Kitchen items I can't live without

There are several kitchen "items" that I am not willing to do without.  In no particular order:

Electronic scale.  This is especially true if you love to bake.  You will get much better results if you can weigh your ingredients instead of measuring them in cups.  I don't know why--that's just the way it is.


Garlic press.  Keeps your guests/family/friends from finding large hunks of garlic in their food if you're pressed for time and don't mince it thoroughly.  Personally, I love garlic and wouldn't be upset, but if you're making something with a smooth sauce, you'll want to use a press.

Stand mixer.   You can use this bad boy for just about anything.  It's especially helpful for when you're working with something very dense/tough (like extremely thick cookie dough).

Food processor.  This is actually a new addition for me.  I've been cooking regularly for 15+ years, and I only recently bought my first one.  The first time I used it was to slice cucumbers.  I fed it through the tube and when I opened the lid, my cucumber had turned to complete mush.  I learned the hard way that if you want to slice or shred something, you must first remove the blade (ahem) and leave only the slicer attachment attached.  

Something to hold my hair back.  Yes, I know that headbands aren't kitchen utensils, but it is my biggest fear ever to serve someone food with a hair in it.  It's disgusting enough if it's your immediate family who's eating the food, but if you're making something to take to a family cookout/holiday dinner, or (worse yet) to work for a potluck, would YOU be happy taking a bite of something scrumptious, get a tickly feeling in the back of your throat, and proceed to pull a 10" long hair out of your mouth?  This happened to me at a work function once, and I assure you it was not pleasant.

Sharp knives.  It doesn't matter if they're cheap, but they must be sharp.  I spent $50 on a sharpening stone at the Cooks Warehouse in Atlanta, and have used it once.  Not even a "full once."  I sharpened half of a knife and decided it would be best to have my husband do it as I need all 10 of my fingers if I want to continue cooking.  He did a bang up job, but hasn't done it since.  These things are dangerous.  He told me that Publix will sharpen them for free in the meat department, but I have a bit of a problem carrying a bag full of knives into a grocery store.  Dull knives suck.  And when you DO have them sharpened/sharpen them yourself, be sure never never never to put them in a sink full of dishwater.  I heard a horror story once about my father-in-law sharpening his wife's knives and one of them ended up in a sink of soapy dishwater.  It didn't end well.   And don't put them in your dishwasher--it'll dull the blades considerably.

Magnetic strips.  I keep my knives stuck to one, and it's bolted into the area above the stove.  I have three young children and knives are my biggest fear around them.  I believe it cost about $8.00 at Ikea.  Plus, it frees up counter space if you don't have a bulky knife block sitting there.

    

 

Kittencal's Extreme Chocolate Brownies

Who is Kittencal, you ask?  She's a darn fine cook, for one.  She also has her own food blog , and she's one of the top contributors to www.food.com (It used to be www.recipezaar.com, but they paired with Food Network and changed the name of the site.  I'm still a bit miffed about that.  "food.com" is so bland.) 

I never liked homemade brownies because I never found a recipe that was gooey enough (cakey brownies stink), or chocolatey enough, or moist enough, or sweet enough.  I stumbled upon Kittencal's recipe and was instantly hooked.  You've never had a brownie until you've tried one of these.  I'm typing the recipe as posted at www.food.com, but instead of all white sugar, I use half dark brown and half white, and I use two cups of bittersweet chocolate chips and two cups of semi-sweet.

Much like vanilla sugar's recipe for the 1/4 lb. Double Chocolate Cookies I posted a while ago, this brownie recipe is one of those "Oh-my-God-I-need-chocolate-NOW" recipes that will definitely satisfy your craving.  (And yes--that's a jelly  jar full of milk.  I did that for two reasons:  1) my husband takes coffee to work in the morning in our drinking glasses and forgets to bring them back inside when he gets home; and 2.  I'm a bumpkin at heart.  Stuff tastes better out of jelly jars.  (Especially moonshine.  Heh--just kidding about that last part.)

Kittencal's Extreme Chocolate Brownies

2/3 cup butter or 2/3 cup margarine

1 1/2 cups sugar (reduce to 1 1/4 cups for a less sweet taste)

1/4 cup water

4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease a 13x9 pan.

In a heavy saucepan, bring butter, sugar and water to the boil, stirring constantly until the butter is melted and sugar is dissolved (about 3 minutes).  Remove from heat, and with a wooden spoon, stir in two cups of the chocolate chips until melted; cool slightly and beat in vanilla

In a mixing bowl, whisk eggs and gradually add in the chocolate mixture, beating with a wooden spoon until completely mixed.

Mix together flour, baking soda and salt; add to the egg/chocolate mixture and mix well to combine.  Stir in remaining chocolate chips.  Spread into prepared baking pan and bake for 35-40 minutes* (Do not over-bake.)  Cut into squares.

Note: If desired, chopped walnuts may be added.

*NOTE:  I usually bake mine for about 45 minutes.  I have a slow oven.  Gooey brownies are delicious--raw ones are not.  :)

I'm not a picky eater, but there ARE some foods I just won't eat.

No, this isn't a recipe--it's a list (in no particular order) of foods I don't like.

Eggs (other than deviled, once a year or so).  I hate eggs.  Baked into a cake=fine; fried with runny yolks that can be popped with toast points=NOT COOL.

Beets.  They taste like dirt.

Any type of organ meat.  (Do I really need to explain this one?)  I would like to add that this includes fried shad roe.  I realize it's not an organ, but it comes from the inside of a creature.  My grandmother tricked me into trying some once.

Ground beef that's pink.  When I order a steak at a restaurant, I want them to slap the cow on it's ass and run it through a hot kitchen.  When it comes to ground beef, if it's the slightest bit pink and has that "not-well-done" ground beef flavor and texture, you can forget it.

Kale and collard greens.  Yuck.  Yuck.  Double yuck.  (Yes, I promise I'm from the South.  Once again, it's not all about fried chicken and cornbread.)  When you cook them properly (boiling them until they're not much more than mush) they turn a horrible shade of dark green and they taste bad.  I can't explain it.  They're just bad.

Lamb.  Lamb has a flavor--I can't put my finger on it, but those of you who like it know what I'm talking about.  It has a flavor all its own, and there's no way to describe it.  Whatever you want to call it, I hate that flavor.  And it smells twice as bad as it tastes.  Plus, lambs are really sweet and cute and shouldn't be killed.  They should be allowed to grow up and be sheared.   I would like to note that there is one exception--gyros.  You can *almost* taste the lamb, but if it has enough tzatziki sauce on it, then that's okay.  On a sort of unrelated note, it's pronounced YEAR-oh.  It's not a JIE (rhymes with "pie")-row or a GUY-row or a GEE-row.  It's YEAR-oh.  Sorry, but that really bothers me--especially the JIE-row. 

Veal.  I can't even type this without almost tearing up.  Have any of you ever wondered how veal calves are produced?

Tomato soup.  Whether it's from a can or from scratch, tomato soup is just nasty.  What a perfectly horrible way to ruin a delicious grilled cheese sandwich.

Skim milk.  It's like water with white food coloring.

Margarine.  Water + oil = disgusting.  BUTTER IS TASTY!  Even the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese box recommends using real butter!

Pre-minced garlic in a jar.  It's gross.  End of story.  It really doesn't take that long to mince fresh garlic, and the flavor is so much better than the jarred stuff.

Pepsi.  It's like overly-sweet, flat Coke. 

Electric bread machines.  I realize this isn't a food, but it produces food, so I think it needs to be in this list.  For me, most of the fun in making bread is actually making it.  Dumping a bunch of ingredients in a machine and pushing a button is CHEATING.  It's like going camping and sleeping in the lodge at the main entrance to the campground.  If you're gonna do it, do it right.