Secret ingredient protein waffles

I've wanted to share this recipe for a long time now. In fact, I've made these waffles three times in the last week in an attempt to perfect them. I first heard of these waffles from my friend and coworker who happens to be a nutritionist and an incredible resource for all things delicious and nutritious. 

I didn't put the secret ingredient in the title because I didn't want people who hate it to take one look at the name of post and never give it a second thought. The secret ingredient is cottage cheese. Some people have a serious aversion to it, I understand. However, I swear, if you can taste the cottage cheese in these bad boys, I'll be a monkey's uncle. 

A few things about this recipe:

• No waffle maker? No problem. Pancakes work just as well and taste just as great.
• Every time I make these, I whip up the whole batch, eat a few for breakfast and freeze the rest. When you're ready for another, pull one out of the freezer, pop it in the toaster... perfection. 
• These waffles are baby and husband approved. In fact, I've never fed them to anyone who didn't love them. 
• If you'd rather skip the first step, just purchase oat flour from the grocery store and combine it with the other dry ingredients. 
• The first recipe I found for these waffles instructed to put all of the dry ingredients into a food processor and blend, dump them into a separate bowl, then blend all of the wet ingredients, dump them into a separate bowl, then combine the two in batches. You can certainly do that if you're so inclined. I blend the dry ingredients in my Vitamix, then just add all of the wet ingredients on top and buzz them all together. Once upon a time I may have followed the detailed instructions, but now my attitude is, "ain't nobody got time for that." 

Secret Ingredient Protein Waffles

Makes 9 waffles

Ingredients:

2 and 2/3 Cup Rolled Oats

2 Teaspoons Baking Powder

1 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1 Cup Cottage Cheese

4 Eggs

1 Cup Water- or your favorite alternative milk- I like coconut milk

4 Teaspoons Coconut Oil- or light olive oil

2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

1 Ripe Banana

1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup- more or less depending on your sweetness preference

Method:

Blend the oats, baking powder and cinnamon in a blender or food processor until it looks like flour. 

Add the cottage cheese, eggs, water or milk, coconut oil, vanilla, banana and maple syrup and blend all ingredients together until a smooth batter is formed.

Pour 1/3 cup of batter into the waffle iron in batches and follow instructions for doneness. I like to top them with butter, fresh strawberries, and maple syrup.

Eat what you like and freeze the rest. Super easy and super delicious.