transient travels

Last night, I was wondering what I was going to blog about today, as I tend to reserve Thursdays for my food posts, and then suddenly I came across the best news I had heard all day – My Melange mentioned that today is World Nutella Day!

Unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to prepare a proper post for this delicious occasion. I didn’t find out until late last night and we are out of Nutella, so I can’t take any photos. But, I was compelled to dedicate a post to this glorious idea anyway. Bleeding Espresso and Ms Adventures in Italy got started early yesterday with some pretty inspiring, Nutelly ideas.

For me, Nutella is the ultimate comfort food not only because it is delicious, but because it has served as a constant for me in new living situations.

Rewind to 2004 – I went off to study abroad in Ireland. This is where I was first introduced to Nutella. I think I first came across it when Lisa and I were walking through Tescos and it seemed to jump out at us – we had heard of it before then, but had never seen it so available. We purchased it and immediately fell in love. From then on, my dinners in Ireland always ended with a cup of tea and a piece of toast spread with Nutella.

Back to the present – When Mike and I moved into our apartment, we took a trip to BJ’s Wholesale Club to stock up on the staples: pasta, paper towels, etc. And when we saw that you could also buy Nutella in bulk, we couldn’t resist. Suddenly, I reverted back to my post-dinner Nutella and toast habits.

Another reason why I love Nutella is because it is so versatile.

Mike and I started spreading it on crackers when we run out of bread. Sometimes we even make tiny little Nutella sandwiches with the smaller crackers.

Recently, a friend introduced me to Hungry Girl’s chocolate peanut butter fudge recipe and guess what I did – I replaced the peanut butter with Nutella of course.

Here are the ingredients and directions from Hungry Girl’s site, in case you ever want to try it:

Ingredients

2 cups canned pure pumpkin
1 box Betty Crocker Fudge Brownies Mix (the 18.3-oz. Family Size box)
2 tbsp. Better ‘n Peanut Butter Nutella!, room temperature

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine pumpkin with the brownie mix in a large bowl; stir until smooth (do not add anything else). Spray a small baking pan (6 x 6 inches or 8 x 4 inches work best — no larger!) with nonstick cooking spray and pour in the mixture. Spoon 2 tbsp. of Better ‘n Peanut Butter Nutella! (room temperature) on top and use a knife to swirl peanut butter around. Cook for approximately 35 minutes. The batter will remain very thick and fudgy, and it should look undercooked. Remove from oven. Cover with aluminum foil and let cool in fridge for a couple of hours. Cut into 36 squares and serve.

Serving Size: 1 piece (approx. 1.3 oz.)
Calories: 63
Fat: 1g
Sodium: 56mg
Carbs: 13.5g
Fiber: 1g
Sugars: 9g
Protein: 1g

* 1 Point!

I am sure that my improv ingredient changes the above nutrition information, but trust me, it’s worth it.

Do you want to follow World Nutella Day?

Find photos in Nutella Day Flickr Pool, videos at YouTube Nutella Day Station and you can also join the World Nutella Day Facebook group and follow @NutellaDay on Twitter.