Back to School, Back to the kitchen

I am so excited about school starting today. The beginning of the school year is a new beginning for me as well. I start my wardrobe over, I change the decor in the house, Ido a lot of new things. With the summer officially over, I also get back to cooking on a regular basis. The summertime is perfect for fast food, impromptu cookouts and light fare. Now that I actually need to make a wholesome breakfast and hefty dinners, I realized I need new tools. I have more mouths to feed now that Kennedy is past a year and enjoying a bit of everything from the table. I decided to pay my favorite store Williams-Sonoma a visit and pick up a few items. So let’s have a looksey:

I love grilling. It is one of my favorite cooking techniques and I would like to grill all year round but it gets cold in these parts. So while it sounds good and smells good to light up some charcoal, there is something eerie and dead about the winter that prohibits me from getting my grill on. I was browsing through the latest W-S catalog and saw that All-Clad had an indoor grill that looked spectacular. I am not sure if it was the flank steak in the picture or the grill itself that had me hooked. I picked this baby up and lit her up last night and the food was delicious.

All Clad Electric Grill

Take note: whatever the grill is made out of, the food is not sticking to it. So as I was flipping burgers, they were just gliding across the top. You have the ability to use either side independently. The little handle you see in the middle is the drawer to the drip pan which ever so neatly collects the drippings for an easy clean up. As for the top of the grill, in your box you will receive a small grill brush that gets any residue that may jam in between the grill. Not stick but jam. (lol) I can definitely see this getting a lot of play in our house because it was so easy to use. I started out pretty late last night and all my meats were done fairly quickly. There is a light on both sides of each knob. The knob allows you to achieve the desired grilling temperature and when that number is reached, one of the lights turns green so you know it is ready to burn. The other light lets you know what side of the grill is powered up so that you don’t accidentally burn yourself or better yet put your meats on a cold grill thinking they are actually cooking. With the one side up, I managed to fit alot of food on there. I had 4 hotdogs, 2 burgers and 2 turkey smoked sausages cooking. And still had room to flip the burgers 40 times as I like my meat well done.

While I was in there, I admit, I went a little crazy but I am so excited about the meals that I will be preparing, so it was definitely worth it. I firmly believe that with the right tools, anyone can cook. When I walked in, I noticed W-S’s tagline for the first time- “for the serious cook”; it was an epiphany-they were talking to me. I had to buy. LOL. So while I was waiting for the clerk to bring my grill from the back, I decided to browse around. That must be their plan too you know. It dawned on me that I had some sweet potatoes home and I have been longing to make some fries. Alas, all I needed was a food chopper but somehow the clerk talked me into getting a mandoline. And boy was I glad she did. I did not make them yet, that is for tonight but the process looks so much easier than with the chopper I initially picked up. Plus this mandoline:

De Buyer Mandoline

does every style you could imagine. Waffle cuts, dicing (although nothing would beat my food processor at this point) julienne, tiny julienne, you name it, this mandoline does it. Another reason why I went with this, I just fit whatever I am cutting, right into that top circle part and move it up and down-how easy is that? it looks a lot safer than the chopper did so it was win-win situation all around. A win for the sweet potato fries and a win for my fingers which had I used the chopper would have somehow ended up in the oil. ewww. As I make the fries, I will take pics along the way so you can see the process.

Lastly, I bought this machine a while ago when Kennedy was first born and it is an amazing gadget.

You put a small amount of water in the left side where the little orange dial is, and then you put your food to be steamed, in the basket. After the food is steamed, you can pick it up, just like in the diagram and pour it back into the container. Close it up and now you can blend it to the consistency desired. (See the little gray blade on the inside of the unit) This is such a quick natural way to get Kennedy’s food ready for her while I am plating dinner. The only thing I hate about it is that it sometimes gets too hot to touch and I have to wait a while before I can open the unit to transfer food from the basket to the bowl for blending. I also bought this as the same time:

so many healthy and delicious meals to be made in this book! When I make something to spicy or even when I run out of ideas for her dinner, I look through and I almost always have something in house that a recipe calls for to whip her up something good. The only thing I was missing was this:

Beaba Ice Cube Trays

now you could just use any ice tray to store cooked food but I like a whole design scheme so on last night’s trip to W-S, I had to grab this. Furthermore, I do not even own ice trays but this shape is practical so I can actually store this on top of containers and vice versa. Also, it is made of that silicone stuff so when I am ready to grab a portion, I just bend it and whoosh, out it comes. No running of warm water on the base and old-school tricks to try and get your ice out.

That is it for now. I can’t wait to hear how every one’s day was at school and while I know what the side is for tonight (sweet potato fries) my brain is still churning to come up with a good meat to accompany them. So if you have any ideas as to what I should make, drop me a comment.

I have listed below the links to the products I bought so if you want one of what I have, it is one click away. I bought more things but I have another post about them so you will see them over the course of the month. Let me know if you get something or have it already. Ciao!

All-Clad Indoor Electric Grill