Posts tagged as:

kitchen gadget reviews

Giada de Laurentiis Products from Target: Must Haves!

by Joi on August 16, 2010

Okay. I normally don’t make broad, sweeping statements (unless it plays something like, “Drink coffee, it makes you sexier,” which doesn’t really count because that’s been proven). However, the time has come to make a doozie: If you ever see a cookbook, food item, kitchen gadget, pot, pan, dish, coffee mug, spoon, small appliance, large appliance, apron, salt shaker, or bulldog puppy (???) with the name Giada de Laurentiis on it, buy it and prepare to be amazed. The woman does not attach her name or beautiful face to anything less than a 10 on a scale of 1-10.

Apparently it’s against her code.

Good code.

The Giada de Laurentiis 3.5-oz. Sicilian Sea Salt with Fresh Lemon, pictured at the top of the post? Ridiculously excellent. Like all of Giada’s food products, you get so much more than you pay for or even hope for.

Product Description:
An incredibly tasty Sicilian Sea Salt with Fresh Lemon Zest. The hand-harvested, all-natural sea salt with lemon zest comes from a combination of the pure Sicilian sea water and the freshest lemons grown under the Sicilian sun. Giada’s Sicilian sea salt presents a delicate and intense aroma, with distinct hints of sweet, fresh lemons. Its fresh and delicate taste is characterized by intense notes of lemon, making this gourmet product a perfect ingredient to be coupled with light dishes, ideal for cooked or raw fish and shellfish, poultry, vegetables and desserts. Academia Barilla and Giada De Laurentiis present a piece of Italy to Italian food lovers and food connoisseurs, to taste, enjoy and share. Together, Academia Barilla and Giada De Laurentiis have launched the much anticipated range of high quality, authentic Italian gourmet products.

I regularly buy Giada’s pasta, sauces, and other food products at my local Target…. a store I have nothing but love for. Her spaghetti sauces are amazing – my favorite one is a creamy pasta sauce that boggles the brain.

A recent gift from my husband (for a birthday I acknowledged but didn’t count) is the gorgeous ceramic lasagna pan pictured above. Naturally, like a kid with a toy, I had to use it right away. I normally would have whipped up my favorite vegetarian lasagna but we’d recently had spaghetti — I’m nothing if not anal — so I made a cheesy potato au gratin. Outstanding. The pan refused to allow the potatoes or the cheese to stick, which made serving, eating, and cleaning joyful, delicious, and simple.

It’s such a gorgeous ceramic pan I kind of hated to use it. You really have to see it to appreciate it. It’s worth a special trip to Target to see Giada’s collection of pans, gadgets, and more. She even has a line of sexy aprons as well as her own coffee.

Somebody tell me why I haven’t tried that yet.

By the way, when you click through to the ceramic lasagna pan, if you scroll down you’ll see what appears to be a great recipe for Baked Gnocchi, calling for spinach, nutmeg, gnocchi, chicken broth, heavy cream… is your mouth watering yet?

Another gift the wonderful husband bought me was the Giada De Laurentiis for Target 12″ Stainless Steel Nonstick Sauté Pan (Click through this link for details as well as a recipe for Orzo with Sausage, Peppers and Tomatoes!). This gorgeous pan was initiated into the family with salmon patties and is currently simmering a little pasta sauce for my oldest daughter’s lunch.

It’s quite possibly the best pan I’ve ever owned.

Features:
Pan-Pot Material: Stainless Steel
Handle Material: Stainless Steel
Features: Riveted Handle
Care and Cleaning: Hand-wash Only

Click through any of the links (except for the Giada de Laurentiis 3.5-oz. Sicilian Sea Salt with Fresh Lemon – it has a mind of its own) to browse Target’s outstanding line of Giada de Laurentiis products.

A Must Have for Serious Cooks Is….

by Joi on August 13, 2010

My youngest daughter (Stephany) and her boyfriend (Rusty) got me a Black & Decker Family-size Electric Griddle last Christmas and I’ve used it nearly every day since. Bacon, grilled cheese, fried eggs, hamburgers, veggie burgers, French toast, pancakes, garlic bread – you name it, my beloved griddle and I whip it up.

It came in handy last night with our spaghetti supper. Stephany and I made a killer spaghetti sauce and we very much wanted garlic bread to accompany the meal. However, with our part of Kentucky registering in the late 90s and early 100s the past couple of weeks, we didn’t really want to heat the kitchen up with the oven.

So we heated the griddle, sliced the loaf, buttered and seasoned the slices and grilled them on the convenient, non-kitchen-heating-up griddle. Truth be told, even when the weather isn’t so intensely hot, I still prefer making my garlic bread on the griddle. It makes the outsides crunchy (if you leave it log enough) and golden brown while allowing the inside of the bread to stay soft, warm, and delicious.

The Black & Decker Family-size Electric Griddle has an extra large cooking surface for family-size meals but, frankly, I’d want this size even if it were just my husband and I. In fact, there have been times when we were the only two at home for breakfast, lunch, or supper and I’ve used my griddle. I love the convenience of cooking the bacon, eggs, and toast all in one place.

It makes clean-up so much easier!

I made myself a slice of cinnamon toast this morning and, like the garlic bread last night, using the griddle instead of the toaster left me with toast that was crunchy on the outside while remaining a little bit soft on the inside. Never underestimate a slice of warm cinnamon toast with a cup of hot coffee – an excellent way to start the day. What IS it about the aroma and flavor of cinnamon that’s so comforting and relaxing?

The Black & Decker Family-size Electric Griddle has something else that I love muchly – a warming tray. I use the warming tray to heat buns while cooking burgers or hot dogs. Nothing, I mean nothing, beats toasty buns. The warming tray is also handy for keeping silver dollar or medium-sized pancakes warm while the rest finish cooking.

A removable drip tray collects unwanted oils for easy cleaning and I’m not even gonna lie, I’m all about easy cleaning.

I also use my electric griddle for heating tortillas for soft tacos, burritos, and wraps. All it takes is a few seconds on each side and the tortillas are perfectly warm and soft – just like they are in restaurants.

As I’ve said a gazillion times, a cook is only as good as the kitchen gadgets, appliances, quality ingredients, pots, pans, and equipment he/she surrounds themself with. The Black & Decker Family-size Electric Griddle is one of the best tools you can have in your arsenal.

I swear on my toasty buns.

Amco Tomato Mozzarella Slicer: One Sharp Kitchen Gadget

by Joi on July 19, 2010

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