Gluten free waffles with Pears in a Balsamic reduction.

Wow, will you look at that fancy, dancy title.  😏 

It sounds fancy, doesn't it?  But it sure tasted good.   Maybe not the most visually appealing, but the flavour, OMG the Flavour!!!!  

I'm going to participate in this weeks, Sunday Funday (and sorry I don't have the icon on this computer).  The theme this week is Waffles.   It's being hosted by Stacy of Foodlustpeoplelove.com. I'm a super big fan of waffles.  I've been living a semi-nomadic life for a few months now, and love it when I stay in a hotel that features a 'free' breakfast and has a waffle iron in the breakfast room.  Sometimes, they're even in the shape of the state.   In fact, I love waffles so much that I purchased a mini waffle iron and have been using it in various places I've been staying at, mixing up purchased pancake mix.  Not the greatest, but needs must.    

In fact, a lot of stuff happens in my kitchen when I wonder what would happen if I?'  

I had some gluten-free flour I'd purchased to make some gluten-free fry bread for some Navajo Tacos I was making for family.   The fry bread was almost ok, it was all eaten along with a lot of the Chili I'd made.  BTW, that Chili is amazing.  Just sayin... the colder months are ahead of us...  And what is the correct spelling?  Chili or Chile, I use both interchangeably.   

Well, onto my gluten-free adventures with Waffles.    I actually started out with some ripe pears, my brother had given me a few pears, and since I don't like them ripe, I'd been eating them whilst still green, however, one of the pears ripened before I could consume it.    Along the way, in my travels, I'd succumbed to purchasing some Black Cherry Balsamic Vinegar.   So I wondered what would happen if I poached the pear in some of the Balsamic Vinegar, along with some sugar, and WOW, did it taste good. 

 I took the pear chunks out and reduced the liquid a little further, and got the most amazing sauce.   And ummm, ended up with far fewer pear chunks to put on top of the waffle, cause I kept on sampling the pear chunks.  They were that good.  

Here's the recipe for both. BTW, I make more waffles than I could eat at a setting, so I froze the rest and will pop them into the toaster to reheat later on. 

Those frozen waffles, OMG good, toasted, straight out of the freezer.  And ummm, since I like play a little in the kitchen, I caramelized some apples and topped the waffles.  Note to self:  wait until the apples are a little cooler before tucking into them.  They were a touch on the molten lava side until they cooled down just a titch.   And for the Toffee apple topping, I melted some sugar, added apple slices, let the cook for a few minutes, took them out of the molten sugar, added a little butter, put the apples back into the molten sugar and then topped the waffles.   

Gluten Free Waffles with Poached Pears in Balsamic Reduction

Yield: 2 large waffles, 6 single waffles

Author: Sid's Sea Palm Cooking adapted from many recipes

Prep time: 5 MinCook time: 10 MinInactive time: 5 MinTotal time: 20 Min

Simple, delicious, and can use up ripe pears.

Ingredients

Gluten Free Waffle

• 1 1/2 cups 1-1 gluten-free flour
• 1/2 cup grated frozen butter
• 1 tsp. Baking Powder
• 2 eggs - Separated
• 1/2 cup + Milk, more if needed to make a batter. You want it a little stiffer than a pancake batter.

Instructions

1. Preheat waffle iron.
2. Separate the eggs, placing the yolks into a bowl along with the milk. Put the egg whites into another bowl and whisk them to a soft peak. Set aside.
3. Into a large bowl, place the gluten free flour and the baking powder. Grate the frozen butter into the dry ingredients and mix together.
4. Stir the egg yolks into the milk and pour into the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Fold in the beaten egg whites. Leaving small chunks of stiff egg whites.
5. Place a good dollop (1/4 cup) of the batter into each partition of the waffle iron and close the lid. Cook until golden brown.
6. When done, place on a plate, and add the poached pears and syrup. Enjoy the meal.

Poached Pears

1. Wash and cut up a ripe pear or more into chunks.
2. In a small pan, add 1/4 cup of Black Cherry Balsamic Vinegar or your choice of vinegar, then add 1/4 cup each of sugar and water. Bring to a boil, turn the heat down, and then add the pear chunks, turning them over to coat evenly.
3. Simmer for about 10 minutes, and then remove the pears with a slotted spoon to a small plate. Let the remaining syrup cook and reduce for a few more minutes. Take it off the heat and add the poached pear chunks back to the sauce. Set aside while making the waffles.
4. Add more Balsamic Vinegar and sugar as needed. 1/2 cup of each item will poach up to 3 pears.

Did you make this recipe?

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• Apple Cinnamon Waffles from Mayuri's Jikoni
• Bacon Cheddar Spinach Waffles from Food Lust People Love
• Gingerbread Waffles from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Gluten Free Waffles with Poached Pears in Balsamic Reduction from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Keto Spiced Omelette Waffles from Sneha's Recipe 
• Oatmeal Waffles from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Protein Waffles from Our Good Life
• Waffle Cupcakes from Amy's Cooking Adventures

Grilled Cheese, Extra Ordinary

 I honestly had no idea what to call this grilled cheese sandwich.  I thought of calling it a lot of names, but kept coming around to extra ordinary.    

I need to tell you, it's National Sandwich Month.  So here's my latest, greatest, reiteration of a Grilled Cheese Sandwich.  

There are a bunch of bloggers who are also posting their favorite sandwiches, sides, or fillings as well.  You can check them out at the end here.  

I mean, we've all had grilled cheese sammies, haven't we?  It's a kinda go-to sandwich in my household. Pair it with a bowl of tomato soup, and you have comfort food, right?    I'd make it with ham and tomato inside, and that was a substantial meal in itself.   

I'm currently sorta houseless, my house is up for sale, and I'm bouncing around various furnished places, looking for my next home.   I'm staying in a cottage at the moment, which has a full kitchen, (Yippee), and have been using it as my base.   And since it's a temporary place, I've not stocked it up with a lot of food.  Mostly food I can cook quickly, without fuss.   Like grilled cheese sandwiches.  Easy peasy, right?

Last week, I took advantage of a nephew's offer to get me some fresh crab and decided to make some of my award-winning crabcakes for the family.   Said with a tongue in cheek.   They're good, don't get me wrong, but still, they're crabcakes.   They've also got a ton of ingredients in them, so I had lots of peppers, onions, and celery left over. I sautéed them in a pan, thinking I'd just portion them out and freeze them for future omelettes.   

Well, by the time I'd finished cutting all the stuff up and sauteeing them (I added a couple of mushrooms to the mixture as well),  I was hungry.  I was not in the mood for an omelette but decided to see how this would taste on a grilled cheese sandwich.  So I did a bit of a dive into the fridge, pulled out the heel of a piece of Havarti cheese, and some leftover gruyère I'd used in my Roasted Radish Tart.   I had been invited to a party and brought this as my offering to the potluck.  So many people now eat grain-free as well as gluten-free, and this tart is amazing.  It's a great dish to bring, unusual, and tastes amazing. I also had some dried-up (just a little) cheddar cheese, so I decided to go ahead and add it all to the sandwich.  

My mouth would have done a major happy dance if it weren't full of goodness.  

You all know how to make a grilled cheese: butter the bread (of your choice), place the buttered side down in a pan, add the cheese, then cook it until it's golden brown.  I started this one that way, and then added a generous spoonful of the veggie mixture, topped with more cheese, and another slice of buttered bread.  I like to cook mine over fairly low heat so the cheese melts and the bread browns.  But you do you.  

When I sauteed the veggies, I didn't bother adding any seasonings, cause I'm also cooking salt-free (mostly) these days.   And they didn't need any extra boosts, really, they didn't.   And there was plenty of salt in the cheeses, anyway.  

All right, enough of the hyperbole.   Here's the recipe, well, it's more of a how-to.  Cause let's face it, we all know how to make a grilled cheese sandwich, well, many of us do. 

Saute together over fairly low heat - one chopped red onion, one each, chopped Red Pepper, Orange Pepper, Yellow Pepper, 3 stalks chopped celery, 3-5 large mushrooms.   Cut them all into uniform pieces.  And by the way, you can sub in Green Peppers for the Orange and Yellow peppers, but I would counsel keeping the Red Pepper or one of the other Peppers in.  They tend to be sweeter than the Green.   Just sayin...  I sauteed them in a mixture of ghee and a neutral oil.  

Butter your bread on one side, place it in the pan, butter side down.   Lowish heat.  Add your cheese of choice, sliced as thinly as possible; grated is better.   Add some sauteed veggies, then another layer of cheese.   As soon as you see some melty action happening with the cheese,  add the second slice of buttered bread, butter side out, and flip the entire sandwich.  The first side of the sandwich should be nicely browned.  Continue cooking the sandwich until the second side has browned, and then serve it.  You can add some ground pepper or other spices if you like, but I liked them just as they were.  The best part was that I had enough for several sandwiches or omelettes.  

And there you have it, an extra

ordinary Grilled Cheese.  

I also added a sprinkle of dried tarragon to the veggie mixture, but it kinda overtook the veggie taste.  

Take a look at what some other talented bloggers shared for National Sandwich Month. 

• Caramel Pulled Pork Banh Mi Sandwiches by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Chicken Caesar Wraps by Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Family Favorite Tuna Salad by Food Lust People Love
• Grilled Bombay Sandwich by Mayuri's Jikoni
• Grilled Cheese Extra Ordinary by Sid's Sea Palm Cooking
• Hung Curd Veggie Sandwich by Sneha's Recipe
• Pie Iron Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches by Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sunflower Pesto Turkey Sandwich by Our Good Life