Goat cheese "near zero carb" Waffles

Have you tried our "Chaffle recipe" yet? Well, it's pretty good! But many of you are dairy free so the recipe is just not going to work for you. What are chaffles? They are waffles made out of cheese so they end up being low or no carb...no carb waffles??? Yes, please!

But what if you are you dairy free? I am. Not only am I lactose intolerant (I carry both lactose intolerant genes, but I didn't need a blood test to confirm that...haha!), I am also allergic to casein, one of the proteins found in dairy (whey & casein are the 2 types). I do have a bit of a threshold but pushing that limit is never very fun so I save it for the dairy I really want. One way that many people who are dairy free can get dairy-like foods that we all enjoy is to add goat or sheep milk products. Goat's milk is very similar to cow's milk but it has a lot less lactose and a totally different type of casein protein. Sheep and goat dairy contain much less or no A1 beta-casein; instead, they mostly contain the more easily digestible A2 beta-casein, which is a big part of the reason they're thought to be healthier. This is great news for you if you "have problems with diary" but haven't quite figured it out yet.

So, us dairy free people no longer get to miss out on the "chaffle" fad! Here is the recipe:

• 2 tsp Coconut Flour

• 4 tsp Swerve/Monkfruit (These both have erythritol & will add carbs so read labels) Granular Stevia is great too***see below.

• 1/4 tsp Baking Powder

• 1 Egg (room temp)

• 1 oz Chevre goat cheese (room temp/very softened)

• 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract (good GF vanilla)

Make sure you preheat your waffle maker (you can also make these like little pancakes). Mix the powders together first in a bowl. Add the softer ingredients and mix thoroughly, a blender, hand mixer or food processor will work great though I have also done it with just a fork and it turned out great. Put it into the waffle iron for 2-3 minutes, it will be golden brown. The consistency is a bit soft and floppy but as it cools it firms up too!

I used a mini waffle maker and it made 2...eat both! That way you just log these ingredients and it's easy to keep track of. You could also create a recipe in MFP and then just log 1/2 if you only have room for 1 waffle....but eating 2 waffles is much more satisfying than eating just one :).

NOTE: You can also make these savory by taking out the sweetener and use garlic salt!!

**Sweeteners are tricky! The Swerve is very popular as well as the Lakanto, they are listed here because they're easier to find. Both contain erythritol which is a sugar alcohol. Sugar alcohols in some quantity can cause gastric bloating and excess gas and some say they upset the micro biome of the gut. In addition, sugar alcohols DO contain 4g of carbs but their labels say it is zero carbs because not everyone will absorb all of those (think fiber; we still count it because we eat it but some label people are tricky and subtract fiber from their totals)...but some may absorb most of the calories! Count them as 4g carbs. I DO use these for myself, it just makes things sweeter, but I do also notice gut stuff so I rarely use it, but it is there as an option.

The stevia I have linked there is my favorite because it is mostly stevia (no upset stomach, comes from a plant) and it is mixed with real sugar. So you're getting half of the sugar calories but all of the taste, and you're still eating real sugar...and most importantly no bubble-guts and the kids can partake without you wondering if they should be eating all those sugar alcohols or not (because the verdict is still out on those, I don't like my kids to have a lot of them either...if any at all!). Look at the labels, the stevia/sugar blend only has 2g of sugar, the monkfruit will have you logging 4g carbs... it's such a small amount but it's just something to be aware of. LASTLY on the stevia, you can use a few drops of liquid stevia and solve all your problems, no calories, no sugar and still sweet, it won't change the recipe at all. Find my favorite here.

I hope you enjoy this!