Leggo My Eggo!

Do any of you eat freezer waffles for breakfast? I confess, we eat them in this house 1-2 mornings a week. I eat the Eggo Low-fat Nutrigrain variety (high in dietary fiber and low in fat...as the name implies) and then I serve the most inexpensive, store brand variety that I can find to the kids. The thing is, just the waffles by themselves are kind of BOR-ING. Look at this, does it look appetizing to you?



Wouldn't you rather have your freezer waffle like this? I like to top them with fresh fruit sometimes. Fruit adds flavor and nutritional value, not to mention, the whole meal looks more palatable. I always use syrup. Usually the light kind. I try to keep clean, prepared fruit in my fridge so that I'm not slicing up fruit in the morning and taking away from the convenience of freezer waffles.



My favorite way to eat freezer waffles is topped with peanut butter, bananas, and syrup. I'm one of those people that need protein in the morning. Peanut butter or eggs are usually on my menu.



Like I said, I need syrup with my waffles. Warm syrup. I can't stand cold-from-the- refrigerator syrup on my warm toasty waffle. So...while my waffles are in the toaster, I squirt the desired amount of syrup onto a microwaveable plate and microwave for about 15 seconds to warm it up.



Then I spread the waffle with peanut butter. Peanut butter is perfect for spreading onto waffles. All those little square-shaped depressions on the waffle serve as tiny built-in peanut butter cups.



You know what I use? Reduced Fat Creamy Jif. And it's good. But guess what? It's not really peanut butter. It actually says on the label "25% less fat than peanut butter." and below that, "Peanut butter spread 60 % peanuts". So my favorite peanut butter isn't actually peanut butter. It's peanut butter spread. Bummer. What's the difference between peanut butter spread and peanut butter, I wondered. Time for a little label reading...

Here are the ingredients in this "peanut butter spread" in order of amount: peanuts (thank goodness), corn syrup solids, sugar and soy protein, 2 % or less of fully hydrogenated vegetable oils (rapeseed and soybean), salt, mono- and diglycerides, molasses, niacinamide, folic acid, pyridoxine hydrochloride, magnesium oxide, zinc oxide, ferric orthophospate, and copper sulfate.

Calories: 190 Calories from fat: 110 Total Fat: 12 g Dietary Fiber: 1 g Sugars: 4 g Protein: 8 g

Since I'm at my parent's this week, I'm subject to their natural peanut butter. They use the Smucker's brand. Just for fun, let's compare.

Ingredients: Peanuts, Salt.

That's it! Just peanuts and salt. No mono-di-poly-bi-hydrogenated-sulfate-dextrose-whatchamacallit. I definitely feel healthier while eating it. I also feel like I want to pour on sugar and add something to make it smooth and creamy.

Calories: 210 Calories from Fat: 150 Total Fat: 16 g Dietary Fiber: 2 g Sugars: 1 g Protein: 8 g

The verdict: Even though my favorite brand contains ingredients that I can't even pronounce, I'm sticking to it. It tastes SO much better and it does save a few calories and fat grams. I know the natural is better for me...but I'm a creature of habit.



Now back to the waffles. I plop my peanut-buttered waffle face first into the syrup.



Then I pick it up, letting some of the syrup run off and repeat with my second waffle. Ahem...if you're feeling sanitary, use a fork or small tongs to retrieve your waffle from the syrup. Clearly, I was not. If you stop here and take a bite of the waffle covered in syrup and peanut butter, it tastes quite like Brach's Maple Nut Goodies. You know those little rounded candies? My grandpa and my mom love them! The first time that I bit into the peanut butter/syrup combo on a freezer waffle, I saw those little candies in my mind.



I like to top it off with bananas. Get a little potassium. Plus, it just tastes good!




Oh one last thing, beside freezer waffles, I have another guilty breakfast confession...whipped cream from the can (such as Readi-whip) is one of my favorite breakfast foods. Check it out here on top of a yummy bowl of fresh berries. Sometimes I even spray it into the bottom of my coffee mug and then pour the coffee slowly over the top, creating a frothy topping. Then I sprinkle with cinnamon or nutmeg. It tastes like I went to the local coffee house, but really I'm still in my pj's and I didn't have to brush my teeth and drive across town to get it.