The Great Waffle Experiment of 2014

The other day at work, my co-workers were having a conversation about waffles.  (I love the fact that I get to work with people who love food and books as much as I do.)  All their talk of waffles, of course, left me with a craving for waffles.  I started thinking about how much I love waffles, but that I rarely make them because they are not terribly healthy.  Their biggest health flaw in my eyes is the amount of oil (or melted butter) in them.  But then I got to thinking about one of my favorite baking tips.  In many recipes, canned pumpkin can be used in place of oil. I had only ever used it successfully as a substitute in cake recipes before.  A month or so ago, I had tried to use it as a substitute in a cookie recipe, which was not such a success.  I wondered how well it would work in a waffle recipe.  Well, only one way to find out.  I just used my go-to basic waffle recipe from my trusty rusty Betty Crocker cookbook.  I replaced the 1/2 cup of vegetable oil called for in the recipe with 1/2 cup of canned pumpkin.  I also added about 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice to the batter. They turned out great!  I topped mine with some plain yogurt and pure maple syrup. Yum!  Next time, I will also try adding some toasted pecans either to the batter or as a topping.

There's more missing than just the letter "e"

With the word "Cookbook" as part of its title, many people might be disappointed to discover that less than half of The Kitchn Cookbook is devoted to actual recipes. The book is divided into 2 parts. The first part deals with the kitchen itself.  Chapter 1 covers the basics of kitchen layouts, what to consider when shopping for a new place to live, how to make the most of your current kitchen space, etc.  This section is followed by a chapter on various kitchen cookware, tools, and equipment, including which items the authors feel are essential, tips for selecting and purchasing these items, and how to care for them. From here the authors transition to caring for your kitchen as a whole.  They include instructions for making and using your own cleaning products from natural ingredients. Also included is a sample 30-day routine for keeping the kitchen clean. These are useful and interesting tips that readers are likely to refer back to repeatedly.

Several kitchens are also featured in these chapters. Such features might be appealing in a magazine that will be recycled, but feel like wasted space in a cookbook.  It may be of interest to some to read through once, but it is doubtful anyone would return to those pages a second time.

Part 2 of the cookbook opens with a chapter on stocking your kitchen with basic ingredients and tips for planning meals.  This is followed by what the authors consider to be the most important basic skills for cooking. Unfortunately, most of these skills are too basic for anyone but the most green of cooks.  Those new to cooking would be much better served by other, more comprehensive cookbooks.  

At long last, in chapter 6 we get to the recipes.  While there are some unique and tantalizing recipes, the organization, or lack thereof, in this section is disappointing.  There is no contents listing of the recipes (though there is an index in the back), and each section of recipes is only indicated by a heading at the beginning of the section.  This is inconvenient if you are just flipping through the recipe section looking for a particular type of recipe.  Unless you happen to flip to the first page of a section, there is no immediate way to tell which section you are looking at.  This lack of organization is surprising when compared to the authors' well thought out website.

This cookbook is a good choice for anyone looking for a reference to basic kitchen-related issues.  Anyone looking for a great collection of recipes and cooking tips, should keep looking.

*Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for this review.

The Excesses of Halloween

Every year I either buy way too much or way too little Halloween candy.  This year, I fell neatly into the "way too much" camp.  I had a feeling this might happen given the very cold weather that was forecasted (quite accurately as it turns out) for the evening.  We only had 3 trick-or-treaters show up on our doorstep.  I gave them each a large handful of candy, but it barely made a dent in our supply. So, this morning I'm left wondering what to do with the surplus.  I briefly considered going up to some neighbor's houses and dumping a pile of candy on their doorstep, ringing the doorbell and running away, but that seemed a cruel thing to do because they are probably in the same predicament as I am.  My husband suggested (and I am hoping he was joking) that I go stand outside our neighborhood's elementary school and hand candy out to the children.  Because I prefer to not get the police involved in my candy disposal, I had to reject this ideas as well. I have also fantasized about the crew from the TV show "Chopped" showing up at my house to film and use up my Halloween candy in their baskets of mystery ingredients.  Surely those rainbow Twizzlers or little boxes of Milk Duds can add some creative flair to my next dinner.  This potential solution definitely seems like the best option to me, so Chopped stars / crew if you're reading this call me, please.

What do you do with all of your excess Halloween candy?