What's Your Slow Cooker Doing Besides Cooking Slowly?

Cuisinart 3-in-1 Cook Central

Last year was a record year in slow cooker usage in my household.  It was also the year I went through two slow cookers.

The first slow cooker I'd had about a year and a half and midway through last year it died. There is nothing worse than coming home to a cold slow cooker and having to throw out the entire batch of food ... especially when it's lamb.

The second one lasted all of six months max.  Both were from the Crock Pot brand which I've never had problems with at all in the past. In fact, the one prior to the last two, I'd had for over 10 years.

But I have to confess ... secretly I was a little happy the slow cooker broke.  Why? I'd had my eye on two slow cookers in particular.

The All-Clad Deluxe Slow Cooker with non-stick cast-aluminum insert you could use on the stove top to brown foods before slow cooking. The fact that I had to move the insert to the stove top to brown was a turn-off for me. But the All-Clad brand made it a contender.

Or the Cuisinart 3-in-1 Cook Central, a combination cooking unit, which works as a slow cooker, a somewhat very deep electric "skillet" and a steamer. In the slow cooker function you can program it to cook at high, low, simmer or warm AND my favorite feature you can brown/sauté your food before slow cooking right in the slow cooker. Temperature can be set from 175 to 400 degrees.  The insert is non-stick, it's not as heavy as the conventional ceramic inserts, and best of all it's easy to clean.

After reading reviews, about the feature and the practicality of each appliance I decided on the Cuisinart. I put it on my Amazon wish list, crossing my fingers that someone might get it for me. And, of course, that someone turned out to be The Hub. It was one of my Christmas presents and boy did I do the happy dance when I saw it!

It is now over a month old and I've been using it 3 - 4 times a week. I can say that I made the right choice for me.

So far ...

• I've used it as a slow cooker
• I've used it to brown food before turning on the slow cooker function and it really browns nicely
• I've used it to brown/sauté and simmer food that was ready in 30 minutes or less - told you it's like an old-school electric skillet  ... only better
• I've steamed vegetables, fish and mussels
• I've used it to heat up these two soups from a frozen state and it was faster than in the microwave, plus you can switch it to warm to keep your food warm till you are ready to eat
• Mostly kept it out on the counter because I find I am using it as more than just a slow cooker

If you are in the market for a new slow cooker, you might want to consider the
Cuisinart 3-in-1 Cook Central. For about $150 you get an appliance that has more than one use/function. That's a big plus in my book!

I want to make it clear, that I am not being paid or compensated in any way to write this post.  I just wanted to share my personal opinion and experience with this particular unit. I use both brands, Cuisinart and All-Clad, at home, no preference for either brand skewed my opinion.

NOTES: I was not able to link the All-Clad unit directly to All-Clad because they do not carry it nor show it on their site.

As Seen on TV... Are You Kidding Me?

Did you know that some of those "As Seen on TV" kitchen products are actually pretty decent? Okay, stop! Before you click off on this page, hear me out.  I am not a sales or spokesperson, just a curious individual.

My daughter (a.k.a. the Kid) and The Hub love those "As Seen on TV" commercials. In fact, they both say the same thing, if they win the lotto, they are going to buy whatever "As Seen on TV" products they want to try out, just for the heck of it. I use to just laugh it off, until one day I saw the commercial for the Pasta Boat. It caught my attention because there is nothing that I just hate more than filling a pot with water, lugging it to the stove and then lugging a pot that now weighs even more and has boiling water in it, back to the sink to drain.  Plus, my thumb muscle thingy (yup, I said thingy, that's the official medical term for it) sometimes just gives out for no reason and I can lose my grip on what I am holding.  I don't know about you, but having a pot of boiling water just tumble on over me just doesn't tickle me pink!  Anyway, I digress. So I told my daughter I wanted to get the Pasta Boat, and instead of a kindred spirit, she laughs and makes fun of me. I was flabbergasted, speechless even, here's the "As Seen on TV" enthusiast just giggling away. A few months later, guess what I got for  Christmas from The Kid? Yup, the pasta boat! And the results? I have to tell you, I was surprised at how well it worked.  No more lugging boiling water, no big pot to clean, no strainer to clean, no heat in the kitchen. Simply said ... it works. Guess what? A few months later The Kid got one too.

What other "As Seen on TV" kitchen gadgets do I have? The Titan Peeler. I always wanted a julienne peeler, and when I saw the commercial for it, I knew eventually I would get one. I found and bought a julienne peeler made by joseph joseph for about $3 on clearance at Home Goods and it didn't feel comfortable when I used it. Cool design but I didn't like it, the grip was off. I couldn't figure out how to move the blades around, put it back together, I just couldn't be bothered. I've never been good at nor had the patience for puzzles! Finally, I got the Titan Peeler at Bed, Bath & Beyond. It came with a regular peeler, the julienne peeler and the slicing board attachment (great for slicing truffles, garlic, ginger). Both peelers feel comfortable to the grip and peel effortlessly. The julienne peeler is exactly what I was looking for. I didn't have to lug out the food processor or loose a digit on the mandolin. It's great for small or even large julienning jobs, but mostly I wanted it for small jobs, where all I had to wash was one little peeler. In case you are wondering, nope, I don't have a dish washer, my kitchen is small but efficient and I can't justify sacrificing the cabinet space.

The point of all this is that you never know where your new favorite kitchen gadget will come from, sometimes it will come from the most unexpected place ... like an "As Seen on TV" commercial. You just never know. Cheers!

Kitchen Shears ... They Do More than Cut Up a Whole Chicken

Did you know your kitchen shears have a double life? They do! They can be used in place of your knife in many instances.  How many times have you just cleaned and put away the star of your kitchen, "the knife" and it's trusty companion the cutting board, only to realize you forgot to cut the green onions that put the finishing touch on your dish. Kitchen Shears to the rescue! Here's a list of the many uses of your kitchen shears.

1. Cut green onions into discs or on the diagonal
2. Snip parsley or any herb over food
3. Slice a bell pepper or any type of pepper
4. Slice garlic
5. Cut up lettuces
6. Snip strips of meat for stir fry
7. Snip chucks of chicken to make nuggets
8. Cut bread slices in half
9. Cut the crust off of bread slices
10. Cut celery
11. Snip chives
12. Cut pizza
13. Shred cabbage - roll up several leaves to look like a cigar and snip away
14. Removing a lobster from it's shell
15. Trim the ends off of beans, like green beans
16. Cut up bacon into smaller pieces - fresh or cooked
17. Cut lasagna noodles to fit the dish
18. Cut up sausages
19. Cut up dried fruit
20. "Chop" canned whole tomatoes while they are in the can

And of course  ... cutting  up a whole chicken into individual pieces

I Confess ... I Have a Measuring Spoon Addiction

A small glimpse ...

I've been organizing my kitchen drawers and cabinets on and off for the last couple of weeks. Testing what works and what doesn't. What I found (and already knew) is that I have an addiction to buying measuring spoons. I am always on the hunt for cute, sexy, stream-lined, modern, vintage, unusual measuring spoons. They just have to have that certain "je ne sais quoi" that literally sets them apart from the rest of the other measuring spoons and talks to me.

When I was in San Francisco this past fall, in the Chinatown district, I visited a few kitchen stores (no surprise there, right?). I was searching for a little something-something to take home. As I turned to leave the store, the Hub just slightly growing impatient, my eyes fell upon this adorable set of measuring spoons. It only had three spoons to the set but in my eyes it was instant infatuation! And that set was talking to me, man was it talking me! I know what you are thinking, what could possibly make a set of measuring spoons "adorable" and cause a perfectly "normal" person to become "infatuated" with this typically utilitarian object? They were in the shape of conical, miniature ladles. How unusual and different is that? I'd never seen a set quite like these. And to make matters more enticing, they were cheap ($2.95) and they were the last set! Did I buy them? Oh you bet I did!

In The Utensils Drawer

I am admittedly new and very green to blogging.  There I said it. Got that out of the way! Whew, that wasn't so hard! 
"Why am I here?" I am still trying to figure that out, I'll have to get back to you on that when I have a deep and complex answer. 
Nah ... the answer is quite simple. I want a place to store the recipes I create and I want to share them.  I hope to teach, motivate, inspire and learn along the way. After 30 years in the kitchen (my home kitchen) I think I have managed to learn a few things.
My cooking style is eclectic and by that I mean, a little of this and a little of that.  It's can be casual, fancy, frugal, international ... really it just depends on my mood and what's defrosted or in the pantry.
Like everyone I have a few utensils in my drawer that have a special place in my kitchen.  The big metal spoon belonged to my mom and she served up many a meals to so many people with this simple but generous spoon. The ragged, old, flat wooden "spatula" I've had since I got married. I ordered it from "Fingerhut".
I bet I just dated myself with that comment! Who remembers "Fingerhut"? And while not a utensil per se, this platter belonged to my mom and fed a bunch of adolescent family members that my parents took in during the mass immigration of Cubans to the States in the early 60's. The stories I have heard told about that platter and the battle for the last piece of meat or potato are just hilarious.

So I hope I can entice a few of you out there on the digital highway to come along for the ride. Let's find out why the Fork ran away with the Spoon.