Archive for December, 2009
Paring Knives – What I Use the Most
Paring Knives are knives that every household must have in their kitchen. These knives are small & precise in cutting, peeling and slicing all types of vegetables and fruits. Everyone has their favorite paring knife. I have a variety of these knives but I have found that the set of paring knives with the colored handles, red, green, brown & yellow, are the ones that I use the most.
I have had these for 15 – 20 years and the best thing about these is that they are always sharp. I have never had to sharpen these. I use these paring knives for peeling vegetables, coring fruit such as apples, chopping & slicing all kinds of vegetables – you name it.
Are You Looking For a Recipe Book
As you know by now, I love to bake in our household. Over the last 22 years of my married life, I have accumulated tons of recipe books. I have purchased them from friends, the store, through the mail – you name it. I have a large variety of books – baking, quick meals, casseroles, cookies, cakes, Southern Living Annual Recipes Cookbooks, Betty Crocker cookbooks, Better Homes & Gardens Cookbooks and others as well.
Even though I don’t utilize every recipe book, I do have my favorites which I use frequently when I baked some of my cookies, cinnamon rolls, pies and cakes. Lot of these recipes are individual recipes I’ve compiled into a recipe book myself.
Fudge Krispies
1 (11 1/2-ounce) package (2 cups) Nestle Milk Chocolate Morsels
1/2 c. Margarine or Butter
1/2 c. Light Corn Syrup
2 t. Vanilla
1 c. Sifted Powdered Sugar
4 c. Kellogg’s Rice Krispies Cereal
Combine milk chocolate morsels, margarine and corn syrup in medium stainless steel cookware. Stir over low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla and powdered sugar. Add rice krispies cereal, mixing lightly until well coated. Spread evenly in buttered 13 X 9 inch glass pan. Chill until firm. Cut into 1 1/2 inch squares. Store in refrigerator. Makes 48 squares.
Note: These taste like Nestles Crunch Candy Bars. These Fudge Krispies are very tasty and you can guess they are a delight for the kids.
The Montel Williams Living Well Health Master Blender Model YD-2088E
I have purchased different countertop blenders and none have held up to the job that the Living Well Health Master blender does. This blender is called a fruit & vegetable emulsifier. This appliance is supposed to replace the blender, juicer, & mixer.
The Health Master stand blender is designed to liquefy the whole fruit or vegetable so that you get all the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber from every part of the plant such as the skin & seeds. The regular juicer, extracts the juice, but leaves behind the fiber, skin, seeds, which contains a lot of the nutrients. This Health Master food processing system liquefies fruits, veggies, and leafy greens to create nutritious and delicious drinks–plus baby foods, salad dressings, and frozen desserts. Centrifugal friction even lets you make hot soups. Numerous nutritional studies have been done over the years showing the clear health benefits of consuming fresh fruits & vegetables regularly.
The Living Well Health Master Blender Model YD-2088E which I have has a 2 HP motor with 1200W of power. The stainless steel blades turn at about 3,000 RMPs which allows the food to cook from the friction. This blender is UL listed; 100-year Limited Manufacturer’s Warranty on the motor; 60-day Limited Manufacturer’s Warranty on all other parts but I purchased an extended warranty on all the other parts.
My First Kitchen Aid K5SS Stand Mixer
As I had mentioned in my earlier article, baking is my favorite hobby. Since I enjoy baking, I wanted to let you know that the Kitchen Aid K5SS Mixer was my 1st stand mixer that I had purchased soon after I had gotten married 22 years ago. This was a white 10 speed stand mixer with a 5-Quart Stainless Steel Bowl. It came with the Flat Beater, Dough Hook, & Stainless Steel Whip. Also included was the Pouring Shield which is very useful since I always mix up a triple batch of cookies. My husband takes cookies with him to work for morning & afternoon breaks so a single batch wouldn’t last very long.
The Kitchen Aid Stand Mixers have an Attachment Hub Socket for attachments such as a Food Grinder, Pasta Maker, Rotor Slicer/Shredder and other attachments. My Kitchen Aid K5SS Mixer came with the Food Grinder. The Food Grinder has come in handy. I use it to grind up meat for ground meat and chili; fresh peaches to make peach preserves.
I used this stand mixer all the time to mix up cookies, bread dough, dough for cinnamon rolls, cakes, meringue for pies and anything else that the mixer could be used for. Since I had used this mixer so much, I ended up replacing this mixer with the Kitchen Aid Mixer Professional HD Model that I presently use.
Salad Spinner – How does it work?
Have you had to throw away your Green Salad after 2 – 3 days because it looks unpleasant to eat? Guess What! I’ve done that a bunch of times until I figured out the trick that helps make your salad stay fresh longer without wilting & going bad. When I make a green salad, I make a large bowl full so it will last for 4 – 5 days. Before I put the salad in the refrigerator, I would take a couple of paper towel sheets & place them flat directly on top of the salad before putting the lid on. By doing this, the paper towels will absorb the moisture from the salad & keeps it staying fresh & crisp.
Another great tip that helps – After washing the lettuce, I put it in one of my kitchen gadgets, a salad spinner, to remove the excess moisture before cutting it up when making the salad.
What is a Metric Wonder Cup?
I have all types of measuring utensils which I use to measure the ingredients for baking or cooking. I use Tupperware measuring cups & spoons to measure my solid foods such as flour, brown sugar and all the different spices. I use glass measuring cups to measure my liquids – water, milk and oil. The measuring utensil that I really enjoying using is the Metric Wonder Cup. I found out about this utensil several years ago from a friend at work.
The Metric Wonder Cup can be used for both dry & wet ingredients. I mainly use it for shortening, peanut butter, honey or any other hard to measure ingredients. It measures fractions of cups, ounces, tablespoons, teaspoons as well as metric units. You fill the container with the ingredient to the brim, level it off with the back of a knife or spatula; then you would push the container up to remove the ingredient. I feel that this is more accurate than using a measuring cup and not near as messy.