The only thing better than getting your hands on a fancy new kitchen gadget is realizing that you can use an old kitchen gadget to do the same job. (Thus saving you $$ to buy more new kitchen gadgets.)
Enter the potato masher. Not only does it do its eponymous job, it mashes anything else that’s [...]
Sure, you’ve got your fancy new pasta makers with their plugs and motors and cords … in fact, some of them might be so darned newfangled that they’ve transcended outlets and gone cordless. Wouldn’t surprise me if there’s a Bluetooth pasta maker out there somewhere.
But you know what works best? An old-school, crank-it-out kind of [...]
Last weekend, I attended the Epicurean Classic culinary event in St. Joseph. Wow…if you’ll pardon the pun, I was whisked away. The chefs were amazing, the food was spectacular, and the kitchen gadgets were dazzingly shiny. (Imagine four separate fully-outfitted kitchens al fresco underneath huge white tents — how great would that set-up be in [...]
A few weeks ago, a Mexican amiga showed me how to make tortillas from scratch, something I’ve always wanted to learn. It’s amazingly easy! Just mix masa harina (a corn flour that’s been treated with lime) with water and salt until it’s the right consistency, then shape into balls, press flat with a tortilla press, [...]
Ice cream has to be one of the true joys of summer. (If you’re like me and love pumpkin ice cream, it’s also one of fall’s pleasures.) As much as I enjoyed the occasional scoop or two, however, I was getting dissatisfied with commercial ice cream–waaaay too much sugar and way too many unnecessary additives. [...]
What a handy kitchen tool! Although it’s sold as a coffee/spice grinder, I bought this to grind my own flour. Thanks to its fast-spinning blade and its relatively-small size (trying to grind a puny cup of grain in a Cuisinart is like trying to roll a bowling ball down the length of a strip mall), [...]
Why use a tool for one use when you can use it for five? Or six, or seven? Witness the ubiquitous egg-slicer, a tool that is capable of much more than its name implies. Assuming that you have a sturdy version (preferably made entirely of metal), you can slice anything soft and [...]
Continue reading about Eggs, Schmeggs…It’s Time to Multi-Task!
This is fantastic stuff! If you’re a baker at heart, you’ll love lining your pans with reusable parchment paper: it’s sturdier than the traditional throw-away version, it’s a snap to clean (just wipe it with a damp dishcloth), and it’s good for the environment and your pocketbook. The best thing about reusable [...]
Here are my top ten favorite tools to use with produce–I’d go so far as to say they’re indispensable. Having these in your kitchen will make your cooking much easier and more enjoyable:
- Several wooden cutting boards (see article on cutting boards for more information)
- Knives (and knife sharpener!)
- Vegetable peeler
- Mushroom brush (a [...]
Several years ago, a friend gave me a “Touch of Oil” non-aerosol plastic spray container. This is by far one of the most useful things I have in my kitchen! The beauty of it is that you can fill it with whatever oil you want. You can also easily clean it between re-uses. It’s made [...]
