Are We Serious?

You read that right! You can actually turn your Optavia penne pasta into delicious, fluffy waffles. We showed you some great recipes in another article all about the dash here but this one takes the…waffle! All you need is a Dash mini waffle maker and a little bit of creativity. This fueling hack is the perfect way to change up your breakfast routine or to enjoy a quick snack on the go. Follow these simple steps to make Optavia penne pasta into waffles in minutes!

We made this fun little video to teach you how to make it!

What you’ll need

So, you want to make some penne pasta waffles? It sounds weird I know but it’s going to be worth the daring adventure! Great! You just need a few simple ingredients and a “dash“ of creativity! You’ll make this delicious and highly Instagrammable dish in the comfort of your own home without any worries. Here’s what you’ll need:

Ingredients and Supplies

• A dash waffle maker – Check Amazon they have the best price
• Optavia Penne Fueling (This is available at most health food stores or online)
• 3 Tablespoons Liquid Egg Whites
• A blender. (we recommend the Nutribullet Pro. It’s simple to clean up and actually grinds better than the more expensive full size blenders out there.)
• Cooking Spray
• 3 Table spoons Water
• A smile (This is essential!) cause this is fun!

Once you have all of your ingredients, simply follow the instructions below.

Enjoy The Process

So, we’ve convinced you to make penne waffles. We’re kinda laughing over here. Optavians will try anything to get some variety. But seriously, we really like this fueling hack. Because the ingredients above don’t have any real extras, you won’t mess up your weight loss goals or kick yourself out of fat burn. So move forward with excitement and anticipation! You are about to embark on a delicious and unique culinary journey. Get your mobile phone ready and prepare to take this one to the socials! The first step is to gather your ingredients (see above)

Now for the simple steps:

Plug in your Dash Waffle Maker.

Remember it heats to the perfect temp on it’s own. You’ll know it’s ready when the blue light turns off. That only takes a few minutes so you there’s less wait time than that microwave oven.

Quick Tip: Remember the Dash is hot in a lot of places so don’t forget it’s on. Only grab the lid handle. We learned that the hard way.

Blend up the Pasta

Add the Penne Fueling into your Nutri Bullet and screw on the blade lid. Insert the lid, push down on the Nutribullet and turn to engage the blender. Blend until the Fueling is a similar consistency to your Optavia shake fuelings.

Make Your Batter

Add the blended up fueling powder to a small mixing bowl. Add 2 tablespoons liquid egg whites and three tablespoons of water to the bowl. Use a mini spatula (you seriously need one of these) to mix until you have a smooth batter.

TIP: The batter will seem thin at first. That’s okay. Just relax. Your fueling will be excellent just like your waistline from all that fat burn!

Prep the Dash

Spray a generous amount of cooking spray onto both sides of the Dash. The waffle maker is non-stick but we find the cooking spray ensures and easy removal of the tasty goodness we created.

Fill Er’ Up

Okay not really. In fact you only want to pour 1/2 of the batter into the dash. You’ll have to eyeball this but we believe in you. Once you’ve added 1/2 the batter, close the dash and set your timer with Alexa, Siri, Google, or your child to 3 minutes.

Careful They’re Hot!

After the three minute timer dings and rings, you’ll be tempted to just open, snag, and drag that waffle into your mouth. Hold on my friend! With this recipe you get two tasty treats!

Carefully remove the waffle using those mini spatulas you finally bought and place it onto a really nice white plate. You’ll want that for your Instagram post later.

Repeat the process for the second Optavia penne pasta waffle.

How The Penne Pasta Waffle Tastes

Dash Penne Waffles are awesome! They are fluffy and definitely filling. They can be a little dry. One way to fix that is our old friend the Laughing Cow Lite cheese wedge. You can spread 1/2 of a wedge onto each and add a little more moist texture. You could also use one of these Optavia approved sauces to top it off.

But they are perfect when you want to add variety to your daily Optavia fuelings. I personally think they could use a little more flavor, but overall they’re a decent waffle. If you’re looking for something different to mix up your Optavia menu, I say go for it and give them a try!

Penne Waffle Nutritional information

You can add have these as your fueling for the day. The egg whites will impact a very small amount of your lean that night. Other than that, these are one of your 5 if you’re on the Optavia 5 & 1 plan.

More Ideas

We are always looking for ways to add variety. We posted all about the Dash in another article and gave three other recipes. What are you doing to spice things up or be creative with your Optavia fuelings?

Important Note

Most coaches like us have pretty strong opinions about hacks. If you’re not connecting with your coach about how you’re viewing the fuelings we recommend you do. This is a great article we wrote to help your relationship with your coach. For us there are a few important things we always want to remember:

Healthy weight loss is not about the food

A lot of clients focus on the fuelings which really means we are focused on a diet. The five and one plan wasn’t meant as a lifetime plan. So don’t make the fuelings so important. If you notice, most of what we call “hacks” are really just small changes in how we prepare our fuelings for variety. What we don’t do is

• Add non-plan ingredients like peanut butter, whipped cream, or chocolate syrup
• Mix a fueling with a lean and green. This is 5 & 1 not 4+1/2, 1+1/2 and dessert
• Focus our whole journey on the scale

What sets this plan apart from so many others that we’ve experienced is the mindset shift. And that shift happens when you care less about the taste of the fuelings than you do about way your body is feeling when you fuel it right.

True Story:

We still use fuelings during our maintenance (simplicity is key). We often add items to our order that are not our favorite (oatmeal…cough…cough). Why? Because it’s a constant reminder that food is fuel for my body. We don’t live to eat any longer. Living to eat is what led us to being stuck in the “unsick” mentality and yo-yo dieting. We now eat to live.

Social gatherings are about the people, not the menu. Road trips are about creating memories not eating snack foods. Weddings are a day to celebrate not binge. Sad and disappointing times can be felt and processed without processed foods.

So while we love providing you with these hacks we also encourage you to keep the main thing the main thing…Food is fuel!