Can I be a Foodie Too?

A foodie is "someone who has an ardent or refined interest in food." I am not sure about ardent or refined, but I do have a big interest in food. I love it! When I'm alone, I watch the Food Network - Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives is my favorite one. This is where I get some inspiration, as well as from my subscription to Bon Appetit and Amy's mom - the appetizer QUEEN!

There are lot of yummy food and recipe blogs out there - the best part about them being the mouthwatering pictures. So, when my husband suggested making waffles this morning, I got inspired to grab my camera and have my premier as a blog foodie as I document making Belgian waffles.

I started taking pictures of the dough bowl and the waffle iron itself. This is what my husband Mike had to say "Honey, you take pictures of the weirdest things - I am surprised you haven't photographed your own poo yet." Ok, the beginning of my foodie career didn't go with as support as planned - and yes, welcome to a Saturday morning in my house.

Yet, I was determined. So here is the recipe I got from allrecipes.com slightly modified (and this is a yeast dough, so start an hour before you actually want to eat - why you would be up then I don't know - sometimes in the battle of food vs. sleep food wins!):

Ingredients

• 1/2 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1-1/2 egg yolks
• 1-1/3 cups and 1 tablespoon warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled to lukewarm
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 egg whites

This will make 4 huge waffles.

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm milk. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, 1/4 cup of the warm milk and the melted butter. Stir in the yeast mixture, sugar, salt and vanilla. Stir in the remaining 2 1/2 cups milk alternately with the flour, ending with the flour. Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks; fold into the batter. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
3. Preheat the waffle iron. Brush with oil and spoon about 1/2 cup (or as recommended by manufacturer) onto center of iron. Close the lid and bake until it stops steaming and the waffle is golden brown. Serve immediately or keep warm in 200 degree oven. 

And here is my waffles iron. Mike bought this for us a Costco, after one of the many ruined weekend mornings that started out with burned waffles in need of being scraped of the waffle iron and utensils being thrown around the kitchen.

Isn't she a beauty? Super easy to clean, actually you don't even need to clean it - my favorite kind of kitchen tool. Now, the waffles were good, but for my taste not sweet enough, so add some more sugar. They were also not cakey enough - not sure what to do to add more cakieness - more flour?

Anyways, enjoy the pictures:

The Bottom Line:
I love to eat and I love to look at food.

Cheers my Dears,

Dani!