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Swedish Waffle Day {Våffeldagen} & A Recipe

Happy våffeldagen!

Which is to say, happy waffle day!

Yes, true story. March 25th is Our Lady’s Day. This is when the angel Gabriel announces the forthcoming birth of Jesus. In Swedish this is known as “vårfrudagen”. And vårfru sounds a lot like våffel. As a result, some Swedes decided they should eat waffles that day.

Cleary, there is a relationship between Gabriel and waffles. No not really. Swedes do some interesting things for Christian holidays because they are still a pagan nation.

I adapted my waffle recipe from the Chef’s Choice book since it came with the waffle maker. These waffles are thinner than Belgian waffles, crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside. Classic Swedish waffles also are heart shaped – my husband will even stress out that if it isn’t heart shaped, it isn’t Swedish. Hehehe.

Swedish waffle recipe

2 cupes whole wheat pastry flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/4C melted butter
1.5 cups milk (may need more)
2 teaspoon vanilla

Mix all until there are no lumps. The batter should be thick but pourable. You may need more than the 1.5 cup milk, I used almost 2 cups.

To make our waffles more colorful since we were celebrating Holi, we added food coloring and sprinkles. You need a LOT of sprinkles to make them show up on the outside of the waffle. And you need a good amount of food coloring to get the swirly feature. Next time I’ll divide my batter into a few colors and add coloring (or maybe natural food powders).

Top off your waffles with fresh whipped cream, berries, and jam (homemade blackberry jam was our jam).

Finish with a dollop of a very happy baby!

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Summertime Grilling Inspiration with Veggie Dogs

Summertime is all about the chilling, swimming, and grilling. But oh the grilling when you are vegetarian or vegan. What do you do then? To be honest, there isn’t an Indian version of a hot dog that’s quick to make, so other than that cheese cutlet, there aren’t many options.

Enter the vegan dog! Lightlife makes all plant based products from veggie burgers to veggie bacon to veggie dogs! These are perfect for desi kids who want to participate in all things American summer offers without the meat.

Lightlife was kind to send us some hot dogs and bacon and since my toddler son is well, in a hot dog obsessed stage. This was the perfect opportunity to create hot dog day.

Since I’m Indian, I love grilled/sauteed onions. YUMMY.

Fire up the stove and saute one onion for 10 minutes in olive oil. You want the onions to melt and become caramelized.

Once the onions are done you can turn off the stove and let them cool in the pan. On an indoor grill pan or outside grill, put the veggie dogs and bacon on. Cook on medium-high for 5-7 minutes – we like them with a little char.

Once done, well, you’re done! You could get fancy and make a chutney to go with the dogs, but we stuck with classic Americana of Heinz’s mustard, ketchup, and sweet relish. We also had the grilled onions, avocado because we are Californian, vegan mayo, and crumbled Smart Bacon.

Those little hands couldn’t wait to eat it!

For the kids and adults, we loved the soy based Lightlife dogs. It’s a great alternative to meat hog dogs and bacon, while maintaining taste. A tiny word of caution, if you a vegetarian who has never tasted meat, the Lightlife hot dogs and bacon do have a meaty flavor – it could be a taste bud surprise.

You can buy LightLife products at Safeway, 365 Whole Foods, Whole Foods, Sprouts, and many other stores.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Lightlife. All thoughts and opinions are my own.