during breakfast. My literature of choice was usually page upon page of local newspapers and pre-teen magazines, followed up by the back and sides of the cereal boxes strewn across our kitchen tabletop. But, I never put much thought into actually digesting the nutrient information I was reading, for the breakfast I was eating.
I’ve always been pretty active, but as a competitive and recreational dancer in my adolescence, I could eat and eat and eat and burn it all off. In my later, teenage dirtbag days when I quit dancing, however, my body couldn’t burn off as much as I was putting in. The high-calorie breakfasts I was used to were suddenly causing me to pack on pounds.
But, I’m just not one of those girls who can skip breakfast. I’ve never been good at intermittent fasting. Personally speaking, I don’t function well without breakfast and research backs it up—women can’t fast for the same lengths of time that men can without disrupting our hormonal health.
Roughly around that time, I also started to understand the science behind calories and realized I needed to rethink how I ate. Breakfast was one of the first and easiest meals to get a makeover. First, it was avocado toast with eggs. That was solid for a bit of time, but I was still consuming more than my body was burning off.
Oatmeal then took over for its cost-effectiveness and palatability. But, I was pretty disordered at that time and didn’t really know what to top my oats with. I mean, I thought that peanut butter would keep me fat. Spoiler alert: I wasn’t even fat at all, and peanut butter wouldn’t legitimately threaten my waistline unless I became totally unhinged with my portions.
So for a while, I ate fake peanut butter on top of my oatmeal. Yes… powdered peanut butter, mixed with water to reconstitute it. My ungodly, daily slop consisted of oats, cottage cheese, and fake peanut butter.
To this day, I know it’s slop but I’ll defend the flavor combination to my grave.
But eventually—and I promise I’m finally getting to something more tangible for you than wistful ramblings—I fell for strength training and wanted to up my protein intake. Since I’m typically a sweet brekkie gal, adding protein powder to my oatmeal (hello, my fellow proats fans) seemed logical enough, but I knew I was missing out on hella nutrient-dense ingredients like eggs.
As if it were a sign from God himself telling me to stop eating the same damn oatmeal, around this time I was gifted a waffle iron and that gift spurred a very, very creative streak of brekkie experimentation.
During the past year or so, I think I’ve fine-tuned my favorite protein waffle recipe… not because it’s some one-for-one swap for the indulgent, Belgian waffles I’ve had the pleasure of eating in Bruges but because I’ve crafted something… A) Nutritionally balanced B) Portable and C) Endlessly customizable.
Here’s the gist of it. The basic equation.
You need a flour of choice, a protein powder of choice, a liquid of choice, eggs, a leavening agent for volume, some salt to balance the sweetness, and then your choice of spices.
Flour:
Though I’m not diagnosed as gluten intolerant or allergic, I find my digestive system prefers gluten-free alternatives. As such, I’ve experimented with many, many, many types of flours for protein waffles. My personal favorites are buckwheat flour, brown or white rice flour, oat flour (buy it pre-ground OR blend your fave whole oats), and cassava flour.
Protein powder:
For the most budget-friendly protein powder that doesn’t absolutely suck, I must admit that I’ve had good luck with certain MyProtein whey flavors. Others have been dismal. The Mew-approved flavors are salted caramel, mocha, strawberry cream, gingerbread, marshmallow cereal, birthday cake, and pumpkin spice. That brand, or TrueNutrition is what I’ll typically purchase. And yes, I do recognize that MyProtein is, frankly, not the most quality product. I’m more about that 80/20 or 70/30 lifestyle when it comes to “clean” eating. Don’t come at me.
Liquid:
For a while there, I was using milk. This felt redundant after a while since protein powder is already milky. Now, I just use water and haven’t noticed any sort of flavor or texture difference.
Eggs:
This is a non-negotiable. I don’t care if you’d rather have a “vegan” egg made with flaxseeds or if you’re frightened by the cholesterol propaganda – it’s just that: propaganda. Eggs are a nutritional powerhouse. I crack two in my protein waffle batter because my body needs it.
The little additives:
If you want a fluffier baked good, use baking powder. If you want even more volume with added digestive benefits, add a teaspoon of psyllium husk or a 1/4 cup of oat bran. You can also hide other supplements you may like taking daily in your batter, like maca or bovine colostrum for instance.
As for spices, it entirely depends on the protein powder flavor you use. I like to add turmeric, ginger, and cinnamon but usually only when I’m working with flavors like salted caramel or gingerbread. The last, but perhaps most important additive… salt. Don’t forget some salt.
You may be wondering what ratios I recommend. Well… I don’t have the most concrete answer for you.
I’ve become a bit more intuitive with my metrics in an effort to count calories less often and just adjust a successful formula based on how hungry I am. The general breakdown is as follows: 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of flour, one generous scoop of protein powder (and sometimes a little bit extra), 1/2 cup to a whole cup of water (if you add psyllium husk or bran, increase the liquid), and two eggs.
If you care, this ranges anywhere from 420-or-so calories to 550-ish depending on the types of flour, protein powders, or supps you include, as well as how strict you are on measuring each ingredient out.
You can blend it all up in one go, or you can separately mix the dry and wet ingredients and then whisk them together for a cheeky lil bicep workout.
The most epic part of this versatile batter is that baking it doesn’t have to take place exclusively in a waffle iron. Sometimes I meal-prep these out the night before by baking them in little bundt or muffin tins. Sometimes I decrease the liquid a little and make them into pancakes.
Top them with anything you’d like—fresh fruit, yogurt, nut butter–or just do what I do, go feral, and enjoy them as though waffles have somehow always been finger food.
Do with all this information what you’d like. Judge me, emulate me… the world is your oyster and I’m just trying to provide you with pearls.