Savory Quinoa Cornmeal Power Waffles with Bob’s Spicy Black Beans

Make a batch of these waffles and freeze them. Pop them in a toaster when you need a healthy snack.

Bob’s Spicy Black Beans:

1 can black beans, undrained

1 jalapeno pepper, minced

1 cup finely diced onion

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp cumin

1 Tbsp cocoa powder

Dry waffle ingredients:

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup all purpose white flour

1/2 cup almond flour

1/4 cup coarse cornmeal

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp nutritional yeast

Wet waffle ingredients:

2 eggs

1/2 cup whole fat Greek Yogurt

1/2 cup half and half

1 cup milk

palmful cilantro, finely minced

palmful parsley, finely minced

palmful (about 12 leaves) fresh mint, finely minced

1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves, finely minced

1 cup cooked, cooled quinoa

1 stick (8 Tbsp) butter, melted

Garnish:

fresh ricotta, yogurt or sour cream

1/4 avocado, sliced, per serving

Get the black beans simmering by first sautéing the onion and jalapeño in a medium pot. Cook for about 5 minutes until onion begins to soften. Add the garlic and cook another 2 minutes. Add the beans, the cumin and cocoa powder, and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook, covered, until waffles are done. Stir every once in a while.

Heat a waffle iron - I used a single round 6-inch iron. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Separately, whisk together the wet ingredients in a medium bowl.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients but do not over-mix - a few little lumps are OK. Preheat oven to 200F.

Evenly distribute a generous 1 cup of batter (about 1-1/4 cup) onto the waffle iron. Cover iron and cook until waffle is browned and cooked through, about 5-7 minutes on my iron.

Keep waffles warm on a rack in the oven while you cook remaining waffles. Do not stack them as they can get soggy.

Serve the waffles with a serving of black beans on top. Garnish with ricotta, or yogurt, or sour cream, and avocado, if you wish.

Makes 6-8 6-inch waffles.

Cook’s Notes: I do a riff off of my brother in-law Bob’s delicious, creamy black beans. He prepares them whenever we cook Mexican together, and they are simple and delicious. Here I am paraphrasing how he told me verbally how he made them. Or you can use your favorite can of Tex-Mex chili beans (pinto) in chili sauce, or Puerto Rican black beans in spicy sauce. That’s actually what’s photographed here.

Of course, there is no end of creamy delicacies you can top these waffle bases with - they are made with quinoa, so the topping does not have to contain protein.

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