Category — Kitchen Appliances

In the summer I love to eat fresh pineapple .  It’s one of my favorite summer fruits but one of my least favorite to actually prepare.  Cutting a pineapple is a frustrating process and typically involves a much larger knife than I prefer to use in the kitchen.

That’s why I was so excited to see the Vacu Vin Pineapple Corer at Cooking.com .  It cores the pineapple for you, all you need to do is slice off the top and then this device does the rest for you, making perfect pineapple rings.

I compared several different pineapple corers/slicers before settling on this one.  What really sold me was that it came with three different sized attachments depending on the size of the fruit.  Otherwise most of the different models were pretty similar in price and style.  The Vacu Vin is only $14.95, which is about the price threshold I have for random kitchen tools.

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If you saw yesterday’s corn chowder recipe, you read that at the end of the cooking time, the recipe calls for scooping out half of the chowder, pureeing it in a blender, and then adding it back to the crockpot.  This was a bit of an inconvenience, and has prompted me to add one of these handheld blenders, sometimes called immersion blenders, to my kitchen gadgets list.

The KitchenAid immersion blender above is made by KitchenAid, and allows you to blend anything, including scorching hot corn chowder, right in the pot.  You can immerse the blender in up to 8 inches of liquid, and it comes with several dishwasher-safe attachments.  Sounds much easier than taking my blender apart, and washing the glass pitcher.  I found this immersion blender at FFEMAX.Com for $52.99.

You can use handheld blenders in many recipes, including soups, mashed potatoes, whipping up diet shakes, and quick milkshakes.

Whether you call them crock pots or slow cookers, these “set it and forget it” kitchen gadgets are a must have for any cook.  I recently switched from an older style, round and tall, crock pot to an oval slow cooker.  The new one is much bigger around, but more shallow than my old one.  I have to say that I’m so happy with the switch, and here’s why:

The oval slow cooker allows for  much easier, and more sightly arrangement of meats and veggies.  Rather than piling everything up, layer after layer, I can now arrange the meal (in a single layer) in the large oval crock.  This helps out with serving, too.  Instead of digging through a deep crock, “fishing” for the contents, with my new oval crock pot, I can see everything in the crock, and scoop out exactly what I want, without messing everything up.

The Hamilton Beach crockpot above is the one I recently purchased.  It is the “Stay or Go” model, and it is designed for easy travel, for taking to a carry-in meal.  Notice the metal clamps on the side that secure the lid to the crock.  There’s also a built-in spoon holder in the lid.  The Hamilton Beach Stay or Go Slow Cooker is available at Cooking.Com for $39.95.

Oh, and crock pot recipes include so much more than just pot roast!  I make all sorts of things in mine, including crock pot lasagna, and crock pot chocolate cake…deliciously sinful!

I always keep Ramen noodles around for an emergency meal or a fast lunch for the kids, but I didn’t know until recently that there are hundreds of Ramen noodle recipes floating around online. People put Ramen noodles in everything from cole slaw to Jell-O (yuck)!

I’ve recently tried this beef and broccoli recipe, and it has turned out to be a Friday night favorite at my house.  You can make it in a large skillet or a wok. It makes enough to feed 6 people and have some leftovers.

Easy Beef and Broccoli Recipe

• 3 cups frozen or fresh broccoli florets
• 1 1/2 lbs. thinly sliced top round steak
• 8 packages beef Ramen noodles
• 8 cups water
• 2 tbsp. olive oil

Saute beef with olive oil in a large skillet or wok until nearly cooked through. Add broccoli florets.  Saute for another 1-2 minutes, and then add water.  Bring to a boil.  Break Ramen noodle blocks in half and add to skillet. Add noodle season packets.  Cook until Ramen noodles are tender, and most of the water is absorbed.  Allow to sit for a few minutes before serving.

You can adjust this recipe to make as much or as little as you want.  Just use 1 cup of water per package of noodles.  Ramen noodle seasoning contains a lot of sodium, so if you like, just leave out some of the season packets, or purchase the low sodium noodle packets.  Baked ramen noodles are also available if you want to reduce the fat content of this recipe.

I’d like to take my hat off and give a bow to Cuisinart for their life-enhancing, 14-Cup food processor. I admit I was intrigued but scared by this beast when I first set eyes on it. How could it possibly slice fruits and vegetables perfectly? I thought that result must rely on me assembling the machine in a masterful way. With all the different choices for blades, I thought I’d have to sit down with the instruction booklet for days, like it would be one step short of building an airplane.

But, to my surprise (or, for me, in typical fashion) I didn’t have to look at the manual once – shoo! I just minded the arrows on the blades and pieced it together like a children’s play set. There’s only two buttons on the apparatus and if it doesn’t turn on, you didn’t do it right. But when you do get it, the results are amazing. It takes seconds to chop or grate vegetables, and a minute to perfectly whip cream. And even clean up is less daunting than you think it will be.

So if you’re in the market, I’d highly recommend this make and model. It truly has made cooking for me a better, more fun experience.

If you have an high-yielding herb garden or even if you’ve bought some beautiful fresh herbs but can’t use them all, don’t let them go to waste! Here’s some tips on how to savor the flavor through winter!

1. DRY METHOD for oregano, sage, marjoram, bay, rosemary, lemon verbena, mints, lavender, dill and thyme. Gather a small bunch and tightly tie a piece of twine an inch from the bottom. Hang the bunches upside down in a well-ventilated area out of the sun. When the leaves are dry enough to crackle, strip the leaves from the stem and store them in glass jars. They’ll stay fresh for up to 18 months.
2. ICE CUBE SYSTEM for basil, parsley and chervil. While these herbs are at their freshest, wash and dry the leaves. You can leave them whole or I suggest chopping them by hand or using a herb chopper. Mix the herbs with water or olive oil. Pour the mixture into and ice tray to freeze. Pop out the ice cubes and pop in the fresh flavor!

Special thanks to Organic Gardening magazine for these herb saving tips.

If there’s one thing a chef doesn’t like, it’s a picky eater. It seems like a battle that just can’t be won and many moms have already tried. Having picky children can leave you a bit worried about your kid’s health, but studies have shown that the diets of picky children weren’t too different from healthy-eating children – besides the fact that the picky eaters didn’t consume as much fiber and calcium.

For the moms who have a picky eater at home, there are some things you can do to ensure your kid eats. First off, when doing business with children, you need to learn some psychology. Make them feel like they’re getting their way when in reality you’re getting yours. A great example is serving them dessert for breakfast. The idea is to make them feel like they’re getting something yummy – this can be from fresh fruits, cottage cheese or even eggs and plain yogurt.

Then you can try sneaking in some healthy foods. For protein, you can serve peanut butter, nuts, egg salad, boiled eggs, rice pudding or chicken salad. Then for veggies you can give your kid a V8 Splash fruit juice, veggie lasagna or some carrots and cheese in tortilla bread. Other ideas include granola and yogurt (like the parfait) or veggies with ranch dip. If you have a blender, fruit smoothies are fun to make and drink. You can even get creative and let them create their own pizza.

Recipe for fruit smoothie (get creative with the fruits!):

1 banana, cut into chunks
4 strawberries, stemmed and cut into chunks
8 oz. milk
1 TBSP almond butter
2 tsp. maple syrup

Pour the fruits into the blender, pour in the milk, then add the almond butter and syrup. Turn on the blender until the contents are smooth.

Speaking of blenders, you can also try the smother attack; this is when you puree all types of foods with a food processor (the idea is to place veggies, fruits and other healthy foods into nonsuspecting items). You could blend veggies in foods like brownies and cakes or grind up broccoli and zucchinis in pasta or pizza. Get creative with your cooking skills!

The chopped salad phenomon has taken over the urban American lunch scene and I’m not complaining. I find myself regularly choosing these cut up meals from a menu and I’ve noted that it’s not as much the ingredients that please me as it is the fact that’s it’s chopped. Does this mean I’m lazy? Is cutting food with a fork and knife such a huge stumbling block? Maybe it’s chewing food that’s the turn off.

I’m going to convince myself that these mixed salads just taste better. I feel like they do, don’t you? All the flavors come together in this perfect, evenly proportioned way. And the fact that you can spoon-feed yourself raw veggies is somehow comforting, I’ll admit it.

So, here’s my advice for your home: Buy a food chopper and get creative. Summer has so many fresh veggies to offer and almost all of them taste better in managable, bite-sized pieces. Picture these ingredients: lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, egg, cheese bacon. Now picture them chopped. You feelin’ me now?

I love this soft serve ice cream maker! It’s so cool looking and there’s meaning behind the reason for the pink. It’s part of Cuisinart‘s line to help breast cancer research. It’s easy to use and comes with recipes for sorbet and frozen yoghart as well. What a fun choice for an ice cream social this summer!

If you’re planning to bust out that ice cream maker this summer, which I highly recommend you should, I have one tip to make the experience top!

EAT IT IMMEDIATELY!

Homemade ice cream does not keep well. It gets ice crystals in the freezer, so if you’re planning to have people over for sundaes, this is one job you shouldn’t do in advance. If for some reason you don’t finish it all and want to store it, the less you open the freezer door the better. Or you could take some of my overnight cookies (which do stay fresh longer) and make ice cream sandwiches. Yum!