What week is this?: Second Annual Pumpkin Week in Spring Day Five

Oh, god, how I agonized when to post this. Second Annual Pumpkin Week in Spring? Or Second Annual Pizza Week?

If only I had waffled a slice.
What week would that be?
Waffle, pizza or pumpkin? We’d be REALLY confused.

I really wonder about the need to categorize and document that we humans have.

Why can’t I just let this food be what it is? Cause you and me are free to be…you and me.

Elementary school music class flashback. Sorry. I hope that song isn’t stuck in your head now too.

Geez, that was way dated even back when I was in school. I hope Jackson Park Elementary has updated their music books since then.
Anyway, thank you for reading my Second Annual Pumpkin Week in Spring! I don’t have any theme weeks planned just yet. Next year there will surely be Second Annual Pizza Weeks and Waffle weeks. I may slide in recipes in those categories at other times too. Try not to panic.

Any requests for future theme weeks? I know I had an “oft-neglected vegetable week” request from a friend that is a strong possibility…leave me a comment with requests! Purty please do.”

Pumpkin Cornbread Pizza(adapted from Laurel’s Kitchen by Laurel Robertson, Carol Flinders and Brian Ruppenthal)

Crust:
1 cup canned pumpkin purée
1/2 Tbsp. sugar
1 egg
1 Tbsp. applesauce
1 cup + 2 Tbsp. cornmeal
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder

Topping:
1/2 c. Chopped onion
Olive oil spray
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/4 ground coriander
1 c. Chopped tomato(I used canned)
1/3 tsp. dried basil
3 oz. grated Swiss
Mix pumpkin, sugar, egg, and applesauce. In another bowl mix cornmeal, salt and baking powder. Combine the two, then put in greased 10 inch pie pan and bake at 350 for ten-ish minutes.
Sauté onion using olive oil spray adding chili powder, oregano, cumin and coriander. Spread on baked cornbread, spread tomato on that, then the basil, then the cheese. Bake about ten more minutes.

Waffle Week Day 6: dessert last

Today is the last day of waffles! My fondest hope is that you will go get a waffle iron already because so very much can be done with it. I didn’t even get to waffling sandwiches. Which if you do you should spread pimiento cheese between two pieces of buttered bread and waffle away.
After you waffle that sandwich, then you can make dessert. Like a proper sentient creature does.

Oh yes. Cookies.

At some point maybe I’ll try waffling actual cookies. Crazy thought. They’d have to be soft ones.
In the meantime I found this recipe for Chocolate Tic-Tac Doughs in the Pillsbury Poppin’ Fresh Homemade Cookies book I’ve had since sixth grade.

Poppin’. These better be some groovy snacks.

Please note my initial attraction to this recipe came from the words “dough” and “chocolate”. Done. And done. And how.

The recipe claimed they were “especially delicious eaten warm”. I must disagree. I may be the only person I know who can do without chocolate that has been heated. To me this dilutes the chocolate taste. I tasted a hot one and it was meh. Maybe it would be better with butter. Everything is better with butter spread on it.
I chilled the remainder of the cookies. Once chilled, the chocolate and the almond flavor from the extract really stood out. Then I got a bowl of ice cream and some Reddi-whip. I put a cookie at the bottom of the bowl and layered with stuff on top and let the cookie soak up some of the melt-y creams. I layered in more cookies. This was like a smashing chocolate cookie trifle. Yeah, baby. Do this. I’ll give you the recipe:
I halved and altered this a bit based on what I had. And to make it healthier-ish.
Chocolate Tic-Tac Doughs(based on a the Pillsbury Poppin’ Fresh Homemade Cookies recipe)
1 T. +1 tsp. splenda half bown sugar blend
1 T. Smart Balance
1 1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 1/2 tsp. plain unsweetened almond milk
2 T. beaten egg
1 T. whole wheat flour
4 T. + 1 tsp. white flour
2 tsp. dutch process cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
Blend sugar, Smart Balance(if you have butter on hand, use it), almond extract, almond milk and egg. Do not fear the curdled look.
Blend remaining ingredients then stir in until well mixed. Drop by the teaspoon on heated and sprayed waffle iron.
Cook. Chill. Eat. Repeat.

Question of the day: How do you take your chocolate? Hot? Dark? Milk-y? Chip form? And am I the only one who can do without heated chocolate?

Waffle Week Day 3: my normal eats all in one waffle. or not. fail.

Things I consume on an almost daily basis:
oatmeal
cottage cheese
protein powder
cinnamon
eggs
Also in the mix:
vanilla extract
So what would my favorite work-a-day foods taste like blended and cooked on a waffle iron?
I couldn’t tell you:

I am sure Janetha, writer of the lovely blog Meals and Moves from which this recipe came, could.
I was all ready to dig these Protein Waffles and I am blaming failure on the fact that when I made this I was but a fledgling waffle-woman. However!

Wise wise Janetha of the rock-hard abs said I could make it into pancakes instead.
So I did. With the remainder of the half-recipe of batter I’d made. Then I decided to get cocky and flip the first pancake. More fail.
That fail was totally my fault. So I did not take a picture.
Trying not to dwell on my shortcomings.
Finally I managed one pancake:

Pretty much equal parts oats, protein powder, cottage cheese and egg whites with flavorings added.

Perhaps too much of a good thing just overwhelmed my waffle maker.

Perhaps my waffle maker is acting up because it wants a name. It just wants to be loved too. I will have to dwell on this.

On to what we should all really care about: taste.
Seeing as I love all these ingredients, the fact that it tasted delectable makes sense.
Ah, logic.
If I continue to follow logic I wouldn’t name my iron. I’d buy a new waffle iron-I’m pretty sure the reason I’ve been having sticky issues is simply that it is really, really old.

Do tell me, o blog readers: have you named any household appliances?

Waffle Week Day 2: why has no one else done this

Wafflegg!
Next time I’ll use more than one egg.
But seriously. Why has no one else extolled the joys of being able to cook an egg like this? I think it’s pretty friggin’ awesome. Oh yes I do.
So get out your waffle iron and get to wafflegging!
Wafflegging. It’s the verb to know in 2012.

In case you were curious, the 2011 noun was piedenfroid.

Know it.

Gateway: Waffle Week!

It’s here! The long awaited waffle week hath arrived!
Lest anyone think this week was influenced by a recent spate of waffles on Bon Appetit or the kitchn’s sites, I’ll have you know I conceived this idea ages ago here, on May 23rd 2011 to be precise, and have been hoarding waffle recipes ever since.

Neither a joiner nor a follower. Just an accidental follower.

I must confess I amassed these waffle recipes over an embarrasing length of time. A girl can only waffle so much. Or can she?

The debate wages on.

A great deal of things are waffle-able, and the waffle-ization improves not only taste, but the also appearance. The looks of food can be highly influential on how we perceive their taste. Check out my science-y post here for more on that.

By the way, Webster definition of science-y is science lite.

Disclaimer: the previous statement is in fact false.

I wanted to see just how far I could push myself with the waffler. Cause I’m a doer. But this did not happen suddenly. There was a gateway waffle. The waffle that started it. I’m warming y’all up with that before I push the hard stuff.

Who better to get us loose and easy than my lovah, Mark Bittman.

Everyday Buttermilk Waffles(adapted from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman)
1/2cup flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
Pinch of salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
3/4 tsp. baking soda
14 Tbsp. buttermilk
1 egg, separated, white beaten into sweet surrendering soft peaks
2 Tbsp. melted smart balance light
1/4 Tsp. vanilla extract
Mix the flour, oats, salt n suga. The soda too. Don’t you forget it.
In another bowl mix the butta milk, egg yolk, melted pseudo-butta(smart balance) and vanilla. Stir liquid into dry and fold in egg white. Cook according to waffle maker instructions. Who am I to tell you how to work your iron. That’s a personal choice.

Be prepared

Or is that a Boy Scout saying?

Cause these are Girl drinks.

I never joined any sort of Scouts, even the delectable sounding Brownies.

Because despite what I previously said in the title of an earlier entry, I’m not a joiner. Particularly if joining involved wearing a uniform.

Either way I am preparing you for a week and a half of no new gruel recipes by leaving you not one but two recipes to console yourself. I will be back a week from Monday with….WAFFLE WEEK! I’ll be waffling all sorts of non-waffle items so brace yourselves.

So, this week’s recipes.
These are bad, bad cookies.

Actually they are not cookies, but they are called Girl Scouts and they are bad.

As in naughty.

As in adult.

Downright dirty.

Well one is, the other one is the other is frozen.

Scout-y nonetheless.

Scouts spend their time perfecting Mrs. Robinson-style shots of themselves in mirrors while wearing pleather pants and sipping alcoholic shakes, right?

I outta start my own urban scout group. Nature hikes in Griffith at midnight.

Drink one:
Frozen Girl Scout(adapted from the 8500+ Drink and Cocktail recipes Free app)
Splash if chocolate almond milk(more it less depending on preferred thickness)
1 1/2 oz. green creme de menthe
1 c. Chocolate ice cream
Blendy blend blend. Sip and prepare thyself for…well in my case that Sunday night, Monday. Which I did by discarding most of the drink because although this drink was second to heaven I don’t drink alone and Monday was a Dippity doodah multiple audition day. But next time I have guests I will be recreating it again cause it was AMAZING.

As for the dirty gal. The Dirty Girl Scout was particularly dirty when I shaking it and the top flew off my shaker.

When a Scout’s top flies off…

Good thing it was tasty. Strong hit of the Kahlua and Bailey’s. I think the creme de menthe provides mainly color because it did nit taste terribly mint-y so don’t shy away if you are not into mint.

It matched one of my kitchen walls. Good thing when when the top came off. And it sprayed my kitchen.

Ew.

Sorry, not you.

That was me responding to the innuendos in my mind.

FYI dictionary dot com says the plural of innuendo can be spelled with or without an e.

There, my mind is cleansed.

Dirty Girl Scout(from the iPhone Mixology App)
1 oz. Bailey’s Irish Cream
1 tsp. Green Creme de Menthe
1 oz. Kahlua
1 oz. Vodka
Shake over ice and strain. The recipe says to garnish with an orange slice but I was not so very prepared for that…