Awhile back, I posted about making pumpkin muffins in the springtime because I had several cans of pumpkin that would not last until next Thanksgiving. Now, I don't mind making pumpkin muffins "out of season," but you must understand that I had four large cans of pumpkin. Why? Do I love pumpkin so much? No, unfortunately, I have a truly disorganized mode of operation, and things just get shoved in the pantry, and then I forget that I got something and get it again, and it madly repeats itself until one day I find four cans of pumpkin, or even worse, 6 huge bottles of mustard.
This madness had to be stopped, and right about the time that thought was going through my very little brain, Katie at Kitchen Stewardship was posting about buying in bulk to save money and then storing the bulk items so that they could be used and not wasted. It was a Providential moment for me. Don't you just love it when random things, like pumpkin, mustard, and someone else's blogpost, converge to point you in a direction?
To further boost me along my well-intended path, Burt took the boys on a week-long vacation to visit his mother, and I was given a week at home to do as I pleased. Despite all the advice to get a massage, loll in bed all day, or whatever, I knew that my mind would be most at ease if I could get a handle on the chaos that I was calling my kitchen.
It was a three-day event, lasting about 12 hours each day, and I am extremely please with how it is working out one month later.
Burt learned a system at work with something called 5S. I have used this system in the past to organize other parts of the house, specifically the basement, now rec-room/art center, and the spare bedroom, which is now study room/classroom. Despite my boys' best efforts to return things to their former crazy states, things have been manageable for over a year now, due to the thoroughness of the initial 5 S-ing.
You, lucky reader, have the privelage to follow me through each phase of 5 S, as applied to my kitchen, in the next 5 posts. I hope that you can take something away from this.
S #1: SORT
Again, I had this golden opportunity while the guys were away for a week, in that I wasn't required to produce anything in the kitchen. Therefore, I was able to pull everything out of every cabinet, drawer, etc., and sort through it all. I had things piled up on every horizontal surface in the kitchen.
Luckily (I suppose) we have moved a lot, and so I did not have 25 years' worth of things accumulated. Stuff becomes a lot less precious when you have to find a place to put it. Nevertheless, there was a lot of stuff socked away.
I evaluated what I had when I pulled it out. Do I really need three bottle openers? 600 twist ties? Since I'm the only one who cracks and picks nuts, one of each will do. The extras were boxed up for charity. If I really felt that I needed a "spare," it was put in another box to live in storage in the basement. Anything broken, and likewise, anything that I really knew I didn't use or could live without got pitched. That left me with a lot more room for when I put things back.
In addition to sorting out what to keep and what to toss, I also tried grouping like things. For instance, baking stuff all was together, and cooking stuff, and you get the idea. I would figure out optimum placement later. For the time, just deciding what went together was enough.
Showing posts with label product review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label product review. Show all posts
19 July 2011
22 June 2011
Life Without a Microwave
Is it possible? A non-zapping life? It seems hard to imagine, yet I am old enough to remember my family getting its first one when I was about 10. And I remember the warning not to stand too close to it, and I remember our systematically destroying our melmac plates in it. They aren't microwave safe, BTW.
So basically all my cooking life, I have had and relied on a microwave. Not really for cooking, per se, but for all those handy things like melting butter, boiling some water, heating up leftovers.
Cool Guy especially loves loves loves the microwave. He went through a warm milk phase about a year ago where he would heat up a small glass of milk every evening in the microwave. In fact, he wanted everything heated up. Perhaps not the ice cream, but basically everything else.
And that's how disaster struck. Cool Guy, heating up yet another item, forgot that metal bowls do not go in the microwave. Ka-pow. Oh, and the smell. We are unfortunate enough to have a built-in model which came with the house and would cost about $2000 to replace. And.....we have "kitchen remodel" on our near future to-do list, and so an immediate replacement would not be wise until we know exactly what we want and where we want it. So. No microwave. For about 9 months now.
And guess what? We're doing fine.
We did get a toaster oven to help out during this time, taking the place of the microwave and toaster, which also blinked out on us, and it is filling both jobs rather well, thank you. In fact, today's breakfast comes courtesy of the toaster oven, which does a much better job than anything else could have done. Today it was Toasted Cheese. You want something pretty quick, pretty reliable, a nice vehicle for some more dairy and whole grains, you can't miss with this one. It is one of my favorites.
Toasted Cheese
1 serving
1. For each serving, place a piece of whole wheat bread on rack in the toaster oven.
2. Place a slice of cheese on the bread. I like cheddar; boys like Muenster.
3. Toast. Yum.
If you don't have a toaster oven, then you must first toast bread, and then run cheese on bread under the broiler in a regular oven. The toaster oven method is much easier and turns out a much better product.
Toast and Peanut Butter
If you have a toaster oven, put some peanut butter on bread and toast it. It comes out perfect. If you only have a toaster, it's a 2-step process: toast bread, and smear on pb while still warm. It's fast, easy, nutritious, and very boy-appealing. Throw on some sliced bananas if you're feeling Elvis-y.
Now for my recommendation:
I did a lot of research before deciding on a toaster oven. The Breville got very high reviews, and I was extremely impressed with the blender by that company, so I went with it. It is large, and I seem to do most of my oven stuff in it now. It has lots of settings, and it has memory. So, for instance, I find that making a certain frozen pizza does best in 18 minutes rather than the preset 20, the oven will remember that the next time I put it on pizza setting. It has a frozen setting and a convection setting, which I have found means that I can make things 25% more quickly than in a regular oven.
In addition, I can toast up to 6 slices of toast at a time. Plus, I can broil, and roast, and there is the pizza setting and the cookie setting. Both turn out better product than the oven or microwave.
Now for the less than perfect parts:
1. We hear, though we have not experienced, that customer service at Breville stinks. I'm willing to live with that. How many times do I ever need customer service for any appliance? It's a risk I'm willing to take, but I wanted to put it out there. In fact, our first toaster oven was extremely noisy, as in something must be wrong noisy. But we got the oven through Amazon, so we just exchanged it, no hassle, and that was the end of that problem.
2. The exterior gets hot. You would think that with a top line product like this that it would be cool touch on the outside, but it's not. So I needed to warn the boys about it, and must be careful around it when it's on. I can live with it, but I'd rather it be otherwise.
We have changed our food storage ways to using glass and foil rather than plastic and saran. There was an adjustment period involved. I was OK with it, knowing that if there is any truth to the BPA issues, at least we were getting away from that. But still an adjustment is needed. Leftovers warm up in 15 minutes rather than 1. It takes brain power to remember that. But after over half a year, I honestly do not miss the microwave at all.
Would I recommend that one have both microwave AND toaster oven? I think it would depend on how much kitchen space you have. I don't have much. They each have their merits and faults, but I must say that if quality rather than speed is your thing, the toaster oven wins out.
So basically all my cooking life, I have had and relied on a microwave. Not really for cooking, per se, but for all those handy things like melting butter, boiling some water, heating up leftovers.
Cool Guy especially loves loves loves the microwave. He went through a warm milk phase about a year ago where he would heat up a small glass of milk every evening in the microwave. In fact, he wanted everything heated up. Perhaps not the ice cream, but basically everything else.
And that's how disaster struck. Cool Guy, heating up yet another item, forgot that metal bowls do not go in the microwave. Ka-pow. Oh, and the smell. We are unfortunate enough to have a built-in model which came with the house and would cost about $2000 to replace. And.....we have "kitchen remodel" on our near future to-do list, and so an immediate replacement would not be wise until we know exactly what we want and where we want it. So. No microwave. For about 9 months now.
And guess what? We're doing fine.
We did get a toaster oven to help out during this time, taking the place of the microwave and toaster, which also blinked out on us, and it is filling both jobs rather well, thank you. In fact, today's breakfast comes courtesy of the toaster oven, which does a much better job than anything else could have done. Today it was Toasted Cheese. You want something pretty quick, pretty reliable, a nice vehicle for some more dairy and whole grains, you can't miss with this one. It is one of my favorites.
Toasted Cheese
1 serving
1. For each serving, place a piece of whole wheat bread on rack in the toaster oven.
2. Place a slice of cheese on the bread. I like cheddar; boys like Muenster.
3. Toast. Yum.
If you don't have a toaster oven, then you must first toast bread, and then run cheese on bread under the broiler in a regular oven. The toaster oven method is much easier and turns out a much better product.
Toast and Peanut Butter
If you have a toaster oven, put some peanut butter on bread and toast it. It comes out perfect. If you only have a toaster, it's a 2-step process: toast bread, and smear on pb while still warm. It's fast, easy, nutritious, and very boy-appealing. Throw on some sliced bananas if you're feeling Elvis-y.
Now for my recommendation:
I did a lot of research before deciding on a toaster oven. The Breville got very high reviews, and I was extremely impressed with the blender by that company, so I went with it. It is large, and I seem to do most of my oven stuff in it now. It has lots of settings, and it has memory. So, for instance, I find that making a certain frozen pizza does best in 18 minutes rather than the preset 20, the oven will remember that the next time I put it on pizza setting. It has a frozen setting and a convection setting, which I have found means that I can make things 25% more quickly than in a regular oven.
In addition, I can toast up to 6 slices of toast at a time. Plus, I can broil, and roast, and there is the pizza setting and the cookie setting. Both turn out better product than the oven or microwave.
Now for the less than perfect parts:
1. We hear, though we have not experienced, that customer service at Breville stinks. I'm willing to live with that. How many times do I ever need customer service for any appliance? It's a risk I'm willing to take, but I wanted to put it out there. In fact, our first toaster oven was extremely noisy, as in something must be wrong noisy. But we got the oven through Amazon, so we just exchanged it, no hassle, and that was the end of that problem.
2. The exterior gets hot. You would think that with a top line product like this that it would be cool touch on the outside, but it's not. So I needed to warn the boys about it, and must be careful around it when it's on. I can live with it, but I'd rather it be otherwise.
We have changed our food storage ways to using glass and foil rather than plastic and saran. There was an adjustment period involved. I was OK with it, knowing that if there is any truth to the BPA issues, at least we were getting away from that. But still an adjustment is needed. Leftovers warm up in 15 minutes rather than 1. It takes brain power to remember that. But after over half a year, I honestly do not miss the microwave at all.
Would I recommend that one have both microwave AND toaster oven? I think it would depend on how much kitchen space you have. I don't have much. They each have their merits and faults, but I must say that if quality rather than speed is your thing, the toaster oven wins out.
08 June 2011
Finally posting. Some Business and Recommendations
It's been a long time coming. Spring around here is just hectic. Mulch, weeds, end of school. Still, rest assured, we are continuing to eat breakfast. In fact, Burt took the boys on vacation to visit him mother this week, and I was insistent that they have some scrambled eggs, fresh strawberries, and toast before leaving. (Why am I not going? Boring stuff, so let's just say that I've been to destination plenty in the last year and needed a break.)
On to the business item: I have another blog, Landscapes and Portraits, which I am going to close out. This other blog was focused mainly on family life, intellectual life, and interests of mine. I like it, but I have a LOT more fun blogging about breakfast, and it has seemed almost onerous to continue with blog #1, when I can barely find time to post on blog #2. Command decision is to discontinue first blog, and perhaps work in elements of it into this one.
Now that we've got that over with, on to my recommedations. Right before Burt and I were married, my Grandma Demers died, and my parents had a houseful of items to dispense with. I was given all of the kitchen equipment that I could use. I'll add that my grandma was not much of a cooker, and there wasn't much, but one item I had was a vegetable peeler. It has stood me in good stead for 25 years, but finally I noticed that I was having to press harder and harder on it, and decided to replace it.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a good peeler? I bought 4, yes 4 peelers within the span of a year and all have been lemons. Finally, sick of my complaints, Burt Googled vegetable peelers and found two with superior reviews. I decided to get both, since one can never have enough peelers, and also backing my odds of finding a good one. Both, by the way, were just MERELY a tad more expensive than the pieces of junk I had been throwing my money away toward.
The package came, and I immediately tried both right away. They are different, but both are excellent, and I wonder how in the world I have survived all this time without them. Suffice it to say that if you have a mediocre peeler, you owe it to yourself to spend 5 or 6 dollars and make your life so much easier. After all, it's all in the details, right?
So the winners are......
1. KitchenAid Vegetable Peeler.
This was my first choice, as I have always been happy with KitchenAid products. It gives a deeper peel tham most, taking part of the fruit or vegetable, but it peels well, and without a lot of shenanigins from me, so I like it a lot.
2. Kuhn Vegetable Peeler
This one I would have to say is marginally superior to KitchenAid. It gives a thinner peel. It has serrated edges, and I suppose that makes a difference. It is just amazing at what a difference a decent or even superior peeler makes.
Lesson learned from this: if something is giving you fits, fix it or find a replacement. Now. Life is too short to fight a 3 dollar peeler when a 5 dollar one will make your daily life so much less frustrating.
Now that summer is here, please enjoy the fruits and veggies, and use a decent peeler when needed!
On to the business item: I have another blog, Landscapes and Portraits, which I am going to close out. This other blog was focused mainly on family life, intellectual life, and interests of mine. I like it, but I have a LOT more fun blogging about breakfast, and it has seemed almost onerous to continue with blog #1, when I can barely find time to post on blog #2. Command decision is to discontinue first blog, and perhaps work in elements of it into this one.
Now that we've got that over with, on to my recommedations. Right before Burt and I were married, my Grandma Demers died, and my parents had a houseful of items to dispense with. I was given all of the kitchen equipment that I could use. I'll add that my grandma was not much of a cooker, and there wasn't much, but one item I had was a vegetable peeler. It has stood me in good stead for 25 years, but finally I noticed that I was having to press harder and harder on it, and decided to replace it.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a good peeler? I bought 4, yes 4 peelers within the span of a year and all have been lemons. Finally, sick of my complaints, Burt Googled vegetable peelers and found two with superior reviews. I decided to get both, since one can never have enough peelers, and also backing my odds of finding a good one. Both, by the way, were just MERELY a tad more expensive than the pieces of junk I had been throwing my money away toward.
The package came, and I immediately tried both right away. They are different, but both are excellent, and I wonder how in the world I have survived all this time without them. Suffice it to say that if you have a mediocre peeler, you owe it to yourself to spend 5 or 6 dollars and make your life so much easier. After all, it's all in the details, right?
So the winners are......
1. KitchenAid Vegetable Peeler.
This was my first choice, as I have always been happy with KitchenAid products. It gives a deeper peel tham most, taking part of the fruit or vegetable, but it peels well, and without a lot of shenanigins from me, so I like it a lot.
2. Kuhn Vegetable Peeler
This one I would have to say is marginally superior to KitchenAid. It gives a thinner peel. It has serrated edges, and I suppose that makes a difference. It is just amazing at what a difference a decent or even superior peeler makes.
Lesson learned from this: if something is giving you fits, fix it or find a replacement. Now. Life is too short to fight a 3 dollar peeler when a 5 dollar one will make your daily life so much less frustrating.
Now that summer is here, please enjoy the fruits and veggies, and use a decent peeler when needed!
16 January 2011
I Heart My Blender!
To the internet! According to reviews, yes, there are better blenders out there, costing about $400. Uh, no. I'm not going into the smoothie business, just wanting to make them with a little more ease.
Then, the family went to a big-city mall, and I stopped by Macy's home department and cruised through the blenders, looking at the blades of them. I figured that blender effectiveness had to be tied up in horsepower and blades. They all looked the same, just like my other one, until I found the Breville. It had 6 blades, two of them larger, and serrated blades, and also more horsepower than the others. But the price was still a lot higher than I was comfortable with, though half that of the mega-blenders.
More internet searches, reading reviews, looking around. And then I found on Amazon, that I could buy a refurbished Breville for less than half the price. But, and of course there's a but, the reviews mentioned problems, mainly with leaking. More research, and finally I decided to take the gamble.
It arrived, and yesterday I decided to try it. First I asked Burt to check for leaking with some water, and it did leak. Then we got out the manual, disassembled it and put it back together, and voila, perfect! And then on to the blending. Wow! I put in my smoothie stuff, pushed the Smoothie button (yes, it has a smoothie button, and was amazed. First, it was really quiet. Second, no stalling. And it turned out a perfect smoothie.
Of course, I plan on using it for more than just smoothies. OK, back to playing with my new toy.
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