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Sweet Potato Spice Waffles and Pancakes


Fall - a time for light sweaters, boots, leaves, apples, and everything pumpkin spiced. Am I right? I love this time of year because the fall has brought so many beautiful moments in to my life. 6 years ago, Mark proposed to me at an apple orchard in late September and almost 3 years ago, we welcomed our beautiful baby girl into the world in late October.

A couple of weeks ago, we took Isabelle for our now annual trip to the Roba's Family Farm where we got to ride a pony, feed goats, pick out pumpkins, and Isabelle got to try a cider donut for the first time. SHOCKING I KNOW. I let Isabelle eat a cider donut and it wasn't even gluten free!



Because we eat so well every day, I do not have any problem with the occasional treat. If my kid eats a cider donut once a year, I'm still calling that a success!

A few days passed and Isabelle and I had the following conversation:

Isabelle: I want to go back to the farm.
Mama: Oh yea? Do you want to ride the pony again?
Isabelle: No, I need donuts.

Oh Lord, I created a monster!

So these Sweet Potato Spice Waffles/Pancakes were born. I wanted to create something that tasted like a cider donut but was nutrient dense so I felt comfortable feeding it to Isabelle on a regular basis.

The kid loves the paleo waffle recipe from Every Last Crumb so I used that recipe as a base for this one. My first attempt was OK, but adding the sweet potato threw off the texture of the waffle. I kept playing around with flour ratios and the end result was delicious! It's crispy on the outside but soft on the inside, filled with the nutrients of a sweet potato, spiced with pumpkin pie spice, satiating from the healthy fats, and just sweet enough to get your daughter to forget about cider donuts from the farm and devour these "waffle donuts" as Isabelle called them instead.

You can also use this batter to make Sweet Potato Spice Pancakes! They were delicious with some coconut butter smeared over them.

Both the pancakes and waffles freeze really well, so I would absolutely double this recipe and save some for a busy morning or quick snack. I actually prefer the waffles after they've been toasted for about 2-3 minutes in the toaster. Also, feel free to try pumpkin instead of the sweet potato! The batter might be a little wetter (haven't tested it myself), but should still work.

SWEET POTATO SPICE WAFFLES AND PANCAKES RECIPE

Recipe Ingredients

Dry Ingredients:
1 cup almond flour
3/4 cup tapioca flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp coconut sugar
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Wet Ingredients:
1/2 cup sweet potato puree 
1 egg
1/2 cup coconut milk, light 
1/4 cup avocado oil (plus more for oiling your waffle iron or skillet)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

Recipe Directions

1. Plug in your waffle iron to warm up or warm up a skillet over medium low heat for making pancakes.
2. In a medium/large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients until well combined.
3. Make a well in your dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients to your bowl. Mix everything together until a batter is formed.
4. Let batter sit for 5 minutes. You should notice a few bubbles form in the batter during this time.
5. COOKING THE WAFFLES: Lightly brush on some avocado oil to your warm waffle iron. Add a scoop of batter to your waffle iron, leaving about an inch from the edges all around. Close the top and cook according to your waffle iron's instructions. My waffle iron takes about 5 minutes per waffle.
6. COOKING THE PANCAKES: Lightly brush on some avocado oil to your warm skillet. Add about 1/4 cup of batter and cook like a traditional pancake, waiting for a few bubbles to surface before flipping. Cook for one more minute after flipping.
7. Serve with maple syrup and a dusting of pumpkin pie spice. Enjoy!

Try these and let me know what you think!

XOXO,
SMP

*Some product links throughout this blog are affiliate links. If through these links, you end up purchasing an item I recommend, I may receive a small commission. Please know that I would never personally recommend any product or service that I do not currently use or would consider using on my own family. I simply want you to know exactly what I use, so you can have the same results when making my recipes. Thank you for your support!*

Pancakes: Breakfast Chain or at Home?

This morning was proving to be a rough morning. My car started giving me trouble last night and I was trying to get it fixed ASAP since I have to make that lovely 5 hour trip to MA on Sunday afternoon. The mechanic where we wanted to take my car isn't open on Saturday, so I was left with no choice but to rent a car. Who knew it could be so difficult to rent a car on a Saturday in the Poconos?! After calling a couple of different places, I finally found one that had a car available but they were closing in half an hour from the time in which I had placed the call. Rushing to put clothes on and waking my husband who didn't come home from his shift until 5am -- it wasn't a pretty scene.

We managed to get there on time and I have a rental for a week. Nice. Problem Solved. Next problem: It was now close to noon, and we hadn't eaten anything yet.

To make up for the fact that I had to wake up a very tired man, I offered to take him out to brunch at the breakfast chain that was across the street. At this point, I didn't care about Points or trying to lose weight. I was looking for some comfort food, looking for it fast, and I wanted my husband to like me again!

To my surprise, he declined the offer and said, "Let's just go home."

I am so glad that he made that decision. I was still in the mood for some pancakes, so as my hubby climbed back into bed, I threw my apron on and starting whipping up some breakfast. Not only did breakfast come out delicious, it was cheaper and healthier than what I was willing to devour an hour previously.

Here's is what I'd like to call:

Mini Heart Healthy Pancakes topped with Sliced Bananas and Nutella
Recipe:
Mini Pancakes
2 Cups of Heart Healthy Bisquick Baking Mix
1 1/4 cup of milk, fat free
1 egg
2 tbsp of brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla

1.) In a large bowl, measure out 2 cups of baking mix
2.) In a small bowl, whisk together egg, brown sugar, and vanilla
3.) Add egg mixture to baking mix and add milk.
4.) Stir until well blended
5.)  Using a small ladle (less than 1/4 cup),  pour pancake batter onto hot griddle, flipping after bubbles form on top of batter.

Using my small ladle, I am able to make about 20 mini pancakes (4 servings of 5 pancakes)

5  Mini Pancakes = 7 pts

Topping
1 banana per serving, sliced (0 pts)
1 tbsp of Nutella, or chocolate hazelnut spread - microwaved for about 30 seconds (3 pts)

So in total my pancakes came out to 10 points per serving. Not bad! I still have plenty of points left for the day to enjoy a snack and a good hearty dinner. I would say, this isn't even a cheat meal!

I did some quick research on the breakfast chain I had wanted to go to, and calculated that just a simple order of short stacks (3 pancakes), with NO additional toppings or side orders = 20 points! YIKES! I can't even imagine all of the fancy platters that also include eggs, bacon, toast, etc.

Not only did we save ourselves some money, but we might have just saved ourselves a heart attack!

Happy Saturday!