Embracing disaster in the name of foodie-pseudo-science

I was so excited by the success of my seafood-stuffed-waffle-pizza-sandwich that I just had to try making something else in my waffle maker. Amy from MoMamma suggested I also try making quesadillas, she makes them for her son with cheese. I loved the idea but I wanted to try making it with vegetarian chilly and cheese.

I put in the tortilla, added the chilli, topped with cheese, added another tortilla and pressed on the hot iron for five minutes. I wanted it nice and crispy so I really pushed down.



Oh good grief! I mean seriously, what an explosion! See, to get the impression I did have to press down to make it nice and crispy but I swear, everything came out the sides. This was a total nightmare to clean up, especially the waffle iron!



I refused to give up though. The next day I made a smaller quesadilla for me, put on less filling and cheese. I put it in the waffle maker for around 3 minutes. I pressed down but not super hard.



OK, I was expecting some mess and this wasn't too bad.



This was a lot of fun but I have to say, in order to get the quesadilla right you end up with very little filling inside. It is making me reconsider ever ordering a quesadilla when I go out again because you really are not paying for a lot of food. I usually stuff mine when I made them on the stovetop so they are more of a meal than an appetizer.

By the way, I really recommend Rachael Ray's Veg-Head Three-Bean Chili, even for non-vegetarians. One of the fastest, easiest and pretty tasty chilis I have had that is super economical and makes a ton!



Nope, I could not stop there. I made our favourite sandwich bread Yummy Yogurt Dill Loaf yesterday and wanted to try using the waffle iron as a panini press, thanks to my foodie friends' suggestions and encouragement on Facebook.



Much better! Very little mess, nice and crispy exterior, the cheese melted inside but the bread was still very soft past the crust. I will definitely use this method again!

A lot of you have recently asked for more disaster stories so here you go. I promise you, cleaning out all that chili from the crevices of my waffle iron was not a fun experience. Nor was having chili end up all over my floor.

So that is my latest disaster story. Do you have one to share? I would love to hear it!

Foodie Gratitude: Random House of Canada

Random House of Canada has been so good to me. They offered to add me to their media list last year and have sent me the most amazing cookbooks to review. I must have missed the press release for Chef Anne Burrell's Cook Like a Rock Star (due to pneumonia messing around with my foodie life) because I found out about it on The Daily Show!

I had no idea who the publisher was, I just had to have this book. When I found out it was Random House of Canada I would have done a little dance had I not been quite delirious from my fever. I wrote them and they quickly sent me a copy of Cook Like a Rock Star, no questions asked!



In the fall they also sent me this really cool mug that is perfect for not only having a big mug of tea but for soup, awesome for a foodie like me! Currently I am currently putting the following cookbooks of theirs through my test kitchen:

Nadia G's Bitchin' Kitchen: Cookin' for Trouble
Bobby Flay's Bar Americain Cookbook
Martha's Entertaining

So far Martha's book has proved to be the most challenging. It is HUGE! And is mostly not a cookbook but a pictorial peak into a year of her life. And her life is gorgeous! But we all know that...





Here is a sneak peek into Chef Burrell's cookbook. I was so excited to see the forward was written by Mario Batali! You can see in the slideshow that Anne's personality is truly in this cookbook. I love that! "You are the chef of your own kitchen. Rock it out!" Even though some of the names of the dishes are unknown to me like "Polpettini" Anne tells us that means "yummy little meatballs".

Her section dedicated to pasta (AKA her passion) really showcases her voice in the book, "Sure, I LOOOOOVE to cook almost anything, but I LOVE-PLUS pasta." It is like having her not just in my kitchen but her voice in my head!



I just wanted to take the time today to thank Random House of Canada for being so generous and giving me the opportunity to review all these foodie dream cookbooks. And for the super cool mug I use all the time as I am doing so!

Thank you for making me feel like a foodie rock star.

Nutella Hot Chocolate with Frangelico

Not sure where this recipe originally came from though, sorry, link is broken!

There are so many easy foodie ideas on Pinterest that seem too good to be true, including this recipe for Nutella Hot Chocolate. Thanks to my success making my waffle stuff pizza, I have tried to keep an open mind to the most simplest of ideas if they show up on this site.


Although I did add my own boozy touch! 

The recipe says you need 1 cup of milk and 2 spoons of Nutella. Getting out for groceries is a bit of a challenge and I really wanted to make this so I manage to come up with that amount of Nutella thanks to these sample packets. We also have a whole bottle of Frangelico hazelnut liquor and I thought, what the hell?!



You are supposed to heat the milk on medium and then add two spoonfuls of Nutella.



Blend it in and then whisk until frothy. This is as frothy as I could get it with just a whisk.



I poured it into a glass and added half an ounce of Frangelico.



Topped with marshmallows... Wow, was this ever delicious! Absolutely yummy and heart-warming. The Frangelico kicked up the hazelnut flavour a little more which I adored but probably is not necessary. I am sure the Nutella stands up on its down.

I was hoping that this version of hot chocolate would be healthier than the hot chocolate I normally drink but nope. According to Nutella's list of ingredients, it is way higher in sugar, saturated fat and has less protein. Oh well! This is not a hot beverage I will be indulging in all the time but once in a while on a cold winter's night, I will make this again for a treat. It is so easy, fast and delicious!

I give this recipe four out of five wooden spoons.