To Live Long, Eat Nuts

Recently, in one of the food-and-nutrition newsletters I get, I read that people who eat nuts live longer than those who don’t. It reminded me of the excellent oat and nut waffles my sister-in-law, Jean, makes. I watched her create the batter for them and jotted down the ingredients. Oats are full of fiber, and have no gluten. That’s a boon for the 12% of the population who are celiacs or who get headaches if they eat high-gluten foods. Even ice cream has some gluten, unless you make it yourself.

If gluten is a serious problem with you and/or yours, make these with Bob’s Red Mill rolled oats. They’re guaranteed to not even be rolled on equipment that has ever been exposed to wheat, barley, or rye, hence have not a smidgeon of gluten. If gluten is no problem for you or anyone in your family, any rolled oats will do fine.

 OAT NUT WAFFLES,
 PANCAKES or CRÊPES
2 ½ cups water
1 ½ cups rolled oats
1/3 cup raw cashew nuts
or sliced almonds or ¼ cup almond butter or almond meal
1 Tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients in blender. Blend until light and foamy, about ½ minute.
WAFFLES: Spray cold waffle iron with olive oil.

Let batter rest while waffle iron heats. The batter will thicken as it stands. Blend again briefly.
Try a very small sample waffle to make sure the iron is hot enough and that you got oil on all sides of each of the little projections.

When satisfied that conditions in the waffler are perfect, bake a full-size waffle 8 to 10 minutes (set timer), flipping the waffler half-way through,  until nicely brown and crisp. If the waffle is reluctant to part from the waffler, either it has not cooked long enough or you didn’t get oil on all sides of each of the little iron squares.

Serve with vanilla yogurt and fresh or almost-thawed frozen berries.

PANCAKES: Thin batter with a few tablespoons of water or milk. You can do this either while it’s in the blender, or make the batter in a bowl and both mix it and ladle it onto a griddle with a tablespoon or mini-ladle.
TO STORE AND USE LEFTOVER BATTER: Pour any leftover batter into a glass jar. Cap it and refrigerate for up to four days. Stir in a pinch of soda just before cooking the next batch of pancakes or waffles.

CRÊPES: Heat and oil a heavy-bottom skillet. Coconut oil works well here.  Thin batter enough that it spreads when you tilt the skillet right after putting batter into it. Bake until the crêpe bubbles and the bubbles break. Flip and cook the other side.

To serve for breakfast or for dinner dessert: Spoon cottage cheese on one half of a crêpe. Top that with raspberry jam. Flip the other half over this filling.  Enjoy!