Quirky Cookery

Chicken waffle maker - Southern food made easy

noreply@blogger.com (Quirky Jessi) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 14:27:00 +0000

If a plate of fried chicken and waffles could be cute, this is it. That’s ironic considering it’s from a site called Dude Foods, too, ha.

You’ll have to check out his site for the full details of how to make this, but here’s a hint:

In the recipe and instructions for the fried chicken and waffles, it says “wings,” throughout, but he actually means drumsticks or legs, so just make sure you’re buying the right chicken. I think this would be quite awkward with wings, hehe.

Facts about Food Friday - Make your own shaker jars

noreply@blogger.com (Quirky Jessi) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:47:00 +0000

Facts about Food Friday

So it’s been a little while since the last FaF, but no matter. I’ll make it up to you with this genius fact:

Canning jars have the same size top as parmesan cheese shakers.

Why should you care? Because that means you can turn any old glass jar (not the wide-mouthed kind) into your own shaker bottle.

Not that you should be buying those cheap green jars of parmesan “cheese” anyway, but if you have any sitting in the back of your fridge, might as well put them to use. Think outside the standard box of shaker jars and consider storing your bread crumbs in them for an easy way to add a quick topping to a casserole.

Or store your cat’s favorite nutritional yeast and garlic power in one. Not that I’ve ever done this, of course. Just hypothetically speaking, if your cat is addicted to powdered yeast, this would make it really easy to shake on her food every morning…

Thank Jesus! (Wordless Wednesday)

noreply@blogger.com (Quirky Jessi) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:01:00 +0000

And shhh, it’s my mom’s birthday this week. Let’s see if I can avoid getting yelled at by being vague and sliding it in after a picture she’ll giggle at. Happy birth-week! :P

Barbecue tips – Cook food over an active volcano

noreply@blogger.com (Quirky Jessi) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:44:00 +0000

Really, nobody is going to care if the food is a little extra dry or maybe not packed as full of flavor as you might have liked. Because it was cooked by a freakin' volcano!

It won't be cheap, but to get the best barbecue, it’s obviously worth it. This particular volcano is on a Spanish island near Morocco. In 1970 Cesar Manrique created a restaurant called El Diablo. They grill all meat and fish straight over the open heat. Don't worry, though. This isn’t a volcano erupting with any actual lava spewing all over the place. It's basically just a hole of hot heat.

But it’s volcanic hot heat. How cool is that?

If you're ever in the area, the Volcan Grill Tour is operated every Tuesday from 6 to 9:30 PM. For €50, you get a tour of the area, a three course meal, and transportation to and from your hotel. That's really not that bad at all, huh?

I couldn’t find any really good videos but this will give you an idea of what the restaurant on Lanzarote is like.

Leonidas Belgian Chocolates Vancouver - Cocoa & waffles

noreply@blogger.com (Quirky Jessi) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 22:54:00 +0000

One of the great things about Vancouver is that there is -always- something going on.

Oh, and that Groupons make them even more accessible, of course. ;)

Last week, I got a Groupon for $5 hot chocolate and Belgian waffle from Leonidas and it just so happened to coincide with the annual Hot Chocolate Festival. Yes, these things exist, and they’re amazing. And it meant special hot cocoa flavors that were specifically for the festival, which makes it feel even more special, no?

Here’s the special ones they had:

DARK CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY - dark chocolate and raspberry cream
"TOSCA" - dark chocolate ganache and rum with a hint of pistachio flavored ice cream and white chocolate
FROZEN NOISETTE - Buche Pralinee: Milk chocolate and pure praline with milk chocolate ganache, chopped hazelnuts
RASPBERRY CHEESECAKE - white chocolate raspberry cheesecake ice cream with white chocolate; optional white chocolate with butter cream and pineapple flavor
All come with a choice of chocolate or liege waffle sample and are available every day of the festival

Even with only four choices, I still had trouble deciding. I ended up going with the raspberry and my hot cocoa buddy for the night went with Tosca. Turns out, when they said raspberry, they meant -really- raspberry which was delicious but a little more fruity than I’d normally want hot chocolate. On the flip side, the Tosca wasn’t quite their cup of tea (cocoa?) but I loved it, so we ended up trading about half. I certainly won’t argue with getting some of both!

We got our waffles first. Mine is the bottom one and obviously has the better chocolate L, but I also somehow managed to get two berries in my whipped cream.

The guy doing the plates and hot chocolates seemed slightly frazzled, so maybe he put on a berry, it fell off, and he didn’t notice, so he added another, thinking he hadn’t done it yet? That’s the totally logical and way too thought out explanation I’m going with. :P

When the hot chocolate finally came out, my L had partially sunken in. I barely got a picture while he was apologizing before he whisked it away again, insisting on redrawing it, despite me telling him it wasn’t necessary.

So sweet. He apologized yet again and told me that it probably wouldn’t last long but to enjoy.

Instead, this time, it stayed until the bottom of my cup. I think I have a way with keeping my hot chocolate drawings in place, huh?

Toward the bottom, it slightly morphed and looks more a J, no?

Now at some point, we were chatting along and the unthinkable happened. The plastic fork he was using decided it just wasn’t cut out for waffles after all.

And suddenly….weee! Waffle went flying behind him, into our pile of coats. Joking, he pretended to toss it at my plate, but uh, apparently it was the night of flying waffles instead, and it bounced on down to the floor.

Oops!

Overall, the Leonidas visit was definitely a good one. The hot chocolates were delicious, the waffles yummy, and the service was spot on.

And I love their cups. I could still feel the warmth of the hot drink, but no risk of dropping it or burning myself either. Next time I’m there, I’ll be sure to try some of their chocolates while I’m at it, too, mmm.

Oh right, and for our pre-cocoa dinner, we stopped at Caffee Artigiano for a roast leg of lamb sandwich with red pepper pepperonata, minted goat cheese, and rosemary aioli. Their sandwiches are hearty enough that one was plenty to split and head off for cocoa right after. :)

Flying spaghetti monster? - More face smileys!

noreply@blogger.com (Quirky Jessi) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 14:54:00 +0000

More?

Even more?

Are you a meatatarian? (t-shirt)

noreply@blogger.com (Quirky Jessi) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:49:00 +0000

You never hear someone get invited to dinner or a party and they announce “oh, well I’m a meatarian, so I’ll just bring something.” ;)

I thought I had posted about this shirt before, but I dug through my archives and can’t seem to find it, boo. Well here it is now!

Check out those bunny ears even! Maybe I should do a slaughterhouse pose for the site? :P

via khorre

Some people will do anything for an ice cream craving

noreply@blogger.com (Quirky Jessi) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:08:00 +0000

If he ever gets a girlfriend/wife pregnant,I'm sure she will be very thankful of his ice cream hunting skills.

And yes, that is the zombie cake guy, completely inside an ice cream freezer.

Unicorn Poop - Rainbows, sprinkles, glitter, and all things unicorn-y

noreply@blogger.com (Quirky Jessi) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:53:00 +0000

Well now here's a topic I didn't expect to be posting about.I especially didn't expect it on a blog about cooking, food, kitchen goodies, and all things sanitary and appetizing.

But it is what it is, and this is definitely quirky.

And at the risk of my mother never clicking my links again, this one gets a little descriptive:

Wanna make your own? Of course you do! Who wouldn’t, right?

Heh.

Alright, here’s the link to instructions: Unicorn Poop Tutorial

I’m sure there’s a party or event out there that is just perfect for these. :P

And in case you really enjoy this sort of thing, you may want to check out this shirt. It’s less “pretty,” but same idea.

Food jokes in picture-form - I’m really in a pickle here!

noreply@blogger.com (Quirky Jessi) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:17:00 +0000

Hehe, too cute. I love the radicchio one, too. I don’t have the original source for these unfortunately, but they’re awesome. And lame. Awesomely lame. :P

Dad’s computer has had a really long day (Wordless Wednesday)

noreply@blogger.com (Quirky Jessi) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:16:00 +0000

Toddler Martini

2 oz tocklate milk
2 oz apple duice
Two goh-fish trackers

Mix and then pour on dad’s computer

Chocolate chile cake - Twice the recipes, twice the yum

noreply@blogger.com (Quirky Jessi) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:55:00 +0000

So I couldn’t make up my mind which chocolate chile recipe to use and ultimately just made two separate cakes that were similar but were from different sources.

Awesome Cake #1 is from Janespice.
Awesome Cake #2 is from Kelsey’s Apple A Day.

Because this is the second…well, third…time I’m writing this post, you’ll be getting mostly pictures:

The main ingredients for both cakes….dried chile/chilli/chili peppers and mini Aero candy bars.

I was shocked by how many seeds were in 4 tiny peppers. The second is what they looked like after I roasted them for a bit.

Mmm, all ground up in a spice/coffee grinder.

Mmm, melting Aero bars. If you’ve never had one before, they’re all airy and full of bubbles in the middle, which is what you’re seeing in the main bar.

The mess from after making the first cake. I rinsed and repeated all over again while it was in the oven.

The second recipe called for ground up almonds. I don’t have a blender and the food processor was dirty, so I just went back to the spice grinder. Take note in the first picture that I didn’t clean it after grinding the peppers…only dumped out the pepper and went at it, which left my almond flour with a nice, peppery heat.

Mmm, egg whites. They’re not quite as peaky as I’d like, but it still worked.

Mess #2….looks about the same, huh? But you can tell they’re different because the batter colors are different.

The first cake is definitely more chocolatey, but you can tell the second was fluffier with the egg whites.

Cake #2 didn’t call for more chocolate, but you know….more chocolate was needed anyway.

I didn’t mix them in but just added them to the top before tossing it in the oven.

1. First cake in the pan. 2. First cake after I flipped t onto a cutting board while still warm. What? I needed the pan. :P 3. Third cake. Clicky if you want them bigger, but they’re nothing special.

I wanted to make a ginger icing to balance out the heat of the chile peppers, but honestly, neither one was very good, so I’m not even going to recommend either. It was a great idea, but not very good in the execution department.

Chocolate chile cake from Jane Spice

1 cup or 7oz. best quality cooking chocolate, I used 72% unsweetened chocolate (I obviously didn’t stick with this one, considering the quality of Aero chocolate, ha)
6 ⅓ tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (4 TB butter, 2 TB oil, because I was running short and had another cake to make still!)
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
½ teaspoon chili powder (Give or take…I tasted the batter and added more…also used fresh powder)
1 cup super fine sugar (Regular sugar here!)
3 eggs, separated

Clicky her link for the baking instructions. I cooked mine an extra 5 minutes or so, and got a nice crispy edge.

Chocolate chile cake from Kelsey
I halved this recipe to make it about equal to the first

2 TBSP ancho chile powder, divided
1 tablet (3 oz.) Mexican chocolate, coarsely chopped OR
3 oz. bittersweet chocolate plus 1 tsp. ground cinnamon (used Aero….so not quality, but worked)
1 c. blanched almonds, toasted
1/3 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. Dutch process cocoa powder
1/2 c. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 c. granulated sugar, divided
6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
1 TBSP Kahlua or creme de cacao (used Kahlua)
1/4 tsp. pure almond extract (skipped this)
pinch salt

Visit the link for the directions. Again, I ended up baking mine a bit longer, but that’s likely because I added chocolate bars to the mix.

Chile chocolate cake - 2 cakes, lots of chiles, some Aero bars, and ginger!

noreply@blogger.com (Quirky Jessi) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Okay, you can ignore this post now. The real one is here: Chocolate chile cake - Twice the recipes, twice the yum

~~Nooooooo!!!~~

Do to some unforeseen technical difficulties this post is only about 10% of what it should be/will be. If you are visiting early on in the day, I’m so so sorry…it should hopefully be fixed in a couple hours.

~~I actually made *two* chocolate chile cakes even!~~

~~Here’s a few unedited pictures to tide you over while I get this fixed.~~

~~As per the cooking challenge this is for, here are the links to the recipes I used, although I tweaked them and the revisions will be back here in a bit.~~

~~Awesome Cake #1~~

~~Awesome Cake #2~~

More creative cooking food blog name ideas - Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (Quirky Jessi) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:22:00 +0000

I didn’t realize it'd been so long since I've done one of these "creative titles" posts. I will go through each one until you are like them. They speak for themselves. Don't you just love how creative some people can get with their blog names?

Can You Stay for Dinner?
Clockwork Lemon
Crepes of Wrath
Do You Know the Muffin Pan?
Doesn’t TaZte Like Chicken
fANNEtastic food
Feral Kitchen
Flour Child
Four and Twenty Blackberries
Gimme Some Oven
Mother Thyme
Sing for Your Supper (And You’ll Get Breakfast)
Sushi and Situps
The Bitten Word
(Rootie Tootie) Fresh and Foodie
Whisk Kid
Whole Larder Love
WIives with Knives

Check out the original posts for even more ideas:
Part One
Part Two

What kind of coffee are you? (Wordless Wednesday)

noreply@blogger.com (Quirky Jessi) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:08:00 +0000

Lots more coffee humor.

Braille sesame seed buns - Marketing at its best

noreply@blogger.com (Quirky Jessi) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:11:00 +0000

Alright, so I kinda laughed when I first saw this. Seriously? Braille on buns?? What kind of advertising stunt is this? sigh

But then I watched the video, and really, it’s not such a bad idea. Sure, it’s publicity stunt, but I’m pretty okay with that. They made some good points, thought creatively, and are reaching an audience that is rarely catered to in food, much less in a way like this. It’s pretty awesome!

The month is about over, but January was National Braille Literacy Month and these burgers are from Wimpy’s in South Africa. They also released all new braille menus, but the burgers are the cool part. Unfortunately, they aren’t actually a regular item on the menu and were just brought to a blind institution for promotional purposes, of course, but the commercial makes you think.

“….but for people who use their hands as their eyes, this was the first time they could do more than just their food. They could see it.” :)

Incredible turtle and elephant cake

noreply@blogger.com (Quirky Jessi) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:18:00 +0000

Yep, that’s a cake. Go ahead, look again.

The best part is, the introduction says “Just your basic iced and marzipanned fruit cake to begin - made in a wide oval bowl. The head and front flippers are shaped from fruit cake and covered with marzipan. Basic food colours applied.”

Oh yes, oh so basic. Don’t they sound rather nonchalant about it? ha The rest is written just as straight forward with fabulous pictures next to words like “Wire frames and dowels to support the elephants, to be moulded in marzipan.”

The rest of the pictures are quite amazing, too, with close-ups of the elephants and some step-by-step shots. Awesome. I definitely thought it was a sculpture when I first saw it and not something completely edible.

Naked shower girl with food…yeah, I said that…

noreply@blogger.com (Quirky Jessi) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:22:00 +0000

Yes, that is a girl showering.

Yes, it’s food-related. Yes, it’s PG-13. And yes, you should watch. The video kicks in at about 40 seconds, so feel free to skip forward if you can’t handle the boringness until then. I’m so, so sorry that it’s Britney Spears music you have to listen to, lol, but really, you should watch and stare in awe.

Fry an egg in a burger

noreply@blogger.com (Quirky Jessi) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:34:00 +0000

The page I saw this on labeled it “I want to do it now.” And so did I, so that’s exactly what I did. A few days later, I war armed with ground beef and eggs.

Mine wasn’t quite as neat and pretty, of course, but it was just as tasty.

Oops, some of the egg seeped out underneath.

Here’s the best part, though:

Mmmmm. I wouldn’t normally put beef and eggs together. I think eggs tend to go better with pork as breakfast sausage.

As such, I would really like to do this again but with sausage and eggs and maybe on a biscuit instead? That would be wondermous.

Colored hens for Valentine’s Day, Easter, Thanksgiving?

noreply@blogger.com (Quirky Jessi) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:57:00 +0000

I’m sure your girlfriend would love a pink bird for Valentine’s Day, right? Who wouldn’t!?

Now before the vegetarians get their feathers all ruffled (oh yeah, I went there….the pun couldn’t be avoided), check out what the farm has to say about the dyes:

From Gozzi's Turkey Farm in Guilford, Connecticut, these turkeys are Gozzi Whites. Their feathers are known for being white and their meat is renowned throughout the region, to whom the Gozzis supply over 18,000 turkeys per year. Non-toxic, vegetable-based food dye is applied to their "blank canvases" to create these bright colors: it's all topical and harmless.

Sitting down like in the picture above, they look pretty innocent, but you should really check them out, walking around, all fluffed up:

I suddenly really, really want a turkey.

And before it eventually ends up served with potatoes and gravy on my plate, I’ll take the one in turquoise!

Bacon Remix and Num Num Num (Music Videos)

noreply@blogger.com (Quirky Jessi) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:03:00 +0000

Instead of editing my old Breakfast Music Videos post, I thought I’d share these two videos with you directly.

Both of them can end up being addictive, so um, consider yourself warned that they’re silly, but catchy.

Num, num, num, num, num, num, num…..bacon!

This brings a whole new purpose to puppy mills… (Wordless Wednesday)

noreply@blogger.com (Quirky Jessi) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:20:00 +0000

Pillsbury mini-cookie cups - Miniature sundaes please

noreply@blogger.com (Quirky Jessi) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:53:00 +0000

Don’t they look like miniature sundaes at the end?

This was the million dollar winner of the Pillsbury Bake Off contest. I’m sure they’d be good with full-size muffin cups, too, and any variety of fillings, ice cream flavors, cookie dough, whatever.

^ The Wednesday Baker’s version, yum.

1 package (16 oz) Pillsbury® Ready to Bake!™ refrigerated sugar cookies (24 cookies)
4 teaspoons sugar
1/3 cup Fisher® Chef’s Naturals® Chopped Walnuts, finely chopped
1/2 cup Hershey’s® semi-sweet chocolate baking chips
1/4 cup Smucker’s® Seedless Red Raspberry Jam
1 1/2 cups vanilla bean ice cream, softened
24 fresh raspberries

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 24 mini muffin cups with Crisco® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray. Place 1 cookie dough round in each muffin cup. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

2. Place 2 teaspoons of the sugar in small bowl. Dip end of wooden spoon handle in sugar; carefully press into center of each cookie to make 1-inch-wide indentation. Cool completely in pan, about 20 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, in small bowl, mix walnuts and remaining 2 teaspoons sugar; set aside. In small microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips uncovered on High 30 to 60 seconds, stirring after 30 seconds, until smooth.

4. Run knife around edges of cups to loosen; gently remove from pan. Dip rim of each cup into melted chocolate, then into walnut mixture. Place walnut side up on cookie sheet with sides.

5. In another small microwavable bowl, microwave jam uncovered on High about 15 seconds until melted. Spoon 1/2 teaspoon jam into each cup. Freeze cups about 5 minutes or until chocolate is set.

6. Spoon ice cream into cups, using small cookie scoop or measuring tablespoon. Top each cup with fresh raspberry; serve immediately.

Homemade dog food - Make it, portion it, freeze it, win!

noreply@blogger.com (Quirky Jessi) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:42:00 +0000

A couple days after putting up the post on how to make your own dog food, I found some more pictures I had wanted to share.

The above is where I roasted a whole turkey, deboned it, and mixed it with cooked rice, peas, carrots, some leftover potatoes (not many), and some scrambled eggs. Below shows it with some gravy. Appetizing, huh? I swear, dogs dig it. :P

And this? This is a whole lot of plastic wasted, but it means it could all be tossed into the freezer and my mom could pull it out, one serving at a time (about a cup for Buddy), microwave it, and be done.

I would also freeze a couple days’ worth in plastic bowls that could be thawed out in the fridge and then scooped out for each meal. For the sake of convenience, this made it just as easy as having store-bought food on hand. And because it was only done once a month or two, the effort saved a bunch of time, money, and health in the process.

How to make your own McRib out of Spam - No…really…a McSpam

noreply@blogger.com (Quirky Jessi) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:45:00 +0000

Start with that delicious looking slab of pink “I don’t want to know what’s in this can”….

And end with this:

Mmmm. Well, it might be anyway. It does look kinda good. And with enough barbecue sauce and goodies on top, it probably does taste pretty good.

A full picture tutorial is over at these BBQ forums.

If you’re making this for an anti-Spam family, I’d suggest going the same route he did:

The scariest part of this whole adventure is that the McSpam was surprisingly tasty. And the kids ate it without complaining. Maybe that’s because I didn’t tell them what it was before they ate it…

I know I always get my best results if I don’t tell them what the quirky ingredients inside are until after they’ve already given their seal of approval, hehe.

And honestly, I think that sandwich looks a whole lot better than these pictures of a real McRib. (Don’t hate me, but I never saw the appeal in the first place…)