Oneida is a respected name brand in dinnerware. I own two sets of Oneida dinnerware, one for formal and the other for everyday use. However, I didn't realize that they also market kitchenware under their brand name.
Did you know that there is an a line of Oneida Kitchen Gadgets? Yes! They have everything from knives and cutting boards, whisks, measuring spoons, potato mashers to peelers? Visit the Oneida.com website and you'll find out that they also carry cutlery, bakeware, roasters and serving tools. For branded items, the prices on their gadgets are quite reasonable and comparable to other brands.
I was astounded, when I was looking through their roasters, how affordable their prices are. Then I realized that they were all on sale! They are all discounted by about 30%, just in time for your holiday cooking or gift giving. I think the best deal I found on the site is a set of 3 graduated mixing bowls with lids, on sale for 11.99. That's a pretty good deal, don't you think? That's less that what you would pay at discount retailers.
Of course, the beautiful dinnerware and flatware are there too, they are after all, what brought Oneida to the forefront of kitchenware brands.
When asked what is the most important feature in a kitchen, them most popular answer will most likely be the stove. Few will mention the kitchen sink. It is the step child of the kitchen, often taken for granted and ignored. But think about how often you use it and how important it is that you have just the right type of sink to accommodate your needs.
Me, I have always been partial to double sinks. I like the divided sink rather than the one wide tub. I also prefer porcelain to stainless steel; but I never thought to even consider a Granite Kitchen Sink. Who knew! It just seemed like such an extravagant idea to even consider.
That is, until I ran across the MR Direct website which sells kitchen sinks at affordable wholesale prices. They recently added granite sinks to their product line and they are serious about their claim of having 'affordable wholesale prices'. I could not believe you could buy a granite sink for under $300 dollars!
According to their website, the granite sinks are made using natural and environmentally friendly materials. They are manufactured so that they repel most bacteria on their surfaces, and as most granite fans know, granite is stain proof and scratch resistant. MR direct also offers a lifetime warranty and they can ship on the same day.
I think a feel a kitchen re-do coming on. Don't you?
Our little backyard garden has been doing well and we've again been enjoying the bounties of summer but, even with us sharing our harvest with family and friends, we still end up with a welcomed surplus. I'm not that big on canning (I've exploded one or two jars before) so I tend to freeze a lot of vegetables. I want to share a few tips I've learned from experience and from the web on freezing vegetables and food in general.
Cool Before Freezing - This applies to cooked food and some vegetables that need to be blanched first before freezing. Make sure they are totally cool before sticking them in the freezer. As explained below, moisture causes ice to form on the outside of the food you're freezing that in turn causes freezer burn. It's that frozen taste you occasionally get when eating previously frozen food. Well when you don't cool your food down all the way before freezing, it causes it to sweat in the freezer thus creating the icy crystals. Plus, when you put warm things in the freezer, it works harder to stay cool and uses up more energy.
Packaging - to avoid ice crystals and thus freezer burn, try to use packaging that will eliminate as much air as possible. The thicker freezer bags work well in protecting your food from icing up. Another technique is to double up your wrappers. Wrapping up first in plastic, taking out as much air as you can, then wrapping again with foil really keeps out any moisture that can cause icing.
Some ziplok freezer bags now come with the gadget to suck all the air out.
Pack Thin - I used to cram as much food in a ziplok bag as I can thinking this would eliminate the extra space where air and moisture can form. But when it came time to use the food, it was either too much for my use or too hard to defrost. It's better to freeze your food in the servings that you're going to use. There's five of us so my portions are larger than for a household of 2 or 3. And rather than just throwing a lumpy bag in the freezer, lay them out in cookie sheets first then stick them in the freezer. After they harden, you can just stack them up in one corner, saving space and utilizing the space that you have more efficiently.
Label - You may think you'll remember that the green stuff is greens and you just might and that's all good and well. But what if you have collard greens, and mustard greens and kale and chard, and so on? How are you going to tell them apart then? The best way is to label all your packages. I usually write down what's in the bag and the date that I put it in the freezer. That way, I'll know to use the older ones first before the newer ones.
If you're organized enough (which I'm not), you can also keep a list outside of the freezer. Either taped to the front of it or in a notebook nearby, list the contents of your freezer that way you won't have to go riffling through the whole freezer looking for something you swear you froze but forgot that you already ate it. Not that it ever happened to me, mind you.
Visit our other blogs:
Amoores.com
Cooked from the Heart - our new food blog
Our New Backyard - garden & photo blog
Found Not Lost - about all the things we 'find' worth talking about
Do you have an open box of baking soda in the refrigerator because someone told you that it will absorb unpleasant odors? According to this article, Baking Soda is not very effective at eliminating odors. A more effective solution would be to put a container of activated charcoal in your refrigerator.
Note that I said 'activated charcoal' so don't go dragging the briquettes from the grill. Activated Charcoal is charcoal that has been treated with oxygen.
According to Encylopedia Britannica:
The use of special manufacturing techniques results in highly porous charcoals that have surface areas of 300-2,000 square metres per gram. These so-called active, or activated, charcoals are widely used to adsorb odorous or coloured substances from gases or liquids.
The word adsorb is important here. When a material adsorbs something, it attaches to it by chemical attraction. The huge surface area of activated charcoal gives it countless bonding sites. When certain chemicals pass next to the carbon surface, they attach to the surface and are trapped.
Where to get it: My husband uses activated charcoals in the filters for his aquariums so I know you can buy activated charcoals from pet stores. If you check at the water filters section of the hardware store, they will probably have them too.
source: How Stuff Works
Visit our new blogs:
Amoores.com
Cooked from the Heart - our new food blog
Our New Backyard - garden & photo blog
Found Not Lost - about all the things we 'find' worth talking about
I went and bought two turkeys today. They were on sale at the grocery store for $0.39/pound. So a 14 pound turkey came out to just a little over $5. The two turkeys I bought? Less than $12. Great deal, eh? I just love running into these types of deals and I just love my deep freezer!
Another great deal going on right now is this 8 piece Basic Essentials Roaster, perfect for roasting not just turkeys but also pork, beef and whole chicken. For a limited time only (11/5 to 11/8) you can get this roaster for $4.99 after $10 mail-in rebate. I have one that I bought at Sears a while back and it's still going strong. I'll be putting it to good use in a couple of weeks when I cook our Thanksgiving turkey. Buy good quality cookware and you'll have them for many years and many uses to come.
Right now, Sears is having a great Cookware and Bakeware Sale. It's a perfect time to pick up something special on your holiday gift list. Sears carries only high quality brand names such as Braun, Kenmore, Cuisinart, Oster, etc. Items such as blenders, juicers, coffee makers, mixers, toasters and more would also make a perfect hostess gift for the holiday parties you plan to attend.
I for one would love to pick up some more baking gadgets especially cake pans and cookie pans to complement my attempts at learning to bake more than my usual chocolate chip cookies. Ever since I joined the Daring Bakers I have been stretching the baking limits of my kitchen. I really need to stock up soon. Or maybe I'll just make a wish list and hope someone takes advantage of the pre-holiday sales.
We all know of the evils of freezer burns and we all wish we had those hundred dollar gadgets that sucks all the air out of bags before we put them in the freezer; but for most of us it's either too expensive or we don't have enough kitchen space for another appliance.
I just saw the Ziploc® Brand Vacuum Freezer System
Visit our new blogs:
Amoores.com
Cooked from the Heart - our new food blog
Our New Backyard - garden & photo blog
Found Not Lost - about all the things we 'find' worth talking about
This Waste-Not-Want-Not Chopping board may soon be coming to a store near you. Isn't it cool? On one side is a catcher for waste and on the other side is a container for what you're going to keep. This is one of those things that make you say, "Now why didn't I think of that?"
I mean I've done this with my cutting board numerous times. I'd put one container on one side for the scraps and on the other side, another container for the things I'm keeping. why didn't I think of designing something like this?
This chopping board with magnetic side catchers is designed by UK-based designer Peter D'Alessandro.
Visit our new blogs:
Amoores.com
Cooked from the Heart - our new food blog
Our New Backyard - garden & photo blog
Found Not Lost - about all the things we 'find' worth talking about
Last night though, as I was whipping up some sweet potato pie, I pulled out my heirloom hand mixer and all I got was a low drone. No spin, just a dying whimper. So, to add to my growing list of appliances, great and small, that needs to be replaced, I add this KitchenAid Professional Hand Mixer.
Product Features:
* Nine digital speeds, 7-1/2 inches long by 6-1/2 inches high
* Pro whisk attachment increases air for fluffier mixtures
* Comfort-designed handle; heel rest won't tip when set on end
* Powerful lightweight motor designed for quiet, lifelong operation
* Wipes off for easy cleaning
It also has gotten great reviews from other buyers so I'm pretty confident about this choice. I think I'm going to try and hold out for it to go on sale though. At $59.99, it is still pretty expensive for me. The holiday sales are going to be coming on soon and I think I'll get a better deal then.
Visit our new blogs:
Amoores.com
Cooked from the Heart - our new food blog
Our New Backyard - garden & photo blog
Found Not Lost - about all the things we 'find' worth talking about
I'm always muttering about how things come just when you need them. So how apropos is it that this beautiful baking set comes to me just when I joined the Daring Bakers? This was my birthday present from my sister this year. How awesome is that? I had a set from Tupperware that is over fifteen years old. The rolling mat is so scarred from all the cutting done on it, it's starting to dry out on the edges, and it was starting to get that old plastic, gummy feel to it. Same thing with the measuring cups.
I was really excited to get this set. That rolling mat is just awesome. It didn't move an inch the whole time I was using it to roll out my wonton wrappers. And that rolling pin? Man, that thing is deadly. It's professional heavy but rolls around like butter :)
I also like the metal measuring cups and bowls. I know I'll have them for more than 15 years. If those tupperware plastic cups can last that long, you know these will!
Calphalon Mixing Bowl Set 3-pc.
Calphalon Measuring Cup Set 4-pc.
Calphalon 16" X 24" Nonstick Rolling Mat
Calphalon Rolling Pin
Visit our new blogs:
Amoores.com
Cooked from the Heart - our new food blog
Our New Backyard - garden & photo blog
Found Not Lost - about all the things we 'find' worth talking about
The thing with food blogging is that you not only share your love of food, you also learn to present them attractively. Well I love food and I love anything and everything to do with them that's why blogging about food is perfect. However, presentation and photography is still a problem for me. For one, I don't have the proper tools. I need a better camera and I also need better dishes.
I don't like ornately decorated tableware, they just don't go well with our casual lifestyle. I tend to go for the modern and minimalist look. That's why when I saw this NewWave Caffe design line from Villeroy & Boch my imagination started running away from me. Oh the possibilities! We love coffees and teas so these gorgeous cups would be perfect for that, but with their beautiful lines, you almost can't relegate them to just coffee and tea! I'm thinking we can use these to serve soups for instance. My daughters have been into blended soups lately and these cups and saucers would be just the perfect serving pieces to showcase them, served with a piece of toasted garlic bread or crackers on the side. 
Can you just imagine this carrot soup in that mug, for instance? It looks downright pitiful now in that plain white bowl. How elegant it would be in that beautiful white mug. You can look downright professional presenting something as simple as this carrot soup. If you'd like to make it, here's all you have to do:
INGREDIENTS:
4 medium sized carrots, washed and chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large stem of celery, chopped
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
6 cups vegetable broth
Salt & Pepper to taste
Heat the Olive oil and saute’ the garlic and onions until they are fragrant. Add the carrots and celery and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Cook for fifteen minutes at a simmer until the carrots are soft. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Before serving, I used an immersion blender to puree the carrots and smooth out the soup. You can also use a regular blender to puree your soup. Just make sure you cover it loosely so that the heat won’t make the orangey soup explode all over your kitchen. Not like I’ve done that before or anything, I just heard it could do that.
If you like you can also swirl in some cream at the last minute, but the soup was great without the cream or the extra calories.
Check out the Villeroy & Boch website for the NewWave Caffe pattern and other equally elegant patterns for your next dinnerware purchase. If you order before the end of the month, you can get 50% off on the NewWave Caffe and NewWave Dinnerwares.
My husband loves antiques and anything old and I guess it's rubbed off on me some. My mother in law had an old stove that held great sentimental value for her because her first husband, my husband's father bought it for her. After she died, this stove was still in her house, left to the family to do what they will.
Unfortunately, all my husband's sisters didn't want it in their houses as they all have their preferred stove to go with their modern kitchens. It just didn't go with any of their decor. My husband and I would have loved to have it in our house, but we couldn't afford to restore it and so it sat in storage for the last couple of years.
But now, after paying storage fees for two years, the family has decided to let go some of these material things no matter how sentimental the value is. It just is no longer cost effective to keep hanging on to them. My husband took some things from storage and took them to local antique stores but of course they won't give you what the items are really worth. We've also posted some items on eBay, but as you know if you are an eBay user, the service to list items for sale is no longer free. You now have to pay a fee but still have to manage transactions and shipping. It's just something that none of us, with our day jobs and busy lives, have time to do.
If you are in the same situation as us, it may be worth checking to see if there is a iSold It near you. If you have a valuable item to sell but don't want the hassle of listing it yourself, consult with iSold It and they will appraise your item for you to get the highest price possible and they will do all the hard work. They will list it, handle the transactions and when your item is sold, you get a check! Easy and hassle free.
