Breakfast for Dinner

When I was growing up, my mom used to make breakfast for dinner for my 3 siblings and I all the time. It usually consisted of chocolate chip pancakes, although from time to time we'd have an addition like scrambled eggs. I hated scrambled eggs, though, so I just ate the pancakes. This was never an issue for me because I LOVE chocolate chip pancakes. I still like to make myself breakfast for dinner occasionally. Last night I made Michael and I chocolate chip waffles and scrambled tofu.

Chocolate-Chip Waffles

makes a lot

Ingredients:

1 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

1 c. whole wheat flour

1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 c. natural unsweetened applesauce

2 flax eggs ( 2 tbsp. flaxseed meal + 6 tbsp. water)

2 c. + 2 tbsp. milk alternative or water (I used soy milk)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

chocolate chips

Instructions:

- Grease and turn on waffle maker

- In a medium sized bowl, mix the dry ingredients except for the chocolate chips. In a larger bowl, mix the wet ingredients (you may use more or less water or milk alternative, depending on how thick you want your batter). Incorporate the dry into the wet until it is just mixed together. Fold in however many chocolate chips you want.

- Spoon batter into waffle maker, making sure to leave a bit of space around the edges so the batter doesn't come seeping out the sides. Place waffles on cooling racks when done cooking.

Scrambled Tofu

Ingredients:

1 block extra firm tofu, drained and squeezed

2 tbsp. tahini

2 tbsp. soy sauce

2 tbsp. water

2 tbsp. oil

3 tsp. garlic powder

2 tsp. mustard powder

2 tsp. black pepper

2 tsp. oregano

2 tsp. basil

1 tsp. curry powder

1 tbsp. nutritional yeast

1/2 yellow onion, chopped

1/2 green pepper, chopped

1/4 c. peas

3 handfuls spinach

Instructions:

- Combine tahini, soy sauce, and spices in a medium sized bowl. Add the water and oil to make a pasty consistency -- it could be more or less then 2 tbsp. each depending on your tastes and whatnot (I only added water so I wouldn't have so much oil in it).

- Crumble tofu into bowl and fold it into the mix, making sure not to break up the tofu too much.

- On medium-high heat, saute vegetables (minus spinach) for just a couple minutes.

- Add tofu mixture and cook until tofu is browned. When everything is just about done, add in the spinach. Make sure to keep folding the mixture to get all of the spinach cooked.

- If you made your waffles ahead of time, pop into toaster and serve with 100% maple syrup and fresh scrambled tofu!

I sure do love chocolate chip waffles! Anytime I make waffles I try to make a lot so I can freeze them and save for later use (just make sure to individually wrap each one in plastic wrap or else they'll freeze together). I also love scrambled tofu. This is probably my favorite recipe for it -- I would've used more soy sauce except Michael isn't a huge fan of it. I think it turned out quite nice the way it was! It seems like a lot of ingredients so don't feel overwhelmed... most of them are spices! I love recipes like these because you can change them up. I sometimes add in blueberries to my waffles and change up the vegetables in my scrambled tofu depending on what I have on hand (I will say, though, that the spinach totally tops the cake here). Either way, you can't go wrong with breakfast for dinner, especially when it consists of fresh, local ingredients and a little sugar to brighten your day.