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15 Cool Kitchen Gadgets

If you think the modern kitchen has everything you could ever need, think again. We’ve already featured the Froot Guard.  Now we found some of the strangest, coolest and most clever kitchen gadgets ever conceived!

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	D-Cell Battery Salt & Pepper Shakers Give your meals a boost with D-Cell Battery Salt & Pepper Shakers! See how much “power” (or pepper) you have left through the power indicator panels so you know when to “recharge.” Not available for sale just yet, these will eventually come in red and turquoise or black and white.
	Smokey the Silencer Sure you can blame the oven, but we both know the kitchen fills with smoke every time you cook because you’re just that bad at it. It’d almost be funny if it weren’t for that annoying smoke detector going off every time you cook. Rather than blaming the smoke detector for doing it’s job, why not get a remote control smoke detector silencer? Smokey the Silencer can’t help with your culinary deficiencies, but he can help make cooking a little less stressful.
	Spice-Leaf Book If your spice rack can’t take another jar of paprika then maybe it’s time you rethink your seasoning storage. The Spice-Leaf Book solves the problem of space by storing a variety of spices in a handy little book. Just tear off a page of dissolving paper packed with seasoning and toss it in your stew. Of course it’s just a concept, but we’d love to see this clever little “cookbook” make its way to our kitchen.
	Roll n Roll Chopsticks Maybe space in Asia is more limited than we thought because we never could have imagined the need for an all-in-one chopsticks/straw/napkin holder/bracelet—those are all pretty compact as it is. The idea behind the Roll n’ Roll tool is that it would be completely flexible in any direction resulting in the most versatile and easily stored kitchen utensil/accessory ever.
	Portable Toasters We imagine the only way to really guarantee perfectly crisp toast is to toast your bread manually. How great would it be to eat a warm piece of toast on your commute on the train, even when you’re running late? This kitchen concept would be great to keep in your bag or desk and have toast whenever you want.
	Sharky Tea Infuser A creative twist on your average mesh ball tea infuser… Pablo Matteoda adds excitement to tea time with Sharky Tea Infuser. Add some loose tea and let it ominously float around your water until you have the perfect cup of tea. It could only be better if it included a small speaker that played the JAWS theme.
	Salad Plant Flower Pot A simple elegant potted plant suddenly becomes salad servers and a dish for dressing. Salad Plant Flower Pot makes a useful table topper that will surprise your guests when you suddenly pluck the leaves to start tossing salad.
	Zing Spring Spoons If you’ve ever competed with your siblings to see how could get more air on a piece of broccoli, then Zing Spring Spoons are for you. Playing with your food has never been so fun. Just pull back the handle and watch the food fight unfold before you.
	Sauce Dispensing Chopsticks It’s hard enough to get the food from your plate to your mouth let alone to the sauce dish without a disaster. Save yourself a step (and an embarrassing soy sauce mishap) with Sauce Dispensing Chopsticks. Just squeeze the end to drip a little sauce on your sushi.
	Condiment Gun Combat boring hotdogs with the Condiment Gun. Load it up with your favorite ammunition (aka condiment) take aim and fire away. Get two and double wield ketchup and mustard and become the quickest draw at the picnic.
	Spinning Spaghetti Fork There are all kinds of products that make cooking easier, why not make eating easier too? The Spinning Spaghetti fork does all the work for you by automatically winding up your pasta. As convenient as that is, it does not however help you chew or swallow.
	Computer Cursor Oven Mitts If you have trouble transitioning from using the computer to using the kitchen, this should help. Just “click” on your pots and pans and “drag” them to your stove to start cooking. Just make sure your food doesn’t overheat or your meal might crash.
	Double sided Peanut Butter and Jelly Spreader If you only use jelly for PB&J’s then you might not realize that whoever uses the jelly after you for their toast doesn’t appreciate the peanut butter you left behind. Be a little more considerate without using an extra butter knife with the Peanut Butter and Jelly Spreader. It’s even color coded so you’ll have no excuse next time there’s peanut butter in the jam.
	Calf and Half Here’s a kitchen product that’s udderly delightful. If you’re not a fan of the cow puns, hopefully the Calf and Half jug will put you in a better moooooood. Seriously, we’re done. We’ll just shut up and drink our milk now.
	Titanium Spork The Titanium Spork takes a fantastic idea and makes it better. Sporks are already pretty high up on the list of awesome achievements of man, so it seems a shame to toss them when you’re done enjoying a tasty meal with only one utensil. Never again will you have to part with your favorite eating tool with the Spork of the Gods. Fight hunger with your weapon of choice.

A word of advice…you don’t always need the latest gadget. But some are worthy of the purchase because they are fun. Find what cool kitchen gadgets you can’t live without, buy them…and then, use and enjoy them!

Source: Jenni Chasteen – Incredible Things. com  – http://www.incrediblethings.com/lists/15-cool-kitchen-gadgets/

It’s best to shop for lush vegetables, seasonal ingredients, and a little liquid sunshine when prepping for a gathering, whether it’s an intimate group or a surplus of friends for brunch, lunch, drinks, or dinner. If in need of some guidance, look no further than the list below. It will get you through spring and onto summer faster than you can say “bikini.”

8 Must-Cook Foods for Spring Entertaining

A good place to start, this guide shares what to cook now that we’re in a new season. Spring means iron-filled greens like ramps and spinach, fresh berries, bountiful herbs — and nice weather, which is all the more reason to turn on the grill (for those who don’t during the winter). Make this a go-to list for foods in the next few months.

Stress-Free Spring Dinner Parties with Style

Hosting can always be a bit hectic, but there’s a way to throw a party in effortless fashion. Stick with a simple menu, get a little organized, and voilà — a charming spring night filled with great food, good company, and easy cleanup.

A Dinner Menu to Celebrate Spring

Here are five courses of seasonally inspired dishes that consist of fresh salads, juicy cherries, and a rack of lamb so delectable you’ll want to remake this dish all spring long.

Outdoor Cocktail Party

As the sun sets later and the nights get warmer, the patio or backyard looks mighty enticing. The only thing to do is, you guessed it, have a cocktail party. Craft an appetizer menu with rich cheeses, cured meats, fresh bread, and tons of vegetables and pair it with creative cocktails to match.

Romantic Picnic for Two Menu

The next few months bring a little spring fever, it’s inevitable. With the sun, the skin, and the outdoors, romance is sure to follow. Prepare for such a situation and pack a picnic for two… in the park, shall we say?

The Perfect Picnic Lunch Menu

Want the picnic without the mushy gushy? Have a girlfriends picnic or a day with the family and use this portable menu filled with sandwiches, salads, and vegetables. Don’t forget the double fudge brownies. What’s a picnic without them?

Resource: http://www.thedailymeal.com/spring-entertaining by Francesca Borgognone

I was craving one last week and decided to make the layman’s Maid-Rite recipe over the weekend. They aren’t as good as the real thing but it works in a pinch. Here is a photo of my Maid-Rite. I didn’t fill it quite as full as I should have and I disgraced it with ketchup! But I love ketchup so that’s how I ate it. The other photo is of a Maid-Rite served the right way…meat overflowing on the bun, wrapped in deli paper and a spoon on the side. The condiments originally served on a Maid-Rite were onions, pickles and mustard. The ketchup option wasn’t even allowed on the counter for 78 years! See the video below for the history of Taylor’s Maid-Rite.

Marilee's Maid-Rite

The Real Maid-Rite

The taste of a Maid-Rite is like no other. It’s like a taste vehicle that transports me back in time. It brings back memories of sitting at the long, low counter on a red swivel stool next to old farmers, waiting on their food, smoking their cigarettes. (Everyone was old back then - little did I know!) The plastic menu board was up high on the wall and had those little black letters that were placed in grooves. The big root beer barrel was on the back counter and the homemade pies sat in the pie case by the cash register. And they had homemade ice cream in which they made hot fudge sundaes, creamy milkshakes and thick malts.

We all have favorite food memories from our childhood. My memories of eating Maid-Rites are comforting and give me the feeling that all is “rite” with the world. Do you have one? Please share your story with me!

And if you happen upon a Maid-Rite shop, by all means, stop in and have one!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ywK1KTYzQs

It’s unbelievable to hear that Pinterest drives more visitors to third-party websites than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn combined! Earlier this month I read that Pinterest recently hit 11.7 million unique U.S. visitors per month. This stat makes history as the fastest independent site to hit over the 10 million mark. Seriously? Are you using Pinterest?

Pinterest is the breakout social network of 2012, but even technology addicts could be excused for missing its rise to success.

The web-based “pinboard,” which launched almost two years ago, barely got a mention on Silicon Valley news sites until six months ago, when early adopters suddenly realized that a site with millions of monthly users had sprung up almost unnoticed by the tech press.

That’s because Pinterest didn’t take the usual route of Web-based startups: romancing early adopters and technology journalists before attempting to “cross the chasm” to mainstream adoption. Instead, Pinterest grew a devoted base of users — most of them female — who enjoy “pinning” items they find around the Web. While clothing, home decor and recipes dominate the site, inspirational quotes and humor are also popular topics for users to add to their pinboards.

Interest, meet Pinterest: Site helps users catalog their passions

How successful is Pinterest? Unique visitors to the site grew 400% from September to December 2011, and just last week one study showed that Pinterest drives more visitors to third-party websites than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn combined.

Demographics are surely a large part of Pinterest’s success: While technology’s early adopters have sprung upon other interest-driven networks like Quora, these sites now suffer from a form of “cumulative disadvantage” in which mainstream users are put off by how tech-centric they’ve become.

Delicious, a bookmarking service that hit it big during the “Web 2.0″ era, relaunched recently with a Pinterest-like interface, but has failed to attract the same audience. Canv.as, meanwhile, is a similar pinboard concept, but caters mainly to those who keep up with the latest Web memes and inside jokes. Pinterest, by contrast, provides no barrier to entry for anyone looking to bookmark, share and comment on images and ideas from around the Web.

CNN iReport: What’s your Pinterest passion?

There’s more to Pinterest than its unique audience, however. If you’d mapped out the evolution of social sharing online a few years ago, you might have predicted that something like Pinterest would emerge. As tech entrepreneur Elad Gil insightfully explained in an article on his blog last month, sharing on the Web has been following three parallel trends.

The first is that sharing involves less effort over time.

The second is that social sites are becoming more visual over time.

And the third is that “people-centric” recommendations are being augmented by “topic-centric” networks — which is to say that while Facebook lets you explore the Web through information shared by friends, newer social networks organize content by topics of interest. Some in the technology industry call this the “interest graph.”

Social networks began with blogging tools like Blogger and WordPress, where you had to write an entire blog post to express yourself. Then along came Twitter and Facebook, and a simple status update was all that was required to share a thought on the Web. These sites then discovered even simpler ways to share: “retweeting” the updates of others and “Liking” Web pages on Facebook.

Tumblr, now one of the biggest blogging platforms, also fits the trend: Not only is it largely used to share images, but “reblogging” the posts of others is a primary activity on the site.

As for the trend toward organizing content by both topics and the stuff your friends enjoy, you only need to look as far last year’s hit news app: Flipboard, which turns the news into a more visual experience on your iPad, personalizing your experience by highlighting links shared by your online connections and topics you find interesting.

Pinterest checks all the boxes: It’s a visual social network that organizes images by topic and lets you reshare with just one click.

So will we see a thousand Pinterest clones bloom, or will the site’s stellar growth continue despite others jumping on the trend? I’d say success is assured for Pinterest. Thanks to the “network effects” of these sites — you join because your friends are already there — it’ll becoming increasingly hard to compete with the new king, or perhaps queen, of social bookmarking.

Source: CNN Tech – February 06, 2012|By Pete Cashmore, Special to CNN

Comment below and let me know if you’re on Pinterest!

You’ve heard of combining milk and cookies, bacon and eggs.  Now you can get three out of four of those items together, in one creamy shake.

It’s the bacon milkshake, and it’s the brainchild of the Jack in the Box fast-food chain.

The shake, taking the concept of fast food and buy one, get one free to a whole new level, gives a meaty element to the normally dairy-laden treat.  Sadly for true carnivores, however, it is said to contain only bacon-flavored syrup, not the real thing.

PHOTOS: Outrageous Foods

Still, according to the to the Jack in the Box website, a regular-size  16 ounce  bacon shake weighs in at a hefty 773 calories and 40 grams of fat, while a 24 ounce  large option packs 1,081 calories and 54 grams of fat, nearly an entire day’s allowance.

The bacon milkshake is part of the 2,200-store, San Diego-based chain’s new ” Marry Bacon” ad campaign that asks, “Love Bacon? Marry It,” and encourages visitors to the chain’s website to “Make a Bacon Baby.”

In addition to the calories, a regular-size  milkshake costs $2.90 after tax.  But don’t expect to just walk in or drive up to your local Jack in the Box and see the new item on the menu.

“The shake is not listed on our menus in the restaurants, so it’s more of a ‘secret item’ that people can order. Each restaurant is getting a very limited quantity, so we don’t know how long they will last,” a Jack in the Box spokesperson told the Huffington Post.

Indeed, the chain is advertising the new shake with a disclaimer that says the drink is “as limited as limited can be” and “might disappear.”

While Jack in the Box restaurants are  found only in 19 states, most of the restaurants are open 18 to 24 hours a day, plenty of time in which to track down and slurp down the meat-flavored treat.

I started with the chapter, “Easy Biscuits.”  I had to choose a biscuit recipe in which I had all the ingredients.  Self-rising flour is not something I usually have on hand so per their instructions, I made my own using a combination of all-purpose flour, salt and baking powder.

I decided on “Allison’s Easy Sour Cream Biscuits.”  The recipe called for self-rising flour and sour cream.  And some soft or melted butter for finishing.  Yum!  I followed the directions and  I was very pleased with the outcome.  They were lightly browned with a crisp but delicate exterior and a fluffy, tender interior.

I also made some of Virginia Willis‘ heirloom grits.  You have to try these grits!  They taste nothing like instant or quick grits.  So rich,  sweet, creamy and very comforting!

If you want to learn how to make a great biscuit, get a copy of Southern Biscuits today!  Also, check out Virginia Willis’ heirloom grits.  They are worth it – you’ll love them!

Broccolini-Spring Onion Soup

Best Vegetable: Broccoli
Nutritionally, a half-cup of cooked broccoli delivers 24 percent of your Vitamin A, 84% of your Vitamin C, and 3 grams of fiber. This versatile vegetable is a great bang for the buck and packs a great nutritional punch.

Best Breakfast Food: Oatmeal
Oatmeal is a cheap and healthy breakfast. Start your day with a steaming bowl of oats, which are full of omega-3 fatty acids, folate, and potassium. This fiber-rich super-food can lower levels of LDL (or bad) cholesterol and help keep arteries clear.

Best Grain: Dried Lentils
Dried lentils retail for about the same price of a bottle of water. For very little money, you can boil up a massive pot of soup- and salad-ready lentils. A pound-size bag has 11 grams of fiber and 10 grams of protein in each of its 13 servings. You’ll save an average of 41 cents per pound if you choose lentils over brown rice.

Best Fresh Fruit: Banana
If you get hungry mid-day, a banana is the best snack at your desk, after a workout, or in between classes. Fruit is a very good snack in general. An apple will give you 14 percent of your day’s Vitamin C and 4 grams of fiber, but a banana, at half the price per pound, offers more Vitamin C and just 1 less gram of fiber.

Best Frozen Fruit: Frozen Blueberries
The price of fresh fruits out of season is significantly higher than when they’re in season, due to transportation costs. And if you want to get your money’s worth, you’ll need to eat them within three days of buying, so they don’t spoil. One cup of frozen blueberries gives you just as much fiber as the raw variety, and a handful fewer calories. While fresh blueberries offer 18 percent more Vitamin C, that difference isn’t worth the extra cost.

Best Vegetable Snack: Carrots
If you’re looking for a low-calorie snack, you’ll get more of a nutritional boost from carrots than celery, at practically the same cost per pound. One serving of carrots has two times as much fiber as celery and 43 times more Vitamin A.

Best Salad Base: Napa Cabbage
The leafy greens in your salad can really vary in their nutritional content. Iceberg lettuce, for example, is significantly less nutritious than romaine, which is less nutritious than cabbage. In fact, 1 cup of cabbage gives you more than half of your daily vitamin K requirement–and it’s $1.29 less per pound than Romaine.

Resource:  Huff Post Food by Marcus Samuelsson, Chef, Author.

The beauty of the five minutes a day concept is that you make up the dough ahead of time so it’s ready to go at a moments notice.  It pretty much goes like this.  Mix six ingredients together, let stand and rise for two hours, refrigerate for at least three hours or overnight.  When you’re ready to make pizza, remove a portion, form a flat disk, roll it out to desired thickness (or try throwing it up in the air if you’re feeling brave), place toppings on it, then bake!  There are a few more details than that but it really is easy.

Pizza Margherita

If you want to try your hand at throwing it in the air, this is the recipe for you.  The bread flour produces a stronger dough more suitable for throwing.  I like this recipe because of that fact.  Whenever I make pizza or flatbread, I always practice my throwing technique.  And yes, it does take practice!  Here is the recipe.

3 cups lukewarm water, about 100°
1 tablespoon granulated yeast
1 -  1-1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar, honey, malt powder or agave syrup
1/8 cup olive oil
7 cups bread flour

1. Mix together the yeast, salt, sugar, olive oil and water in 5 quart bowl or container with a lid.
2. Add the flour and mix with a spoon or by hand.  Do not knead, it’s not necessary.  Incorporate all flour into liquid mixture.
3. Cover with lid but not airtight, meaning do not snap it onto the bowl.  Just set it on top.  Let rest at room temperature for about two hours.  It should rise and collapse or it may just flatten on top.  Resist the urge to punch down.  Not necessary!
4. It can be used at this point but it is more difficult to work with.  You’re best served to refrigerate (lidded but not airtight again) it for at least 3 hours.  The dough can be used over the next 14 days.
5. On baking day, prepare your toppings in advance.  Thirty minutes before you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 550°.  Place the pizza stone in lower third of the oven.  Dust the pizza peel or wooden cutting board with cornmeal.  This prevents it from sticking to the peel when sliding into the oven.
6. Sprinkle the surface of the dough with a little flour.  Remove 8 – 10 ounces of dough or about the size of an orange. Shape into a ball in 20-30 seconds.  Add some flour to your counter work surface.  Roll out and stretch the pizza dough.  If it resists and continually contracts, let rest for 5 – 10 minutes and come back to it.  Then resume rolling or throwing.
7. Place on the prepared pizza peel.  If using sauce, spread a few tablespoons on the dough leaving a 1/2″ border at the edges.  Add cheese and top with your favorite toppings.  Make sure the pizza can move freely on the peel.  You may have to add a little more cornmeal under the pizza.  Also, a thicker crust can support more toppings than a thin crust.  Just keep practicing until you get the result you want!
8. Slide pizza into oven onto the stone.  Place the tip of the peel near the back of the stone and quickly pull the peel back allowing the pizza to slide off.  Check in 8 – 10 minutes.  If it’s browning more on one side than the other, turn it around so it browns evenly.  Depending on your oven, it may bake another 5 minutes or so.  Keep an eye on it and use a wooden spoon or spatula to slide it back onto the pizza peel.  Let it cool a couple of minutes, preferable on a cooling rack, then slice and EAT!!

This is how you make homemade pizza dough!  It’s really is an easy pizza dough recipe.  Come on, give it a try!  I’m here to help you along the way.  Just send me your questions and I will answer them!

Some people like leftovers and some do not. Many will eat them the next day, but quickly get tired of eating the same thing two days in a row.  Here’s a way to fix the problem if you or someone in your family is the same way. Let’s start with an example.

You prepare a roasted pork loin and rice for dinner one night.  The family wants something else for dinner the following night so the pork loin gets pushed to the back of the refrigerator.  Normally, that’s where it will stay until you clean out the fridge, right?  Not anymore.  Let’s do something to keep that pork loin from going to waste.

Eating leftovers the way they were originally served is probably what’s turning family members off from wanting it again the next night.  Your family doesn’t have to eat the pork loin as originally prepared.  Chop that pork loin up into bite size pieces.

Now you’re probably thinking, ok that’s great, but what do I do with it now?  In a large skillet or wok, stir fry the leftover rice with some fresh or frozen veggies, an egg, and some of the chopped pork loin to make pork fried rice. Add a little soy sauce and you have a whole new dinner for your family.

This is just one way that leftovers can be turned into a new dish with a new flavor. The same can also be done using chicken, seafood, or beef.  Let’s take a look at beef.

If you have hamburgers left from dinner, chop them up until they resemble ground beef again. The meat can be combined with chili powder and taco sauce to make beef tacos.  Or, add some beans, onions and tomatoes to create a pot of chili.  If you have the imagination, there are an unlimited number of possibilities of what you can do with meats and side dishes from a previous night’s dinner.

Using a little leftover magic can make one meal last for two or three more days.  You don’t have to eat it all in the same week.  Fix a new meal with the leftovers and freeze it until you are ready to have that particular meat again. On that day, dinner will already be made, all you’ll need to do is heat it up.  Yes, it really can be just that simple.

Your family will be amazed at your ability to transform any meal into a new creation they will enjoy.  You will also save money on your grocery bill since you won’t be throwing it away as spoiled leftovers. Try these and similar ideas to expand your family’s palate.