Saturday 28 August 2010

A New Beginning / Sandwicher Maker Chocolate Cake

I haven’t blogged in a while, but that is obvious. I found myself each day saying “What should I write about today?” and coming up blank. How many times could I write “Today, I went to the church…Today, I walked around Madrid…Today, I felt exasperated by my boys.”

I have a new fascination with food blogs. I love seeing things people make and eat, and especially when they tell me how I can do it too. …..So, I am going to try something. I am going to blog about our food. I am by no means a cook, but I like to try. I fail a lot, but every once and while things work out.

Sometimes we eat interesting Spanish things, like last week we had “Arroz Negro”. That is rice made black by squid ink with mini octopus mixed in.

Sometimes we eat boring things, like grilled cheese and tomato soup. Only the tomato soup is really cold Spanish gazpacho, because it’s the only thing I can find that is similar.

Lots goes on at a meal. Conversation, jokes, my boys being crazy….so surely some of that will get mixed in as well.

Some pertinent information to understanding what kind of cooking I can and cannot do:

1. I live in Madrid, Spain. While there is an American, closet sized, grocery store, most typical “American” ingredients are very expensive. So I end up improvising or making things from scratch (like Italian dressing).

2. I have 2 toddler boys and a husband. I cook so they will eat it. It’s usually not very fancy.

3. This is the size of my kitchen:

it has its limitations. (Yes, that is my washing machine next to my oven.)

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I had read somewhere that sandwich makers could be used to make much more than a hot sandwich.

After making the PB&J paninni over at Weelicious, I got to thinking about my own sandwich maker. What could I do? And after some research on the internet I found out: I CAN PRETTY MUCH MAKE ANYTHING!

So, I tried cake last night.

I mixed just a plain boxed cake mix. (This one I got in a care package from home.)



I poured 2 tablespoons of the batter into each of the triangle wells. Closed the lid and waited for about 3 to 5 minutes.
And this is what came out!
They were a hit. The box mix made about 24 triangle servings, which is nice for a party but bad in the house. We ended up eating the whole plate by the end of the night.
I am sure there are tons of ways to put 'add-ins' to the cakes. But this is what happened when I tried putting marshmallows in, so I just stuck to the cake.


We’ve had omlettes and pancakes from our sandwich maker since yesterday and now I am thinking of the endless possibilities for my new kitchen friend...pigs in a blanket, pizza pockets, Spanish tortilla….