Category — Kitchen Appliances

Coffee makers can be a minor purchase, or a major purchase depending on how many “options” you need.  I’ve been through a few, and have finally settled on this one: the Cuisinart Grind and Brew.  I’ve been brewing coffee every day, often twice a day, with this coffee maker for the last 2 years, and it still seems to be holding up very well.  Here are the pros and cons:

The Pros: I like this coffee pot because it grinds and brews the coffee in an enclosed unit.  If you’ve ever fumbled around with a coffee grinder at 6AM, spilling ground coffee on the counter and floor- you’ll appreciate this too. I also like the thermal carafe, because it eliminates that scorched taste you can sometimes get with coffee makers that have burners and glass pots, and it keeps the coffee hot for hours.

In addition, the Cuisinart Grind and Brew has a built in charcoal water filter, something which I think makes a big difference in the quality of the coffee brewed.  And, if you don’t want to use coffee beans for every pot, you can just add ground coffee to the basket.

The Cons: Although it’s my favorite coffee pot of all time, I would change the following things if I could. First, the grinder mechanism has to be cleaned every time you grind coffee beans, because it steams up when the coffee brews.  This means a few extra minutes of prep time.  Second, the Cuisinart water filters for this model are a little bit expensive.  They’re around $5 each, which is higher than the water filters for other coffee makers.

The Cuisinart Grind and Brew is available at 1st in Coffee for $129.

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!

I’ve always had this idea that I could hook a stationary bike to my home electricity to create some of my own power. I’m no engineer, but it looks like I’m also not the only one who’s had this type of crazy idea.

Want an alternative to a basic blender? Check out the B3 Blenders. They connect to your outdoor peddler to make your favorite ice cold drink. Imagine if you had a smoothies or better yet, a Margarita waiting for you after that summer work out? I’d be cycling all the way to Kansas!

There’s a high demand for my mom’s homemade bread when all the troops come to visit. Luckily, she’s got her system down so none of us have to miss a single slice of her homemade goodness.

She swears by her Williams Sanoma bread maker. She’s tried other ones that just flat out didn’t work. One of her favorite tricks is to substitute 1 T flaxseed, 1T oat bran and 1 T of wheat germ to make a healthier, tastier light wheat bread. (She puts those three T into the cup measure then fills the rest with flour.) Give it a shot! Homemade makes all the difference!

There’s a high demand for my mom’s homemade bread when all the troops come to visit. Luckily, she’s got her system down so none of us have to miss a single slice of her homemade goodness.

She swears by her William Sanoma bread maker. She’s tried other ones that just flat out didn’t work. One of her favorite tricks is to substitute 1 T flaxseed, 1T oat bran and 1 T of wheat germ to make a healthier, tastier light wheat bread. (She puts those three T into the cup measure then fills the rest with flour.) Give it a shot! Homemade makes all the difference!