Aristotle's Form Changing Batter

Clockwise from top left: The batter, the waffles ready to be frosted, and the finished product.

A few weeks ago I was able to get together with some friends and make these delicious Chocolate Waffle Cookies (Recipe below). It reminded me of Aristotle's philosophy. Aristotle believed everything was made of two parts, their matter and their Form. He also believed things could change form through a physical process. In baking we see things change form all the time when it is heated or cooled according to the recipe. With this particular recipe the liquid batter changed into solid waffles that could then be frosted and eaten. Through the physical process of pouring the batter onto the heated waffle iron, the batter went through a physical process and changed into a solid. This also happens when making brownies, cupcakes, cake, etc. It is also fun in baking to experiment what forms different batters can take and to be creative. By making this batter into waffles instead of a pan of brownies we were able to cook them faster and give them a unique name and texture. They were absolutely delicious and helped to prove Aristotle's philosophy!

Chocolate Waffle Cookies

Heat together:

1 C. butter

½ C. cocoa

Beat in:

4 eggs

1 ½ C. sugar

2 C. flour

2 tsp. vanilla

**Grease waffle iron and pour the amount of batter needed to fill your waffle iron.

**They cool very quickly, so have a container ready to put them in, so they don't dry out.

Frosting:

2 1/3 C. powdered sugar

½ C. butter

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

3 T. cocoa

Optional: Boil 1 T. of water and 2 T. of sugar for 1 minute and add to frosting until it is the desired consistency

Alexander's Great Leftovers

     I had company over for dinner the other night and made a homemade marinara sauce for the Italian meatball subs we had. However, there was way too much marinara sauce leftover with no meatballs. I wondered what to do with it and decided to create my own recipe, which would use up the rest of the sauce. All I did was boil some penne noodles, brown some ground beef, and layer them in a casserole dish. I poured the marinara sauce over the top of the noodles and ground beef and baked it in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. I then sprinkled Parmesan cheese (also leftover from the Italian subs) over the top of this new dish and put it back in the oven for 5-10 more minutes. It ended up tasting great and is now one of my husband's favorite dishes. It also fed us a couple of times, which was very helpful for the days I didn't have time to cook. This meal made me realize leftovers don't always have to be looked down on or not taste very good. It proved to me that being creative with leftover food from other meals can be put to good use and it does not have to be thrown away and wasted. It just takes some creativity and a basic knowledge of what foods go together. Then what was once leftovers can be turned into another masterpiece.
     While creating this new meal out of the "aftermath" of a previous meal it reminded me of Alexander the Great. One of his qualities that helped make him the conqueror he is known as was his creativity dealing with the civilizations he conquered. He came up with different ideas of how to create unity and win over the hearts of the conquered people so he could continue expanding his kingdom while not having to deal with revolts from his people. Alexander's creativity in the "aftermath" of war helped him conquer civilization after civilization and become Alexander the Great. Similarly, being creative with the "aftermath" of dinner can also bring about "Great" things and new recipes for your cookbook.