soy milk & waffles

Well, we did it. We broke down and bought a Soyabella Soymilk Maker and I made our first batch last night. I flavored it with vanilla (+ sugar & salt, per the recipe that came with it) and we tried it this morning in our coffee and atop oatmeal. Mae had hers straight up and Sam had chocolate Quik in his. The verdict? Paul thought it was fine...the slightly grainy texture was more off-putting than the flavor. I found it way too sweet. Mae wouldn't drink it and Sam was only happy with it in hot chocolate. Not a huge hit, but we'll get there. I'm going to try different variations of adding barley or rice to cut the beany flavor and see if I can strain it some while pouring it out. The average price ends up being about $.10 per quart, vs the $3+ we've been spending at the store. Cleaning the head unit is a bit of a chore, but nothing too terrible.

And in frugal news, Ted and I went to our local thrift store today and found a $5 Waffle Iron. I've been looking into buying a new waffle iron for a while. Ted loves waffles and would eat 2-4 every morning if I let him. That can get expensive. That and the wheat issue (wheat-free waffles are even more expensive) made me want to make them from scratch. I've made them in the past and while it is a bit of a pain to clean up after, the process is easy and quick. Ours had died about 6 months ago and they are expensive!! So I was thrilled to find this model. I tried it out tonight and it made 4 batches (16 small squares) perfectly. Woo hoo!