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Entries from January 31st, 2010

The Savour Fare Kitchen — Essential Cookware and Bakeware

January 31st, 2010 · 19 Comments · Gift Guide, Kitchen Management, Non Recipe

Kitchen 2

Nothing frustrates me more than visiting someone’s house and seeing their beautiful kitchen, decked out to the nines, and stocked with the latest kitchenware. I compliment them on it, and the person says, “Oh thank you. But I never cook.” What a waste of good tools. On the other hand, I also see the kitchens of people who really love to cook but don’t have the right kitchenware, which is also frustrating. I think to the words of the great comedian, Eddie Izzard, who said “‘Guns don’t kill people, people do,’ but I think the gun helps, you know? I think it helps. I just think just standing there going, “Bang!” That’s not going to kill too many people, is it?” Having great tools isn’t going to make you a great cook, but it’s certainly going to help make cooking a more pleasant and successful experience.

That’s why I wanted to write a series of posts about the tools in my kitchen that I just love. If you’re looking to buy some new kitchen accessories, or you’re building a wedding registry or equipping a new kitchen, I hope this guide will give you some ideas of what kinds of kitchen tools would be useful.

I’m starting the series with the backbone of the kitchen — pots and pans.

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The One I’ve Been Waiting For — Easy Slow Cooker Chili

January 29th, 2010 · 20 Comments · Beef, Pork, Lamb, Entertaining, Main Dishes, Make Ahead, Recipes, Soups and Starters, weeknight dinners, Winter

Chili 2

I don’t come from a place where chili is a thing. Heck, I’m from California — we put barbecue chicken on pizza. We don’t have things. What this means is that I don’t have firm and fixed ideas about what should and shouldn’t be in chili, and as a result, I’ve tried many a chili recipe over the years. I’ve tried white chicken chili, turkey chili, chili con carne, chili without beans, vegetarian chili, what was supposed to be Cliff Huxtables super spicy chili from the Cosby Show, and even a really weird one from epicurious that had green olives and raisins (which wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t chili. I may not be a firm con carne or con frijoles person, but I feel about chili the way the Supreme Court feels about pornography — I know it when I see it).

I never really settled on THE chili — the one that becomes my go to recipe, that I make again and again — until I found this chili. It presents a mild heat without bowling you over with spiciness, it has beans, which I like, and meat, which I also like and it has tomatoes without being a tomato stew. Best of all, it is easy as pie to make and can be made in the crockpot, which means all I have to do is chop an onion and brown a little ground beef in the morning, dump it in the crockpot with several cans and spices, and I have a nice bowl of chili waiting for me when I get home. It’s also great for a Super Bowl party — hearty and warming, and there’s no last minute fuss to prepare it when your guests arrive.

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Daring Bakers Goes to Canada — Nutella Nanaimo Bars and Graham Crackers

January 27th, 2010 · 26 Comments · Baked Goods and Desserts, Make Ahead, Recipes

Nanaimo 6

It’s time for the Daring Bakers again, and while this month’s challenge presented its own obstacles, It had the advantage over last month’s challenge for me by 1) Taking only a reasonable amount of time, 2) Not leaving my entire house covered in royal icing and 3) resulting in something that I would actually like to eat. Wait, maybe that last one isn’t such a good thing. My thighs aren’t thanking me for these suckers. (Fortunately, my husband’s colleagues are — thank goodness for willing recipients of sugary treats).

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

If you’ve never heard of Nanaimo bars, they’re as fun to eat as they are to say (they’re pronounced nuh NIE mo). A local specialty invented in Nanaimo, British Columbia (Lauren chose them in honor of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver), they are relatively easy to assemble (if you don’t make your own graham crackers). The bottom is a rich crumb crust flavored with cocoa, coconut and nuts, topped with a sweet icing layer and finally a chocolate ganache. To spice things up, and because I had some hazelnuts I wanted to use, I elected to make chocolate hazelnut nanaimo bars, using toasted hazelnuts in the bottom layer and making a nutella flavored icing for the middle layer. They were incredibly rich, incredibly sweet, and a little addictive.

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