Buttermilk Pancakes

So, I have found a new Buttermilk Pancake recipe that I really do like.  They're probably my favorite pancakes ever.  I originally made them because I had some leftover buttermilk from making some green velvet cupcakes.  I only needed a cup of buttermilk for the cupcakes, but the smallest container I could find was a quart of buttermilk.

Anyway.  This recipe was perfect.  I don't quite remember where I found it, but if I figure that out, I'll edit this.

 I'm going to share the recipe first, then share some thoughts.  I have made these a total of three times to date.

Buttermilk Pancakes 

3 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons white sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 cups buttermilk

1/2 cup milk

3 eggs

1/3 cup butter, melted

Directions:

1. in a large bowl, combine dry ingredients.  In a separate bowl (or in my case a 4 cup measuring cup) beat together the wet ingredients.  Keep these separate until ready to cook.

2. heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat.  You can test this by flicking water across the surface.  If it beads up and sizzles, then it's good to go.

3. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture, using a wooden spoon or a fork to blend.  Stir until just blended together.  Do not over stir.  (It's okay if it's lumpy)

4. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle (approximately 1/2 cup per pancake).  Let cook until bubbles pop and don't refill and the edges start to cook.

5. Flip and brown side two.  I usually have my oven heated to about 200 degrees F with a cookie sheet on it to keep the finished pancakes warm until all the rest of breakfast is done.

Now, as I said earlier, I have made these three times.  The first two times were with liquid buttermilk and they turned out great.  The recipe states that the recipe requires fresh buttermilk, but I thought I'd try it with some other stuff I keep on hand.

And, yes... I took that picture while the container was inside my refrigerator.

 Basically this is a powdered buttermilk.  It works great for buttermilk biscuits and probably any other oven baked breads.  It worked okay in these pancakes.  You use 4 tablespoons of this to a cup of water to make a cup of buttermilk.  If you look at the picture of the dry ingredients, the yellower powder is this buttermilk powder.  The wet ingredients had three cups of water instead of the butter milk that the recipe asked for.  

I guess the problem with using this was that the batter wasn't as thick as it was when I used fresh buttermilk.  It affected the consistency of the pancakes.  They weren't bad by any means.  They just weren't as light and fluffy.  I ended up adding more flour to the mixture to make it thicker.  Once the additional flour was in there, they worked great.  

I think next time I try them, I'll add another 1/2 cup of flour at the beginning and see how it works.  If it's still not right, I'll probably just stick to using the powdered stuff in baked goods and get a quart of buttermilk when I want to make these pancakes.

And as a side note, these are great as a dessert too.  Just pop the leftover pancake in the toaster and spread some nutella on it.  My husband says that they're dangerous that way.

"Sweet Potato Shepherds Pie"

The title of this is in quotes because there will be some purists who may find this and state that Shepherds Pie is only made with lamb and mashed potatoes, and if it's made with ground beef, it's Cottage Pie.  I like calling this Shepherds Pie because most people I know are familiar with the dish, and may not be familiar with Cottage Pie.

Anyway.

A few weeks ago, my husband found a recipe in a newspaper at work.  He took pictures and texted them to me with a request to make it.  It didn't seem difficult (and I have made Shepherds Pie and Cottage Pie before, so I knew the basics), so this week, it was added to the meal planning.  I tweaked the recipe a little bit.  Rather than type out the original recipe and the changes I made, I'm just going to post my updated version.  The original recipe can be found here.

So, without any other rambling, on to the recipe.

Sweet Potato and Sausage Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients:

• 2 Sweet Potatoes (I used large ones)
• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 5-6 cloves of garlic, grated
• 1 medium to large yellow onion, diced
• 3 ribs celery, chopped
• 3 carrots sliced (I used a handful of baby carrots)
• 1/2 pound Italian sausage (I used 3 mild sausage links)
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper (I eyeballed fresh ground pepper)
• 1 bottle stout or other dark beer (we had Guinness in the house, so I used that)
• 1 cup or so frozen sweet peas
• 1 1/2-2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 3 Tbsp cool water
• 1 - 8.25 ounce can creamed corn
• 1 cup frozen corn (again, I eyeballed this)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 Tbsp butter/margarine
• 1 Tbsp packed brown sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray/lightly oil your baking dish of choice and set aside.

Place chopped sweet potatoes in a pot and cover with water (covering potatoes by approximately 1").  Bring to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes, or until soft.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, combine olive oil, onion, celery, and carrots over medium high heat.  Saute for about 4 minutes, then grate in garlic and continue sauteing another minute.  Add the ground beef and sausage.  Cook until meat has browned and is cooked through (about 8 minutes)

Add beer and peas.  Simmer until liquid has reduced by half (4-6 minutes or so).

In a small glass bowl, mix the cornstarch and the water to make a slurry.  Add this mixture to the skillet and stir until thickened (this should be a very quick thing).  Remove from heat and pour this mixture into the bottom of your baking dish of choice evenly.

Mix the can of creamed corn with the frozen corn and layer this evenly on top of the meat mixture and set aside while you finish up the sweet potatoes.

Once the sweet potatoes have cooked, drain them and return them to the pot.  Add the butter, brown sugar and half of the milk.  Mash this all together and add more milk as needed to make it as smooth as you'd like.  (I ended up using about a half cup of milk.)  Season with salt to taste.

Spread this evenly over the corn layer.

Bake for 35 minutes or until potatoes are lightly browned at the edges.

I put a sheet pan on the shelf directly below this to catch any overflow.  It turned out to be a smart thing to do.

Hubby and I really enjoyed this dish.  I think next time I'll leave out the creamed corn and just add the corn to the meat mixture.  Hubby doesn't like creamed corn anyway and I'm not sure it really added that much to the recipe.

I was a little concerned about the sauce flavor when I was making this.  All the other recipes I've used called for Worcestershire Sauce, but this just used the beer.  I'm not a beer drinker (my husband always tells me I don't like anything good), but the flavor in this sauce was really good.  It didn't need the Worcestershire Sauce in my opinion. 

Please try this and let me know how it comes out for you.

Thanks and Happy Eating!

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

My husband needed to get some cash out one day, and he only needed to get $10.  I can't remember if it was for quarters to do laundry or for something else, but that's besides the point.  Usually if we need less than $20, we go to the store and get something that we needed anyway and get the cash back option. 

This particular day, my husband brought home strawberries since they were on sale.  I didn't want to just cut them up.  I felt like doing something special with them, so I decided to try my hand at Chocolate Covered Strawberries. 

After a small amount of research online, I confirmed the basics and started the experiment.  I had two bags of chocolate chips in the pantry.  They were supposed to go towards making chocolate chip cookie dough to keep in the freezer, but I hadn't made that yet, so their purpose got shifted.  I decided to use my dark chocolate chips because my husband and I generally prefer dark chocolate over milk chocolate.

I washed the strawberries, patted them with paper towels and set them on my cooling rack to finish drying.  If you get water in your melted chocolate, it can cause the chocolate to seize up and it won't be as smooth and pretty.  It also won't stick to the berries as well.

Once they were completely dry, I set them on a paper towel lined plate until I was ready to dip.  You want the strawberries to be at room temperature for this as well.  Aren't they pretty?

I started out by putting some water in a pan and placing a glass bowl over the water (not touching it) with about 1/2 bag of chocolate chips in it.  Essentially I created a double boiler.  As you heat the water to a boil and stir, the chocolate chips start to melt.

You keep this up until the chocolate is almost fully melted (You don't want to overheat the chocolate).  I took it off the pan of simmering water and let the last little bits finish melting under it's own heat until it was nice and smooth.

You can also melt chocolate chips in the microwave, but I've found that it's a lot easier to burn your chocolate if you aren't being very careful.

I had a baking sheet lined with wax paper already prepared.  So the next step was dipping.  This step is kind of self explanatory.  You just take hold of the top of the berry and dip it in the chocolate.  Once it's covered to your satisfaction, give it a little shake to help the chocolate make its way into the little nooks and crannies where the seeds are (and sometimes it will get rid of any excessive chocolate... if there is such a thing), then lay it on the wax paper lined cookie sheet.

At this point you can put them in the fridge (or in the freezer for a shorter time) and allow the chocolate to set up.  I went one step further though.  I also had some white chocolate chips left over from the last time I made white chocolate chip and cranberry scones.  So I thought I'd melt some of that up and make my strawberries a little fancier.

Because I didn't need a lot, I didn't use the double boiler method to melt these.  I used the microwave.  I wasn't exactly successful with that.  I didn't really fail either.  I'm not sure if I had the wrong technique, or if there's something about white chocolate that makes it melt differently than regular chocolate.  The white chocolate seemed to start melting, but it went straight from "almost melted and thick" to grainy.  The grainy version still tasted like white chocolate, so I added a little almond milk and that seemed to do the trick.  The white chocolate grains seemed to melt/dissolve into the almond milk and thin out enough for me to drizzle the mixture onto the strawberries.  I just used a fork to make messy drizzles.  If you wanted to make them nice and neat, you could always spoon this mixture into a bag, cut a corner, and use it like a icing bag.

See?  Messy. 

After this was done, I put my strawberries into the freezer (mainly because I didn't have any room for a full tray of anything in the fridge) for no more than 10 minutes.  That seemed to be plenty of time for the chocolate to harden back up.

I left them out on the counter until we were ready for dessert.  They can be eaten cold or at room temperature.  They're good either way.  It's best if you eat them the same day that you make them.  If you can't eat them all, store them in the fridge.  We had a few that we didn't eat.  I packed them up so that we could take them with us to work the following day.  They were still good, but it seemed like the chocolate (or more specifically the sugar in the chocolate) pulled some of the juices out of the berries and trapped them in the chocolate shell.  While this isn't really a bad thing, I can see how it could be worse if you didn't eat them quickly.

All in all it was a successful experiment and a yummy one.

Try it... it's not that hard.

Thanks and happy eating.

Ginger Veggie Stir Fry

So, as I stated 2 posts ago, I was making the Ginger Veggie Stir Fry that came in the last packet from Linda.  You can find the recipe on this post.

For the record (and because you'll see by the pictures), I don't really measure my vegetables.  So when the recipe calls for a cup of this and a cup of that, I just chop whatever amount looks good to me.  With this in mind, I did bump up the amounts used in the sauce as well.  And I ended up having to cook the veggies in two different pans.  One non stick skillet and one wok.

Before I started chopping veggies, I mixed up what was going to be the sauce and set it aside.  I made sure that I mixed all the cornstarch in so that it wouldn't be lumpy.  I also added the spices into this mix so that they had time to infuse their flavors into the sauce mix as well.  I don't know how much more flavor it added if any, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

I also decided to add meat to this dist (because my husband likes meat in the meal, though he also asked if I was going to make rice with this and I told him I wasn't because it had sweet potatoes in it).  I cooked up some kielbasa while I chopped up the first round of veggies and used the fat/oil that resulted to stir fry the veggies.  After the sausage was browned, I pulled it out and set it aside to add back in at the end.

Because of the amount of veggies I was using, and because I only have one larger cutting board for this purpose, I had to cut the veggies in two patches.  I cut the broccoli, carrots and trimmed the snap peas first.

Once the first round was cooking up in the wok (as per the directions), I chopped the onion and the sweet potatoes.  I purchased the non-orange sweet potatoes.  I've read conflicting things about what the difference was between sweet potatoes and yams.  I've always thought of the orange variety as yams and the white-ish as sweet potatoes.

By the time I was done peeling and chopping the sweet potatoes, he green veggies were looking pretty good.

I added the onions and sweet potatoes and realized that my wok was too full to really stir the veggies, so I split the mixture into another skillet.  Once the sweet potatoes were tender, I tossed everything back into the same pan, added the sausage and the sauce mixture and let that cook until it thickened up and coated everything.

The sauce helped pack the veggies down a little bit too.  My husband wasn't too sure about the choice of kielbasa in this, but I wanted something with it's own distinct flavor, and chicken just wasn't going to cut it for me.  I kind of liked the combination and after dinner, my husband admitted that it was pretty good too.

Since then, I have made one other stir fry, but that one I did with a bunch of veggies I had to use up (I had some older carrots, some broccoli stems and some celery), stir fried some chicken and made up some rice to go with it.  I needed leftover rice for a dish later on in the week.

I should be getting on here more often to post.  Lately my work schedule has been weird and my days off have been split up which makes it hard to have a day to just do things that I want to do because I'm always taking care of little things around the house or running errands.  However, I have finally been offered a full time position and that comes with a set rotation, where my days off are together for 3 of the 4 weeks in the month.  As of right now, I have a list of 17 more things to share in the blog and that's not counting all the new things that I'm trying to do as well.  So I'll have plenty to share.

Thanks and happy eating!

Meal Planning: Fresh tortellini with asparagus, peas and mint

So, I've been thinking about this for a while, and I've finally implemented it.  I've started to plan my dinners two weeks at a time.  There are a few reasons for this.  I want to try new things and if I plan them out, then it's a little easier.  I can also plan more difficult things on days that I have off and easier things one days I work late.  If I close, I plan to have my husband cook.

For these first two weeks, it's been mostly new things and it's been fun.  I hope to post some of the new recipes I've tried over the next few days.  These recipes have allowed me to try new things as well.

Anyway.  Today is St. Patrick's day and while I was planning the dinners, I did not even think about this fact.  However, the meal that I planned for today did work out with the theme.  It was not corned beef and cabbage.  I'm not a big fan of cabbage, though one of this week's recipes did use a lot of cabbage.  Tonight's recipe came from the April/May 2012 issue of Fine Cooking.

Fresh Tortellini with Asparagus, Peas, and Mint

(This was the picture from the magazine... I don't have a fancy platter to make it look pretty)

Kosher salt
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1/8 tsp. cayenne
1 lb. fresh cheese tortellini
1 lb. asparagus, trimmed of tough, woody stems, and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces (leave the tips whole)
1 cup shelled fresh peas (or thawed frozen peas)
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh mint
2 oz. fresh goat cheese, softened
Freshly ground black pepper

 

 

In a 6-quart covered pot, bring 3 quarts well-salted water to a boil over high heat.
In a large bowl, combine the olive oil, garlic, cayenne, and 1/2 tsp. salt.
Cook the tortellini, asparagus, and peas in the boiling water until the tortellini is al dente, 2 to 3 minutes.

Reserve 1 cup of the cooking water, then drain the pasta and vegetables and toss with the garlic-oil mixture. Add  the pine nuts, mint, and  goat cheese and stir until the cheese melts into a sauce, adding cooking water as needed to moisten the pasta. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper and serve.

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In addition to this, I sliced a chicken breast and cooked it with a little salt, pepper and cayenne.  This was fairly quick and easy to throw together.  

I did forget to save the cooking liquid though.  I guess there was enough left in the pot for the recipe when I realized I was dumping it all down the drain .

Before this recipe, I had never had pine nuts and I had never had goat cheese.  I enjoyed the dish.  It was different.  Here are my pictures.  It came out similar to the magazine picture.

Linda's Herb and Spice World Tour Part 3: Ginger

I really do love this project that Linda and Lilly are doing.  I enjoy getting the spices and herbs and the new recipes that come with them.  I have already made one recipe that came in this month's packet twice and will be making the second recipe tomorrow.

Ginger

Zingiber officinale
syn: Amomum zingiber
Fam: Zingiberaceae

Ginger is native to India and China. It takes its name from the Sanskrit word stringa-vera, which means “with a body like a horn”, as in antlers. Ginger has been important in Chinese medicine for many centuries, and is mentioned in the writings of Confucius. It is also named in the Koran, the sacred book of the Moslems, indicating it was known in Arab countries as far back as 650 A.D. It was one of the earliest spice known in Western Europe, used since the ninth century. It became so popular in Europe that it was included in every table setting, like salt and pepper. A common article of medieval and Renaissance trade, it was one of the spices used against the plague. In English pubs and taverns in the nineteenth century, barkeepers put out small containers of ground ginger, for people to sprinkle into their beer — the origin of ginger ale. In order to ’gee up’ a lazy horse, it is the time honoured practice of Sussex farmers to apply a pinch of ginger to the animal’s backside..

Spice Description

Although often called “ginger root” it is actually a rhizome. It is available in various forms, the most common of which are as follows:

Whole raw roots are generally referred to as fresh ginger. A piece of the rhizome, called a ‘hand’. It has a pale yellow interior and a skin varying in colour from brown to off-white. Jamaican ginger, which is pale buff, is regarded as the best variety. African and Indian ginger is darker skinned and generally inferior, with the exception of Kenya ginger.

Whole fresh roots provide the freshest taste. The roots are collected and shipped when they are still immature, the outer skin is a light green colour. These can sometimes be found in Oriental markets.

Dried roots are sold either ‘black’ with the root skin left on, or ‘white’ with the skin peeled off. The dried root is available whole or sliced.

Powdered ginger is the buff-coloured ground spice made from dried root.

Preserved or ‘stem’ ginger is made from fresh young roots, peeled and sliced, then cooked in a heavy sugar syrup. The ginger pieces and syrup are canned together. They are soft and pulpy, but extremely hot and spicy.

Crystallized ginger is also cooked in sugar syrup, then air dried and rolled in sugar.

Pickled ginger has the root sliced paper-thin and pickled in a vinegar solution. This pickle is known in Japan as gari , which often accompanies sushi, and is served to refresh the palate between courses.

Bouquet: warm, sweet and pungent.
Flavour: Fiery and pungent
Heat Scale: 7

Preparation and Storage

In Asian cooking ginger is almost always used fresh, either minced, crushed or sliced. Fresh ginger can be kept for several weeks in the salad drawer of the refrigerator. Dried ginger should be ‘bruised’ by beating it to open the fibers, then infused in the cooking or making ginger beer and removed when the flavour is sufficient. Store dried and powdered ginger in airtight containers.

Culinary Uses

Fresh ginger is essential to Asian and oriental cookery. It is used in pickles, chutneys and curry pastes and the ground dried root is a constituent of many curry powders. Tender young ginger can be sliced and eaten as a salad. Sometimes the roots will produce green sprouts which can be finely chopped and added to a green salad. In the West, dried ginger is mainly used in cakes and biscuits, especially ginger snaps and gingerbread. Ginger is also used in puddings, jams, preserves and in some drinks like ginger beer, ginger wine and tea. Pickled ginger is a delicious accompaniment to satays and a colourful garnish to many Chinese dishes. Preserved ginger is eaten as a confection, chopped up for cakes and puddings, and is sometimes used as an ice cream ingredient.

Attributed Medicinal Properties

Ginger has long been ascribed aphrodisiac powers, taken either internally or externally. It is mentioned in the Karma Sutra, and in the Melanesian Islands of the South Pacific it is employed ‘to gain the affection of a woman’. Conversely, in the Philippines it is chewed to expel evil spirits. Ginger is a known diaphoretic, meaning it causes one to sweat. It was recorded that Henry VIII instructed the mayor of London to use ginger’s diaphoretic qualities as a plague medicine.

Ginger is most commonly known for its effectiveness as a digestive aid. By increasing the production of digestive fluids and saliva, Ginger helps relieve indigestion, gas pains, diarrhea and stomach cramping. The primary known constituents of Ginger Root include gingerols, zingibain, bisabolenel, oleoresins, starch, essential oil (zingiberene, zingiberole, camphene, cineol, borneol), mucilage, and protein. Ginger root is also used to treat nausea related to both motion sickness and morning sickness. Ginger has been found to be even more effective than Dramamine® in curbing motion sickness, without causing drowsiness. Ginger's anti-inflammatory properties help relieve pain and reduce inflammation associated with arthritis, rheumatism and muscle spasms. Ginger's therapeutic properties effectively stimulate circulation of the blood, removing toxins from the body, cleansing the bowels and kidneys, and nourishing the skin. Other uses for Ginger Root include the treatment of asthma, bronchitis and other respiratory problems by loosening and expelling phlegm from the lungs. Ginger Root may also be used to help break fevers by warming the body and increasing perspiration.

Ginger Nutella Brownies

(I have made these twice... and probably would have been a third time, but I'm out of cinnamon)

1 cup tub margarine, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup dark cocoa powder
2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tbls non fat plain yogurt
1/4 cup Nutella

Combine the melted butter, sugar, vanilla, and both cocoa powders.  Beat in the eggs.  Add in flour, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. Fold in the Nutella and yogurt.

Pour into greased 9x9 pan and bake at 350 for about 35-40 minutes, or until done.

Ginger Veggie Stir-Fry

(Making this tomorrow)

1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 medium carrot, julienned
1 cup fresh broccoli florets
1 cup fresh green beans (2-inch pieces)
2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
1 cup sweet potato, julienned
1 cup thinly sliced red onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

In a small bowl, combine cornstarch, orange juice and soy sauce until smooth; set aside. 
In a large skillet or wok, stir-fry carrot, broccoli and beans in oil for 8 minutes. Add sweet potato and onion; stir-fry until vegetables are crisp-tender.

Stir the soy sauce mixture; add to the skillet with garlic, rosemary, ginger, and pepper flakes if desired. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1 minute or until thickened. 

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For the stir fry I will be swapping out green beans for snap peas (I seem to be having trouble finding fresh green beans at the produce store, and I think snap peas will work well).

I made one batch of the brownies for my husband and I.  He really liked them and they were having a bake sale for charity at his work, so he asked me to make them again for that.  There was only one left at the end of the day.  He said they were a hit at work.  

I could not find dark cocoa powder, so I just used regular for that.  I also used regular butter, and low fat vanilla yogurt (the only nonfat plain I could find was in quart sized tubs).  And to be honest, I liked them a little better when they weren't warm.  When they first came out of the oven I was exited to have the warm brownie.  I loved the spice in the batter, but when the brownie was fresh out of the oven and warm, the spice got a little lost.  It was more pronounced once the brownies were fully cooled (room temperature).  

I should also note that if you're expecting a texture similar to brownies out of a box, these will not give you that.  They were a little more on the cakey side.

Enjoy!

Tools of the Trade: My beloved Mixer

I'm sure you recognize this picture from my Mmmm... Bread post.  Only I posted it in a smaller format at the time because it wasn't the star of the post.  It was just a tool in the bread making process.

Today I wanted to talk a bit about my mixer because it is such an important part of my kitchen.  (And I figured that a post or two about the tools that I use in my culinary learning process wouldn't be a bad thing.)

Growing up, my mother had a KitchenAid Stand Mixer and it was used frequently.  She still has it, though I'm not sure how often she uses it. 

When I finally got around to enjoying the art of cooking (rather than feel like it was just one more chore), I wanted to get myself one.  One year I pooled birthday gift money and purchased this model in Imperial Gray.  I liked the Imperial Gray color because it was not a gloss finish.  It was a slightly textured finish.  Not that the color or finish changes how it works, I just didn't want to feel like I had to clean hand or finger prints off the thing the whole time.

The basic unit comes with the stand motor, the bowl, a whisk, a beater and a dough hook.  The bowl and whisk are stainless and super easy to clean.  The beater and the dough hook are enameled and also easy to clean.  I use the dough hook the most and the beater second. 

The machine itself is really easy to use too.  My husband (who isn't as comfortable in the kitchen as I am) can use it without any real instruction (and uses it when ever he makes pancakes).   And I love the many ways you can expand on it.  I'm sure you can do a search of all the different attachments available.  I currently have the pasta roller attachment kit, which comes with a sheet roller, and two different sized cutters.  I also have the meat grinder and sausage stuffer attachments.  The meat grinder will be making an appearance in a future post.  I'll be making a breakfast sausage whenever I buy the stuff to make it (hopefully in the next two weeks or so).

The stand mixer is just one of those things that I love having, and I probably wouldn't be as successful in my adventuring without it.

I'm still in the process of rebuilding my kitchen toys.  A few years ago we moved from Delaware to California and I sold most of my kitchen stuff to cut down on moving costs (and because we were moving into my grandparents house to help them out, and they had a lot of kitchen things).  There are still things that I had that, if I had known I'd be rebuilding this soon, I would have kept.  As I acquire them and put them to use, you'll probably see more "Tools of the Trade" posts.

Until next time...

Thanks