Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Fried Chicken and Waffles

Perfect meal for an early Sunday dinner!  Our friend makes the best buttermilk fried chicken and we wanted to try the whole chicken and waffles thing.  These pictures are from my phone but still turned out pretty well!
First, the chicken was battered and breaded:



I waffled while the chicken was frying.  I used a buttermilk recipe I found online.  I think it was an Emeril recipe. I also prepared a maple butter to top the waffles and give a little sweet bite to the meal.


Next time, I will try another waffle recipe though as this one did not really stand out.  Despite the waffle being a little bland, the chicken was SO good and the maple butter added a fun spin to fried chicken. 



Sunday, February 12, 2012

February 12, 2012

Bacon, eggs, and cheese.  Three breakfast favorites all whipped together in one waffle creation.  I used wheat flour for the waffle mixture. I scrambled some eggs and cooked the bacon until it was crispy.  I added cheese to the mix.   A lot of cheese:


Next, I folded in the scrambled eggs: 


Then  the bacon:


Looks good right?  I loaded up the waffle iron. And voila, the waffle would not release!  I think the batter was a little too cheesy and the cheesy crust that formed just would not come off the iron without a little help.  The photo below is a little dark but you can still see how the waffles came apart each time they were done cooking.





I ended up cooking them all this way.  They were pretty delicious for breakfast.  I heated them up in the toaster to keep the crispy, cheesy crust.  Heating them up in the microwave worked well too for a softer crust that was easier on the mouth!

Bacon, egg & cheese waffles

Saturday, February 11, 2012

February 11, 2012

It has been couple of weeks since I was able to sit down and write about the waffle creations coming out of my kitchen.  I seriously do not know how people find time to do the things they enjoy and then sit down and write about them!  In my last post, I mentioned the musical, Silence (http://www.silencethemusicalnyc.com/).  The weekend in NY was a great time and the show was definitely a highlight.  Funny and a little inappropriate, it left us laughing and wondering what this group will think of next. 

OK, on to blueberry waffles!  I learned a couple things with this one.  It is possible to add too many blueberries to the waffle mix.  Should have known but, I just think this waffle maker can make anything work because it is awesome.  Check out the batter with tons of blueberries.  Looks delicious, doesn't it?




While I let the batter sit  for a few minutes, I started the blueberry syrup.  I have used this recipe before when I made blueberry pancakes.  First, I heated some maple syrup and added a few of the blueberries that I didn't add to the waffle batter.  

Blueberry Syrup

I let the blueberries stew in the syrup while I started making the blueberry waffles.  The blueberries added a lot of moisture to a batter.  So much, in this case, that they did not really firm up.  Oops.

First attempt at blueberry waffle


I added more flour to the mix and checked on the blueberry syrup.  It has had time to stew a little.

Second try
Finished Blueberry syrup



Second try at the blueberry waffle went a little better:

Golden blueberry waffle
  
I topped with the berry delicious syrup and enjoyed!



I bagged up the leftovers and enjoyed for the rest of the week!

Freeze and enjoy

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Friday the 13th (January)


We had a dinner party and a viewing of the movie Silence of the Lambs.  We were preparing for a trip to NYC to see a musical called Silence.  It is a musical about the movie Silence of the Lambs and is supposed to be funny.  Yep, go figure. I will let you know how it turns out.  

Our menu:  LAMB, fava beans, Chianti.  I should have taken a picture of dinner.  It was SO good.  Perfectly cooked everything.  OK, you can't do dinner without dessert and trying to stick with the theme I decided to try S'mores Waffles.  I know, it doesn't stick with the theme at all.  Here we go.


I made the batter before our guests arrived to avoid the chaos of throwing a batter together with a full house waiting on dessert.  I used the malted waffle mix and added cocoa this time.  I crumbled in some graham crackers and tossed mini marshmallows and chunks of dark chocolate into the mix.  
Chocolate Waffle Batter

The batter sat for a few hours in the fridge before use so the marshmallows absorbed some of the moisture and got big and fluffy.  While the batter sat, we had time to eat and be merry and use every movie quote we could think of before the movie actually started. 








I also prepped the sauces in advance.  My trusted culinary adviser (the hunky guy I mentioned once before) found a great marshmallow sauce recipe in one of the many cooking magazines we have around here.  It called for sugar, corn syrup, water, and vanilla.  I boiled the ingredients until the temperature reached 240 degrees F. 

Marshmallow Sauce in the making

Next, I transferred it to the mixer that contained cool water and plain gelatin.  Mixed until it was white and shiny.  The chocolate sauce was easy too. I used a homemade double boiler to melt the chocolate and combined it with a little oil to keep it from quickly finding it's way back to solid form.


Movie started and dessert production began.  I decided to cook small waffle nuggets this time as we had all just eaten way too much and barely had room for dessert. 

Smore's Waffle Nuggets


I drizzled the marshmallow and chocolate sauces over the stack and crumbled graham crackers on top. Served and enjoyed.  The waffles were good but even better was hearing others' reactions to them as they found room in their already full bellies for one more bite of this campfire favorite.  I think this one is a keeper! 


Smore's Waffle




Look forward to my next post about blueberry waffles. 

Monday, January 23, 2012

My first blog is about waffles.

All of my blogs will be about waffles.  I have always liked waffles.  I recently discovered I love waffles.  I love making waffles.  The hunky man in my life gave me a Belgian waffle iron for Christmas.  It is not your everyday waffle iron.  Well, it is not your everyday waffle iron unless you find yourself operating one everyday as your job.  In that case, you know a lot about my waffle iron. 
So far, I have been experimenting with waffles when I find a few free minutes, mostly on the weekends.  I am having the best time.




January 6, 2012


My first waffle weekend began January 6, 2012.  I invited some friends over for dessert.  I wanted to break in the waffle iron with an easy crowd and I thought dessert would be a great way to start.

Bananas



We had some bananas that needed to be eaten so I cut them up and added butter, dark brown sugar, and rum (I'm going to call it bananas foster mix) to a medium size cooking pan.  This mixture simmered until it was combined, delicious looking and tasting.  I used a malted waffle mix for the waffle batter.  My first waffle turned out, and so did the rest!  I went a little asymmetrical and placed a scoop of mix in the middle of the waffle iron so I got just enough into the four quadrants and still had the zig-zag edges on the waffle. I topped each waffle section with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a ladle of the bananas foster concoction.  What a great start!


Bananas Foster Waffle
My waffle juices were flowing and had been since Christmas day.  I have a pages long list of all types of waffles I plan to create and share with my friends/family and now, apparently, the world.











January 7, 2012 (morning)
I wanted to try a savory waffle.  What was in the fridge?  Eggs, spinach, goat cheese?  Onions?  Hmmm, why not?  I sauteed the onions and scrambled the eggs.  I wilted the spinach and crumbled the goat cheese.  Now, this would not going to go well with a malted waffle mix would it?  I didn't think so.  The Bisquick called to me from the pantry.  What the heck.  I followed the waffle batter directions and folded in the sauteed onions, scrambled eggs, wilted spinach, and crumbled goat cheese.
Fold ingredients into batter
Waffle Florentine





The waffle iron was ready to go!  My waffle tester arrived.  Things were coming together.   Time for the first savory waffle.  The aroma was actually appetizing.  The first waffle:  My tester tasted....and liked!  I tasted, and liked.  Production continued.  Next time, I will pair a savory butter with this waffle to finish it off.
I had extras, lots of extras.  Would they freeze?  I decided they must freeze.  Someone told me once that Eggo did not own the frozen waffle world.  They won't own mine!  Monday January 9 was the frozen waffle test.  It worked.  Toast to defrost then to heat.  Breakfast to go!


 



January 7, 2012 (afternoon)                                                             
Green Chile and Cheddar Cornbread
I had a chili event this evening.  I started a green chile chili the night before and put the finishing touches on it the following day.  I wanted to make some green chile and cheddar cornbread to accompany the chili.  Could cornbread be cooked in a waffle iron?  Why not?  I used a box mix for cornbread and added in the green chiles and shredded sharp cheddar.  I wanted to make these bite size and oddly shaped so I added a small dollop on each quadrant of the iron.Closed and cooked.                                                                
Phew!  Cornbread looks and tastes like cornbread....actually, it looks like a waffle but tastes like cornbread.  Tasty cornbread that works perfectly with the chili: 

Green Chile Chili and cornbread
Green Chile/Cheddar  Cornbread




Red Velvet Squares
I went a little waffle crazy this day.  I came across a red velvet cake mix and decided to give it a go on the waffle iron.  Cake batter is significantly different than waffle batter.  I will need to work on that one.  However, I was able to salvage enough to bring a dessert to the chili event. As you can see, I topped each waffle square with a taste of cream cheese frosting for a sweet bite size treat. 







The next post is about my second dessert.  S'mores Waffles...think about that one for a while.