Friday, January 15, 2010

Foody Friday 2010-01: enchiladas & cappuccinos

Life After Work welcomes you to the first Foody Friday of 2010! Today we cover enchiladas!! and cappuccinos!!! With liberal sprinkles of exclamation points!!!! All over!!!!!

Enchiladas!
This week I once again fixed us some enchiladas. This time around it was a particularly easy prep because almost everything came out of a tin can, even the chicken!

I snuck in fake chicken as well: can you figure out which is shredded canned chicken vs shredded fake-chicken soy strips?

Another variation this time around was the use of green spinach and herb tortillas, which added another dimension of taste and texture to the dish. I felt they made it a bit mushy; Kosh didn't think so.

There was also a side of refried beans (non-fat and therefore lardless, yay!), and hospital cafeteria shredded lettuce (notice the takeout container?)!

I only managed to squeeze five tortillas into the baking pan this time around: we each had one fresh, and the leftovers will probably be for dinner tonight. Yum!

Cappuccinos!
Gas station cappuccinos have been one of my many downfalls. Then a few months ago, when staying over at an Irish-Italian family's house one weekend, I discovered the existence of a personal cappuccino maker. Was all excited, went to amazon to look for it, and was taken aback by its price. Ouch. Never mind, it went on the wish list with a low priority flag and a comment "I'd really like to make my own cappuccinos.. but I'm not sure if I know how to use this... seems kinda pricey too..."

Fast forward to a few days ago:

Here's the pic I was pointing to:

It specifies "use espresso ground coffee only!" but I'm a n00b and didn't see any immediately available at the store (I'll build up the courage to use the in-store grinder one day...) so bought three different tiny packs of regular ground coffee instead. Last night I finally cracked open the box ... and was disappointed to find that its dinky plastic measuring cup was broken! :( It still held water though, so I decided to forge on and use the main contraption.

Round One:

Once on the burner, it only takes about 5 minutes! And yummmm look at all that froth!!

Threw it out, though - the instructions said to discard at least the first two rounds, and I obeyed.

After another round or two of rinsing and redoing, I finally got my cuppa:


Some thoughts on the drink produced:
  • I'll need to not snatch it off the burner as soon as it starts doing its thing, otherwise it delivers a too-perfect drink at the temperature where could I gulp it all down in a swig or two!
  • It says it produces two ~7 oz cups, but in reality it's more like a large single serving: to share, or not to share, that will be the question!
  • The hazelnut-cinnamon blend I used gave a hint of taste and flavor to the drink, but I wonder how different/similar it would be with the "correct" coffee in place. I'd rather not have to add sugar/sweetener, so more flavor would be a plus.

Some thoughts on the contraption & process:
  • Ugh lots of coffee grounds to discard every time - should look up uses for 'em?!
  • The steps are simple and straightforward - only when I was sloppy with measuring out the water needed did the thing threaten to overflow. So use full attention when preparing, and there should be no problems


Have a great weekend, everyone!

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about two months later...

 ... hi again. This return to blogging is really not working out, is it? Actually, I am writing, three pages of mind vomit and affirmations ...