Posts Tagged ‘Kitchen Tools’
Is There a Cutting Board In The House
Every kitchen around America has to have a cutting board as one of their main kitchen tools. Before you start cooking your meat, vegetables or fruit, you first have to prepare them by either slicing, chopping or cutting them up. In order to do this, you have to have a cutting board, whether it’s wood, plastic, glass or some other type of cutting board.
Just remember that you should not use the same cutting board to prepare your raw meat, cooked meat, vegetables and any other food due to the bacteria that collects in the groves of the cutting board. Make sure that you sanitize your cutting boards accordingly.
Baking Pans – What Should We Use
Anyone who bakes or cooks in the kitchen knows how critical it is to have the proper baking pans on hand. We have a variety of kitchen gadgets which include baking pans that come in all different sizes & shapes. Since I bake a lot, I have a variety of different sizes & types of pans which includes round cake pans, 9 X 13 glass or metal rectangular pans, pie pans and other baking pans. Depending on what I plan to bake will determine what type of baking pan I will use.
I have a lot of the old cookware that Tupperware had sold years ago that you can microwave or use in the oven. I don’t remember the name of the type of cookware but I’m sure there are many of you know what I’m talking about. To this day, I use the various pieces to bake cakes, pies, brownies & any other sweets that I want to fix. If I plan to take a sweet dish to a family function, I usually take it in this type of pan since I have the cover that goes along with the pan.
Chocolate Cheese Cake
CRUST:
1 c. Flour
1 1/2 c. Chopped Pecans
1 Stick Butter or Margarine (Melted)
Combine & mix together. Press in bottom of a 9 X 13 glass pan or metal pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
1st LAYER:
1 8 ounce package of Cream Cheese
1 1/2 c. Cool Whip
1 c. Powdered Sugar
Using handheld mixers, mix cream cheese & powdered sugar together; add cool whip & mix together. Spread over cooled baked crust.
2nd LAYER:
1 large & 1 Small box of Jello Instant Chocolate Pudding
4 c. Milk
Mix until thick. Spread over cheese layer. Spread cool whip on top & grate Hersey Bar over top of cool whip if desired. Refrigerate.
Note: I used an 8 ounce & 12 ounce container of Cool Whip
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.
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.