National Pizza Day is February 9th, and August 24th is National Waffle Day. Americans don’t need a reason to enjoy their favorite foods (pizza ties with burgers on different surveys [source]).

This savory waffles recipe is a celebration food on either holiday. It was developed with a gluten-free baking mix by Pamela’s Products. The Pancake & Baking Mix (photo #3). The gluten-free mix is made with premium ingredients like cultured buttermilk and almond meal and has 8 grams of whole grains per serving.

You can also use a conventional pancake mix (with no sugar added) or baking mix. The waffles can be customized with each person’s favorite toppings.

> The history of waffles.

> The different types of waffles.

> The history of pizza.
 
 
RECIPE: PIZZA WAFFLES

These waffles reheat very well, so make a double batch and freeze some for a quick and easy meal later.
 
Ingredients For The Waffles

 
Ingredients For The Filling

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the filling. Cook and crumble the sausage; drain and chill. In a medium bowl add all shredded cheeses and mix well. Chop the pepperoni and slice the green onions; mix well with the cheeses. Add chilled, crumbled sausage and black olives. Mix all together and chill.

2. MAKE the waffles. In a large bowl, whisk together the Baking & Pancake mix, and all herbs and spices.

3. SEPARATE the yolks from the egg whites. Beat the egg whites with vinegar until stiff. Chill.

4. COMBINE in a large measuring cup or small bowl the pizza sauce, milk, and egg yolks; mix with a fork until well combined. Mix into the Baking & Pancake Mix and stir until smooth, with no lumps. Prior to combining stiff egg whites into the batter…

5. PREHEAT the waffle iron to medium-high. Add the cheese and meat mixture to the pancake mixture and mix until well incorporated. Fold the egg whites into the waffle mixture. It takes a little time for the whites to incorporate. Keep folding until there
are no more streaks of white.

6. BAKE immediately in a well-sprayed waffle iron. Once cooked; keep warm in a 200°F oven, on a rack on a sheet pan, or serve. Serve with the optional ranch dressing for dipping.

7. TO FREEZE: Let the waffles cool on the rack. Wrap in individual wax or paper bags, place in a plastic bag, and freeze.

8. TO REHEAT: When ready to eat, thaw the waffles on the counter as the oven pre-heats to 300F°F. Once up to temperature, put the waffles on a rack on a sheet pan and reheat for 8 to 10 minutes. They will be crisp on the outside and delicious on the inside.

> Here’s another recipe for pizza waffles using strained tomatoes, from Colavita.

 
THE YEAR IN PIZZA HOLIDAYS

Whether you get takeout pizza or make your own, mark your calendars for:

[1] In this pizza waffle recipe (below), from Pamela’s, the flavors are baked into the waffles (photos #1, #2 and #3 © Pamela’s Products).

[2] No syrup or sauce needed: All the flavor is baked inside (however, if you want to dip, use ranch dressing or marinara sauce).

[3] Pamela’s Pancake & Baking Mix.

[4] These pizza waffles take a slightly different approach: Store-bought pizza dough is used for the crust, and your favorite pizza ingredients go on top. Here’s the recipe (photos #4 and #5 © Emily Ellyn).

[5] In this recipe, the waffle hot from the waffle iron is top with marinara sauce, parmesan cheese, and any other favorite toppings. It’s not as need to eat, but we like both versions.

[6] You can also celebrate National Pizza Day with America’s favorite pizza: pepperoni (photo © Mountain Mike’s).

When it comes to entertaining it can be hard to accommodate all diets, and often gluten-free options are limited. Now, with an ever-expanding selection of prepared frozen snacks by Feel Good Foods, everyone can enjoy indulgent treats and have new options for any day of the week!

I first discovered Feel Good Foods in my quest for a tasty version of the potstickers I enjoyed as a child in the midwest, whose family ate Chinese and Italian food almost exclusively.

Feel Good Foods’ gluten-free chicken potstickers have a texture and taste that are a great stand-in for the Hunan dumplings I grew up on; their ground chicken blends perfectly with the fresh, bright flavors of scallions, cilantro, garlic, and ginger.

And preparation is simple; just add a bit of water and a drizzle of oil to a nonstick pan.

The brand also offers potstickers for vegetable lovers and pork fanciers. All three varieties—chicken, pork, and vegetable potstickers—contain a packet of dipping sauce.

I suggest trying the dumplings with your own favorite sauces, especially if you’re feeding a crowd. I usually combine equal parts wheat-free tamari and white vinegar with a few drops of sesame oil.

My other favorites from the Feel Good Foods snack lineup include their:

 
Feel Good Foods’ broad and carefully curated menu of snack options is the secret weapon for hosts who want to take their snacks and appetizers to the next level—especially for big game days, when the assortment of food is half the fun.

Other snack selections include:

 
Find them in the frozen aisle.

See the whole lineup at Feel-Good-Foods.com.
 
Enjoy!

— Georgi Page-Smith
 
 
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*Nuoc cham is a salty, sweet, and tangy Vietnamese dipping sauce made from fish sauce, garlic, lime juice, sugar, chiles, and vinegar. You can find it in the Asian products aisle of your market or in Asian food stores. Here’s a recipe to make your own.

[1] Chicken potstickers (all photos © Feel Good Foods).

[2] Chicken potstickers. There are also pork potstickers and vegetable potstickers.

[3] Truffle mac and cheese bites.

[4] The line has three different types of cheese bites.

[1] A patty melt with fries (photo © Spread & Co. | Austin).

[3] This patty melt at Spread & Co. in Austin, Texas places the beef patty on thick brioche, with pimento cheese caramelized onions and pickles, plus a “secret sauce” (photo © Spread & Co.).

[3] This recipe uses swirled marble rye bread and adds Dijon mustard (photo © Land O’ Lakes).

[4] A vegan patty melt made with the Impossible Burger (photo © Hannah Kaminsky | Bittersweet Blog).

February 7th is National Patty Melt Day. A patty melt is a type of hot sandwich with a base a filling—most popularly a burger patty—plus melted cheese. It’s fusion of a burger with a grilled cheese sandwich, with some switches. The sandwich is grilled or fried until the cheese is melted.

It became a staple of mid-century American diner culture, combining a classic hamburger and a grilled cheese sandwich, and inspired variations like the tuna melt.

 
> The history of the patty melt is below.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The different types of sandwiches.
 
> The history of sandwiches.

> The year’s 28+ sandwich holidays.
 
 
TYPES OF MELT SANDWICHES

The patty melt was the original melt sandwich, a fusion of the hamburger and grilled cheese. A ground beef patty (hamburger) is topped with Swiss or other cheese and caramelized onions. Instead of a bun, it’s served between two slices of griddled (griddle-toasted) rye bread.

While the bread is traditionally rye or marbled rye, sourdough or Texas toast are sometimes used in some regions, including the southern U.S. Creative chefs use anything from brioche and focaccia to whole grain bread.
 
Different varieties of melt sandwiches have evolved, the most popular of which are:

 
 
THE UPDATED PATTY MELT

Here’s how to update the sandwich.

According to Eater Los Angeles, the patty melt was created, possibly in 1932. by William “Tiny” Naylor, a Los Angeles restaurateur with a coffee shop in Hollywood that evolved into a restaurant chain.

Some sources say the patty melt appeared in the 1940s, while others date it from 1930 to 1959.

Tiny Naylor’s served the patty melt as an alternative to the standard cheeseburger (and it’s more labor-intensive, by the way).

Naylor’s son, Biff Naylor, helped popularize the sandwich across the family’s restaurants and later at Du-Par’s.

He combined a griddled beef patty, melted Swiss cheese, and caramelized onions on toasted rye bread. It quickly became a popular alternative to traditional bun-based burgers, first in California. It then became a national diner staple.

Purists often forgo condiments like ketchup or mustard to highlight the caramelized onions and grilled bread.

There have been other claimants to the invention. Sandwiches consisting of hamburger patties on two slices of bread, rather than into a bun, date to the mid-1800s and were referred to as hamburger sandwiches (they ultimately became the burger on a bun).

The first-known mention of a burger with cheese is generally credited to 16-year-old Lionel Sternberger in 1924 (some sources say 1925 or 1926) at his father’s sandwich shop, The Rite Spot, in Pasadena, California.

Even if Naylor did not create the first patty melt, as some sources say, food writers agree that Naylor and his family helped popularize the sandwich in their respective restaurants, Tiny Naylor’s and Du-par’s [source].
 

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