Food and Recipe Blog » Kitchen Gadget Reviews

Amco Tomato Mozzarella Slicer: One Sharp Kitchen Gadget

Joi — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:07:17 +0000

I was recently sent a new kitchen gadget to review – which means I’ve been walking a little straighter, smiling a little more, and continually humming, “What a Wonderful World.”

Yeah, this gal loves kitchen gadgets.

The source of the humming this time around is the Amco Tomato Slicer. Ingenious!

We eat a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of tomatoes – year round, really, but never more so than during the summer. We eat the ones from our own garden and we buy regularly from local farmers’ trucks. Our farmers and their families feed our country and tend our land – the least we can do is buy from them on a regular basis.

We also love cheese in our home – so a Tomato Mozzarella Slicer was a perfect fit for our kitchen.

It’s fantastic! I’ve used it for red tomatoes, green tomatoes, and mozzarella. It keeps my hands clean and gives my knives a day off. Giving knives a vacation day is just a good managerial strategy – keeps them sharp, you know.

My oldest daughter (Emily) has a fierce allergy to touching tomatoes – her hands break out when she comes into contact with the juices. This kitchen gadget would be ideal for anyone with such an allergy. They could slice tomatoes for their family and give hydro-cortisone the day off as well.

The Tomato Mozzarella Slicer creates uniform, attractive tomato slices for sandwiches, burgers, and salads. It also allows you to slice green tomatoes perfectly for fried green tomatoes – a staple in my kitchen.

Here’s a fresh, quick, delicious, and easy recipe to try for a change of pace from traditional salads:

Quick & Easy Tomato Mozzarella Salad

Slice a couple of tomatoes and a ball of mozzarella. Lie them on a platter in an attractive manner – fanning them out mozzarella, tomato, mozzarella, tomato, etc. Then drizzle (or mist) lightly with extra virgin olive oil. Now, sprinkle fresh basil over the mozzarella and tomatoes. Outstanding!

This type of quick salad is as healthy as it is good – it adheres to the basics of the Mediterranean Diet, which is always a great way to eat. It’s perfect served alongside soup, spaghetti, lasagna, manicotti, or any Italian recipe you can think of. It also makes a healthy snack for watching television or playing games.

Product Description for this Kitchen Gadget

Slice tomatoes into uniform 1/4-inch thick slices with one easy motion. Create perfect slices every time for hamburgers, sandwiches, salads and more. Simply position tomato in holder, center slicing blades above tomato and press down. Slicer can even cut mozzarella for perfect caprese salad. ABS with stainless steel blades. By Amco. With unique, patented kitchen products Amco’s devotion to innovation has driven new industry standards and redefined categories. They continue to revolutionize the market with ingenious gadgets that simplify and enhance the culinary experience. With a team of in-house designers whose sole purpose is to conceptualize and design new kitchen tools, Amco continues to be at the forefront of innovative, efficient and timeless kitchenware products.

Head over to Amazon for a closer look and to order your’s today: Tomato Mozzarella Slicer

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Amco Tomato Mozzarella Slicer: One Sharp Kitchen Gadget

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Post tags: cheese, kitchen gadget reviews, Kitchen Gadgets, Mediterranean diet, mozzarella, tomatoes

New West KnifeWorks: What Makes These Knives So Special

Joi — Mon, 24 May 2010 16:49:17 +0000

New West KnifeWorks recently offered to send me one of their uncommonly gorgeous knives to review for Get Cooking. Since my knife collection isn’t very impressive (something I’m a little insecure about, actually), I jumped on their offer. When the box was delivered, I ripped into it like my husband would rip into a Vin Diesel movie.

When I took the Chef Knife out of it’s box, the ooooohing and ahhhhhing insued. I’m not accustomed to knives being so handsome. My collection, such as it is, consists of the standard, plain, we’re-here-to-cut-if-you-want-handsome-get-a-golden-retriever knives. The newcomer is an absolute stunner.

The knife I was sent is the Chef Knife (8 inch). Not only is he a looker, he’s making magic in my kitchen.

This time of year, I do a lot of slicing and dicing. Fresh vegetables, herbs, and fruit pass through our kitchen on a daily basis as I prepare them for vegetable salads, fruit salads, desserts, casseroles, and so on. Just this morning I came in with a bowl of fresh herbs from our herb bed that my New West Knife chopped up beautifully. Other knives have caused me to struggle a bit while preparing fresh herbs but the New West Chef knife went through the chives, thyme, rosemary, dill, cilantro, and stevia like the champ that it is.

When you do a lot of cooking – preparing your own herbs, vegetables, and fruits – your success will be only as good as the kitchen utensils, gadgets, and knives that you use. If you use second-rate gadgets in your kitchen, second-rate food will come out of your kitchen.

I love New West KnifeWorks motto, “Cooking is a fine art, the knife is the artists brush.” So true! I’d publicly like to thank them for reminding me how important knives are. As I said, I’d been neglecting my knife collection for awhile. So much so that I almost forgot what a difference a great knife makes.

Great knives, like the ones from New West KnifeWorks, make your work faster, easier, and more enjoyable. They also make for a better presentation. I made a huge tossed salad at lunch and the cucumbers, celery, carrots, peppers, and other vegetables were picture-perfect.

You absolutely HAVE to check out the magnificent knives at New West KnifeWorks. The knives are sold individually as well as in outstanding sets. You have to see these collections to believe them. With Father’s Day around the corner, you might want to consider these knives as a truly special gift for the man who cooks and grills. He’ll brag about them to everyone he knows!

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New West KnifeWorks: What Makes These Knives So Special

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Post tags: Kitchen Gadgets, knife review, knives, Reviews

Positively Ingenious Shopping Bag for Mothers

Joi — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 17:10:04 +0000

The Reisenthel Mother Child Shopping Bag (Red), above, is one of the most ingenious, clever, and downright adorable things I’ve seen in a while. I’m addicted to shopping bags because I’m addicted to the prospect of living green and saving our world and animals from the evils of plastic and wastefulness.

I’m addicted to straight-up adorable things because I’m a girly girl.

This Mother-Child shopping bag speaks to every corner of my heart. Available in 4 colors (red, sand, navy blue, and kiwi green), this would make an outstanding gift for any and all mothers you know.

Product Description:

Because the little ones are always proud to give the grown-ups a hand, the MotherChildBag by Reisenthel® is equipped with an extra handle to allow allow them to help Mom or Dad carry home the shopping. Another bonus? They’re so engrossed in the task that they stay close to their parents in jostling crowds.

Features:
• Safe shopping for parents and children
• Tear-proof polyester fabric
• With extra handle to grip and help carry
• Eye-catching front print
• 1 inner pocket with zip fastening
• 1 interior mobile phone storage pocket
• Bag can be slung over the shoulder with 2 long handles

Size: 17 1/3″tall x 17″wide

Reisenthel Mother Child Shopping Bag (Red)

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Positively Ingenious Shopping Bag for Mothers

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Post tags: green living, living green, Mother's Day gift ideas, shopping

Covermate Has You Covered: You’ll Love These

Joi — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:28:48 +0000

I was recently sent a box of Covermate Stretch to Fit Food Covers. The deal was for me to tell you about them if I liked them or found them to be useful.

How about this? I loved them and am wondering how I ever lived without them. So, yeah, I do believe I’ll tell you all about this ingenious way to deal with leftovers.

Picture it: You’ve covered the leftover Easter ham, Thanksgiving turkey, Christmas casserole, cupcakes, cookies, or buffalo wings with plastic wrap or foil. Each time you or a hungry loved one gets under the foil or wrap, it loses its grip a little bit more. It isn’t long before more of the leftovers are exposed than covered and all of your brilliant culinary craftsmanship goes right out the door. You swear up and down that the cupcakes were once moist, but watch as everyone washes down each bite with milk.

I’ve been using the Covermate Food Covers and the scenario above (or should I say the end to the scenario above) is what I love most about these stretch to fit covers. I also love that they’ll fit any shape of dish, plate, pan, or bowl.

Covermate covers allow you to easily cover plates and bowls of food. You simply stretch one of the clear covers over the dish and allow it to snap securely into place. Thanks to the brilliant built-in FlexBand™ technology, uncovering and re-covering are just as easy. So you won’t have to tell anyone that your cupcakes were once moist or that the wing’s weren’t dried out when you made them!

Another plus as spring and summer finally roll into the neighborhood – flies won’t be able to find a way into your food, after all they don’t care if the cupcakes are dry or not!

Covermates also keep your food fresher: They’re made from heavy-duty clear plastic material that is twice as thick as standard plastic wrap. A micro-sealed edge and FlexBand™ combine to form a tight hygienic seal around all dishware to keep food as fresh and fabulous as you want it to be.

I also just happen to love the way they look. SO chic.

My box is the Variety Pack which has had (told you I loved them!) 10 covers: 4 medium, 4 large, 2 extra large, and a bonus Small Can Cover – I used it on evaporated milk… washed it off and used it again on sweetened condensed milk. What is it with me and cans of milk?

If you head over to Covermate Covers.com, you can actually sign up for a free sample pack. Would it be tacky of me to do…. Oh, don’t look at me like that, I’m only sort of kidding. I will be checking my grocery store for these today, though. Oh, I almost forgot another favorite use: I always have a few bowls of dried fruit, candy, and nut combinations sitting around the house. I like to put covermate covers over them to keep our cat Alexa out of them – she loves to dig them out and swat them to the floor. I try reasoning with her, telling her how much cashews cost but she just doesn’t care.

Now Covermate has me and my cashews covered – and Alexa perplexed. Go grab your sample pack and look for these in your store!

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Covermate Has You Covered: You’ll Love These

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Steak Fajitas, Guacamole, Shrimp Fajitas, and More Guacamole

Joi — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 04:13:49 +0000

One of my beloved culinary gifts this past Christmas was from my daughter Brittany: Fajita Plate Set with Wood Tray and Hot Mit. I’ve used it, and loved it, quite a few times since December 25. In fact, if it hasn’t totally been used to death by December 25, 2010, it’ll be a miracle. Love it! Before the meal (about 20 minutes before plating begins), I place the fajita iron skillet in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Then, when the meat and/or vegetables go onto the skillet, their moisture cause a heavenly sizzle that I’ve become somewhat infatuated with.

For supper tonight, I made steak fajitas and shrimp fajitas (indecision often leads to a varied meal and always leads to a large grocery bill). I also made guacamole, of course, and a tossed lettuce and cilantro salad. I made a dressing for the salad by using avocados, lime juice, salt, and sour cream.

I marinated the strips of skillet steak for an hour. I would have preferred skirt steak, but Kroger didn’t play along with that game plan, so I compromised a wee bit.

Here’s the marinade I used:
4 TBS vegetable oil
3 TBS freshly squeezed lime juice
dash of salt
dash of pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder

I added sliced onions and whole garlic cloves to the ziploc bag along with the meat and marinade. In hindsight, I wish I’d added more garlic cloves – they wore the marinade beautifully PLUS garlic is ridiculously good for you. Oh yeah, should have added more.

After an hour, I cooked the meat, onions, and too few garlic cloves on my George Foreman grill (which needs to be replaced with a new one, by the way). When the steak strips were just the way I wanted them, I transferred the whole shebang to a dish and covered it with Reynold’s 100 % Recycled Aluminum Foil (GREAT STUFF! 4 Stars out of 4 Stars). I put it on the stove to keep it warm.

I thawed some beautiful big, juicy, tailless cocktail shrimp and tossed it with lime juice and a little bit of seasoning – Mrs. Dash Extra Spicy Seasoning Blend. When the laid back Mrs. Dash gets all spicy, it’s a beautiful thing. The shrimp cooked really fast, so I didn’t leave its side for a minute. Again, with the Reynold’s 100 % Recycled Aluminum Foil (again, I love this environmentally friendly foil).

Finally, I sauteed an onion and three beautiful bell peppers in a few tablespoons of vegetable oil – one red, one yellow, and one green. I didn’t allow them to get too tender, as I always want them to show up to the party sort of crispy tender. While they were making the kitchen smell like a Mexican kitchen in Heaven, I warmed the flour tortilla shells in the oven – - – - wrapped in what? Yep. See why it’s so important to me that this foil is 100 % recycled – I use the heck out of it!

I carefully… oh so carefully….. removed the fajita skillet as well as a larger iron skillet that was impersonating a fajita skillet from the oven. Then I put the shrimp and some of the pepper and onion blend onto the fajita skillet. Sizzzzzle! Then, I did the same with the steak strips and the rest of the pepper mixture – I poured them into the large iron skillet. Sizzzzzle!!!!!

While we’re at it, something else you’ll want to invest in before you make another Mexican-inspired meal is a Tortilla Warmer (pictures above). They’re perfect for keeping your tortillas perfectly warm and soft. Before Britt hooked me up with all of these wonderfully perfect accessories, I just assumed soft, warm tortillas were something you could only get in a true, authentic Mexican restaurant. Ha! I can have them anytime I want now in my own kitchen. For some reason… the type of reason only Alton Brown could explain… tortillas keep their personality much more intact with a tortilla warmer than they do with anything else.

If you don’t have a fajita skillet or a tortilla warmer, please repent and see the error of your ways. Furthermore, you must try the Reynold’s 100% Recycled Aluminum Foil – it’s brilliant!

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Steak Fajitas, Guacamole, Shrimp Fajitas, and More Guacamole

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Iron Chef America Bamboo Steamer

Joi — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 04:09:29 +0000

Tonight for supper I made fish, shrimp cocktails, boiled baby carrots in a buttery dill and rosemary sauce, and steamed vegetables. I arranged a combination of red peppers, squash, wax beans, mushroom caps, red onion slices, and celery into each layer of my beloved bamboo steamer and steamed the vegetables until they were a tender crisp.

I added some bay leaves to the water in the pot below and the entire kitchen smelled amazing. Fortunately, the vegetables tasted just as good as my nose told me they would.

If you don’t have a bamboo steamer yet, I urge you to buy one this week. I have two electric steamers and 1 bamboo steamer. I haven’t used either of the electric ones since the bamboo steamer moved in. It’s love! Steaming vegetables is a wonderfully healthy way to cook…. and oh so classy.

The Iron Chef America 12-in. Bamboo Bamboo Steamer at the top of the post is from Cooking.com.

Features:
Iron Chef is an innovative cooking competition from from Japan. Originally produced by Fuji TV, Iron Chef combined the excitement of a one on one sports competition with gourmet cooking. The title Iron Chef comes from the original Japanese title, Ironmen of Cooking. The bamboo steamer is made from all natural bamboo with an authentic handmade Chinese design. The double-woven lid allows the steam to hover in the top while the bottom keeps the vegetables from soaking in water. One of the healthiest methods of cooking, steaming allows for the foods natural oils and flavors to be released so that no oils are needed.

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Iron Chef America Bamboo Steamer

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