Waffles and Iced Vanilla Frappes

I'm a sucker for New Years' resolutions. I always make a huge list and then end up completing only a few of them {or none at all}. This year I'm trying to make good on the resolutions I made. One of them was to learn to cook. I'm not a total dunce in the kitchen, but most of the things I make come straight out box. I want to learn to prepare and present food. Not only that, I want to learn to do it in a manner that fits into my busy life.

This morning, I figured I would tackle a traditional breakfast of waffles. I received a waffle maker as a bridal shower gift about 5 years ago, and I'm embarrassed to say that its only made its way out of the kitchen cabinet once.

photo courtesy of flickr - my waffles didn't even look close to this

So, if your a novice cook like myself, here are a few lessons I learned this morning. If you're an experienced cook - feel free to snicker away.

1.) Make extra batter - the first few waffles you make will inevitably come out torn, burned, charred...you name it...until you get the hang of removing the waffle at the right time.

2.) The steam - I read that the natural time to take out the waffle is when the steam stops rising from the waffle maker. However, I think what it really meant is when the steam slows down . If you wait until the steam stops your waffle will be burned. When the steam starts to slow down - that's when to remove the waffle.

3.) Don't fill up the entire waffle maker with batter! It will spill out the sides and make a gigantic mess. One ladle full of batter seemed to work okay for me for medium sized waffle maker.

The other thing I made this morning was Iced Vanilla Frappes. No - not from scratch, but they sure did taste yummy. I used this On The Go Vanilla Latte mix. Instead of just mixing with hot water, I used the powder with some milk and ice in a blender and viola - a drink that rivals the Starbucks Frappuccino.