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VeganMoFo 2012 - The Waffle Truth About A Vegan Diner
This you should know (if you didn’t already): I’m not the brightest bulb in the box. I sometimes make mistakes; at least 243 today alone. However, I think I can be forgiven for this just as some books need to be forgiven… especially if a particularly dim bulb realizes all too late that she’s cooked from the book before and very nearly forgot about it!
The book: Vegan Diner by Julie HassonWhy do you have it? This book I actually purchased for my husband. In my head, that’s how it went. He’s a Jersey boy (not a Jersey Shore boy, thank goodness) and would always (and I mean always) talk about going with his friends to the diner. I think every time we were both in Jersey in the past, there were at least 2-to-3 trips to the diner. After some thought, I decided to get him a book so I can make him diner treats.Well, why hadn’t you cooked from it yet? The truth I have to tell myself is that I was pretty sure I’d never cook anything in this book for me. Why? I was a bit of a calorie-phobe at the time and diner food in any way, shape or form cannot be good for you. Everything looked delicious… so I stayed away. Crazy, no?
Did you have difficulty deciding on a recipe? Absolutely no problem. If I was going to make a diner classic, I was going all Leslie Knope up in this house.Is this the bit where you realized you cooked from the book before? It should have been, I went through the entire book before finalizing my selection. As if I wasn’t going to choose what I chose…What did you make? Tom Hanks said it best. For those inclined not to click… waffles. Orange Cornbread Waffles.How did the cook go? Straight forward. A few ingredients, as you would expect, but it wasn’t outrageous. I was astounded!Did you modify? Because we know you can’t help yourself. Nor can I. I used whole wheat/whole wheat pastry flour mix. This did not call for a lot of oil but I did replace entirely with apple sauce. There was a bit of apple cider vinegar, though I’m not sure it was needed due to the orange juice…
How did the eat go? Ermahgerd! These were hands-down the best waffles I’ve ever made at home, ever! Crisp outside, chewy inside, great texture from the cornmeal… and, omg orange! I really gave this recipe 8 sideways looks before deciding on it being the least likely waffle recipe I’d make. Dude! I really didn’t think of orange in my waffle as something that would work but this quickly became my favorite thing. Will I add orange to everything? Who knows?!Okay, surely you realized by now? Wait for it…And The Husband? He thought they were crispy, and had a nice citrus twist. This is what he just said now. During the eat, all he said was, “Mmmmmm, chomp chomp, Mmmmmmm…”And this is when? Yes! Finally, this is when I realized I cooked from the book before. It was when I was thinking I should have made something to go with the fabulous waffles is when I had my suspicions, and searching my own blog revealed it (along with using a PPK pancake recipe to make waffles). So, upon remembering that I made the faux bacon… I remember that I wasn’t a big fan of it. It may have been operator error on my part (and to my knowledge I did follow the recipe exactly), but they didn’t float my boat. I guess, at that point, I forgot I’d even used the book.
Will you cook from this book again? Certainly. With fresh eyes and a knack to adjust recipes to my liking and taste, I think I can cook from this book without too much worry. The recipes all really look great and I can make something both members of my household can enjoy.So, have you been to any diners? Not since the vegan conversion, but then again I haven’t had the opportunity to either. There’s a Silver Diner near by but I’m not sure if the veg options are vaguely vegan or not. I’ve been going out to eat too much as of late in any case, so I’m happy to have the option to cook from my very own home. Of course, home is where I keep all of my waffle supplies…:)Posted on October 3, 2012 with 1 note ()
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A Brooklyn, NY transplant in her mid-thirties woman who lost 176 pounds, whinges on about not having time to knit, cooks food, became a veganist, loves pizza and hates everything (though now she's trying not to).
