Cooking for One: Breakfast: Whole Wheat Pumpkin Waffles

Just in time for the taste of fall, whole wheat pumpkin (Belgian) waffles!  Although fall is not my favorite time of the year (with the impending cold weather creeping in and an end to motorcycle riding season), I do love the tastes that come along with fall and the cool crisp mornings.  It just invites creamy soups, spicy dishes and fill you up hearty meals!  

Here's your recipe (makes 6 waffles):

• Water, 1.25 cup
• Pumpkin, canned, 1 cup
• Egg, fresh, 1 large
• Vegetable Oil, 2 tbsp
• Apple Cider Vinegar, 2 tbsp
• Splenda Brown Sugar Blend, 2 tbsp
• Whole Wheat Flour, 2 cup
• Powdered Milk, nonfat, 0.5 cup
• Baking Powder, 2 tsp
• Baking Soda, 1 tsp
• Pumpkin Pie Spice, 2 tbsp
• Salt, 0.5 tsp

Preheat your Belgian waffle maker and spray with non-stick cooking spray.  (I use Pam for Grilling).  Mix the wet ingredients together in one bowl and the dry ingredients together in another bowl.  (I put the brown sugar in with the wet ingredients).  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix thoroughly.  Allow to sit for about 5 minutes while the waffle maker is warming up and then mix again (this is because it make take a little more time for the whole wheat flour to absorb the liquid).  When your waffle maker is hot, place about 0.5 cup of batter into maker and spread out (you'll notice in my picture that they didn't spread out much to fill the waffle maker since the batter is a little thick).  Close and cook for about 2 minutes.  Because of the sugar in the batter, they will darken (and possibly burn) if you leave them in too long.  Remove the waffle and repeat the process until your batter is gone.  I usually spray my non-stick cooking spray in the waffle maker about every other waffle just so I don't have any problems removing them.  (I hate having to clean out a stuck waffle!)

I placed mine on cooling racks since I was planning to freeze these to have for quick easy breakfast meals.  After coming to room temperature, place cooling racks in the freezer.  After about 2 hours, you can remove the racks, place the waffles in a freezer bag and put back in the freezer.  To enjoy one of these, heat them up in a microwave for about 1 minute (they may become a little soggy though) or place them in a toaster oven on toast for about 10 minutes.  I like them topped with cinnamon sugar butter or toasted pecan syrup.  

I hope you enjoy!

Nutrition Facts:  Serves 6  The following is per serving:

Calories: 263, Fat: 6.5g, Cholesterol: 32mg, Sodium: 618mg, Carbohydrates: 44g, Fiber: 6.5g, Protein: 9g

**Editorial note**  If you'd like to use regular brown sugar in this recipe, it would be 4 tbsp and if you don't have pumpkin pie spice, you can replace it with 1.5 tbsp cinnamon, 1 tsp allspice, 0.5 tsp ginger and 0.5 tsp nutmeg to get about the same flavor.  You can also use 1.5 cups of milk instead of the water and powered milk in the recipe.