What’s on Top? America’s Favorite Waffle Toppings
At The Original Pancake House we are all about the toppings. Whether it’s our famous pancakes or our crispy Belgian waffles, the meal is made so much more tasty with a variety of toppings (and ingredients cooked inside, for that matter). When it comes to waffle toppings, butter and maple syrup are the king and queen of breakfast. Those deep pockets in the waffle are just made for pooling up the good 
stuff. Whipped cream and strawberries are the classic choices when it comes to Belgian waffle toppings. But what else are Americans putting on their waffles? The website National Today surveyed 1,000 Americans to discover their top 10 favorite waffle toppings and here is what they found.
- Maple Syrup – 62%
- Butter – 10%
- Fresh Fruit – 8%
- Peanut Butter – 4%
- Fruit Sauce – 4%
- Nutella – 4%
- Chocolate – 3%
- Honey – 2%
- Jam/Jelly – 2%
- Apple Butter – 2%
If you’re making waffles at home (try them for breakfast or dinner!) and looking for some unexpected and delicious toppings, here’s a few you may want to try.
- Cream cheese and jam/jelly
- Lemon curd and fresh blueberries
- Peanut butter and bacon
- Ice cream
- Avocado, tomato and onion
- Poached eggs, Canadian bacon and hollandaise sauce
- Turkey and gravy
Back to School Breakfasts
Here we go again! The kids are heading back to school and suddenly the leisurely summer mornings are replaced with rush, rush, go, go, get to school on time! But wait, we all need to eat something healthy and nutritious to give us energy for the day and to help our brains get ready to learn! We’ve compiled a few of our favorite back to school breakfasts. These are healthy, nutritious, filling, and easy to prepare in just a few minutes!
Easy Cinnamon French Toast Sticks
- 8 slices thick-cut Texas toast
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- Unsalted butter, for cooking
- Maple syrup, for serving
Directions:
Cut each slice of Texas toast into four sticks. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, heavy cream, cinnamon, sugar and vanilla. Dip each piece of bread in the egg mixture, turning to coat it on all sides so that it's well-saturated with the custard.
Shake off any excess and place the coated bread on a large plate or baking dish. Repeat the dipping process with the remaining pieces of bread.
Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat and add 2 to 3 tablespoons of butter. Once the butter has melted, place several of the coated sticks in a single layer in the pan. (Do not overcrowd the pan.) Cook until golden brown on one side then flip and continue cooking until the sticks are golden brown and slightly crisped on all edges. Serve immediately with maple syrup for dipping.
No Bake Breakfast Balls
- 1/4 cup of almonds
- 1/4 cup of cashew pieces
- 1/4 cup of dried fruit (we used dried cherries, but I bet any dried fruit would work)
- 1/4 cup of almond butter (+ 1 teaspoon of coconut oil – omit the coconut oil if you decide to substitute with peanut butter).
- 2 Tablespoons of dark chocolate pieces
- 1 cup of toasted granola
Directions:
Throw all the ingredients except for the almond butter and the granola into the food processor and chop finely. Mix in the granola and the almond butter and coconut oil (or butter). Make sure that everything is well coated, then put the bowl into the fridge for about 3 hours. You want the nut meal to soak up some of the healthy fats from the almond butter. Once chilled, form batter into balls and either eat immediately or store in the fridge or freezer for a morning on the run!
Potato Omelet Breakfast Bites
- Frozen Tator Tots
- Ham, Sausage or Bacon
- Red or Green peppers (or substitute other veggies)
- 8 eggs
- ¼ cup milk
- Shredded cheese for topping
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and make sure you grease your muffin tins really well, making sure to get both the sides and bottom Throw your tater tots in the microwave for a couple minutes to thaw. Then, place 3 in each standard size muffin tin. Take a small cup and squish them flat into the bottom of each tin. Bake your tater tots for 10 minutes.
While you are waiting for them to cook, you can gather and chop up your breakfast meat of choice and veggies of choice. If you don’t like peppers, you can substitute with spinach, mushrooms, onion, tomatoes, basil, zucchini, squash, etc. Just be sure to pre-cook or purchase pre-cooked meats. After removing your tots from the oven, lower oven temperature to 350 degrees. Sprinkle your toppings over each cup. Whip together 8 eggs and 1/4 cup milk with a fork. Pour egg mixture in and sprinkle cheese mixture on top of each cup. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until the egg is cooked through. Enjoy!
Good luck this school year, Denver! And don’t forget to visit us at The Original Pancake House when you want to go out for breakfast in Denver on the weekends!
Peachy Keen!
August is National Peach Month and we’re loving all the delicious peaches coming into Denver from Colorado’s western slope. If you went peach picking in Palisade, or your local farmer's market, you may be wondering how you can incorporate peaches into every meal, including breakfast! Here are a few of our favorite ideas for a peachy breakfast in Denver.
Peach, Banana & Pecan Pancakes
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 and 1/3 cup milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 medium banana - mashed
- 1 medium peach - peeled and chopped into 1/4 inch pieces
- 1/3 cup chopped pecans
Combine dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls. Combine both wet and dry to form batter and cook on a frying pan or griddle using the same methods as traditional pancakes.
Tropical Peach Smoothie
- 1 large ripe peach - sliced
- 1 cup coconut yogurt
- 1/2 cup pineapple juice
- Ice to taste
Combine all ingredients in a blender and enjoy! You can add more fruit such as banana or use different yogurt such as vanilla or peach to create variations to this recipe.
Peach Pecan Muffins
- 1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter - melted
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 large egg
- 2 medium peaches - peeled and diced
For The Topping:
- 1/2 cup pecans - chopped
- 1/3 cup brown sugar - packed
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 Tablespoons butter - melted
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease and flour 12 muffin cups or line with paper muffin cups. Combine topping ingredients until mixture is crumbly; set aside.
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together butter, milk, and egg in a separate bowl. Stir milk/egg mixture into the flour mixture and blend just until moistened. Fold in diced peaches. Spoon into muffin cups; sprinkle evenly with topping mixture.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from pan.
Happy peach season Denver!
Bacon Has a Delicious History
Once primarily found on the breakfast table, bacon is now the star of the menu all day long.
If you love bacon as much as we do, it’s hard to imagine the breakfast plate without a few slices of this crispy, salty treat. Americans have had a long-standing love affair with it and it's not hard to understand why. While our favorite pork dish has become extremely trendy in recent years, it has actually been around for a very long time.
The process of salting meats has been a method of preservation since virtually the beginning of civilization. Ancient man had to make food last in order to survive and did this through methods like salting and drying. The Chinese were curing pork bellies in salt as early as 1500 B.C., which is believed to be the earliest form of the dish. This practice may have started out as necessity but it evolved into culinary techniques that created a variety of delicious foods, including our beloved bacon.
The word itself has roots in French and German, but in 16th century England the word bacoun was used to refer to pork in general. By the 17th century salted and smoked pork belly was being called bacon. You’ve probably noticed that today the meat is no longer the darling of just the breakfast table. Chefs, restaurants and foodies all over the world are embracing it as a gourmet ingredient in every meal including dessert.
If you’re a fan of bacon we highly suggest you try our Bacon Belgian Waffle and Bacon Pancakes. We add it right into the batter so it adds a salty crunch to your breakfast favorites. Topped with butter and maple syrup, it really can’t be beat!
Bread is the Foundation of the Breakfast Menu
Bread has been around for thousands of years and plays a major role on the breakfast menu.
Bread is an important part of the diet for people all around world. In America bread is a fixture on the breakfast menu. It is one of 
humanity’s oldest forms of prepared food. It is believed that bread started off as a simple dish made from extracting the starch from plants by pounding them and then spreading the starch on flat rocks that were then cooked over fires. When agriculture started to spread around 10,000 BC at the start of the Neolithic age, the cultivation of grains and the presence of natural wild yeast made bread an important staple. With just two main ingredients, flour and water, endless varieties of bread can be made.
Fast forward thousands of years to the creation of the modern restaurant and you’ll see bread, and related baked items all over the menu, particularly at breakfast. Where would the breakfast menu be without bread? Can you imagine life without biscuits, pancakes, waffles and French toast?
Here’s some fun facts about bread to help you appreciate the hero of the breakfast menu.
- The automatic bread slicing machine was invented by Otto Rohwedder in 1928.
- The outside of the loaf is called the crust and bakers refer to the inside as the crumb.
- Americans consume on average 53 pounds of bread per year.
- Farmers receive approximately 5 cents (or less) from each loaf of bread sold.
- A single bushel of wheat will make 73 loaves (one pound each) of bread.
- The color of the twist-tie on loaves of bread designates which day of the week the bread was made. However, manufacturers use their own color code so no one color applies to every type available.