Friday, June 18, 2010

Healthier Alternative to Syrup: Frugal Food Friday

Our kids love waffles and pancakes.  What kid doesn't?!?  We make them more frugal by making our own syrup, but that still isn't exactly healthy.  Hubby's family has a long tradition of putting ice cream on top of hot waffles...which is delicious...but neither healthy nor frugal.

We have come up with a good alternative.  It's certainly not as cheap as homemade syrup, but is healthier and delicious.  We don't do this everytime we make waffles, but it is a nice once-in-a-while treat when we can get fruit on sale. 

I found strawberries on sale yesterday.  I bought extra.  We ate one carton then and there.  The other three cartons I washed, sliced up, bagged them, and popped them in the freezer.  We also like to keep some bananas (already pealed and broken into chucks) in the freezer.  Then this morning we put the frozen strawberries, bananas, a little vanilla, and a little sugar( or other sweetener) in the blender and blend up some smoothie.  Then we put the smoothie on top of the waffled.

Almost like the ice cream Hubby grew up with on waffles...but healthier...and at least as affordable.

...and since I totally forgot I had Frugal Food Friday coming up today...I didn't take pictures...but they are SO yummy!

You can also make the waffles a little healthier if you make them with half whole-wheat flour.

3 comments:

Kathy Haynie said...

Great ideas, Polly! Does the smoothie tend to make the waffles soggy? (I guess it's no more "liquid" than syrup would be...)

Katie Lewis said...

I'm am super hungry right now and this sounds SO good.

Polly @ Pieces by Polly said...

Mom, since we use homemade syrup that is runnier than store-bought, the smoothie topped waffles are actually a lot less soggy than the syrupy ones. Our waffle maker is the Belgian style one, so the waffle is thick enough that you want it a little softer to eat anyway.

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