Kitchen Gadgets, Appliances, Kitchen Toys

Martini Glasses, Shakers, Sets

Ah, martinis. Fine dry gin, a whisper of vermouth, ice cold warming your innards. OH, and the fun of the martini glasses, the martini shaker or pitcher, the ambiance of the whole set.

The classic “martini glass” is the cocktail glass in bartender lingo. Shaped like a cone, the glass is classic cocktail serving glassware. Today you can get the martini glass in some very non-classic styles that can actually enhance your drink.

For a party, try mini martini glasses! These perky little glasses hold 2.5 ounces. That means it’s still polite to have refills. Perfect if you’re serving several cocktails.

Mini Martini Glasses

To Fry Donuts or to Bake Donuts?

Hot donuts right out of the hot oil, sprinkled with powdered sugar, ahhhhhh. But don’t tell your cardiologist!

I’d heard of a local bakery that was offering baked versions of their donuts, and found this great little kit for baking donuts:

Very exciting for low fat donut alternatives, but I do love my fried batter.

Not far away was a really great gadget for regular “cake donuts”, as the cookbook I used growing up always called them. Use a non-yeasted quick bread recipe for this gadget:

Neither of these really addresses the ultimate donut in my life: the yeasted raised donut. Preferably filled with jelly or butterscotch!

Here’s my favorite recipe for raised filled doughnuts:

Dough:
2 packets active dry yeast (4 1/2 tsps)
1 Cup warm water
1/3 Cup + 1 tsp. granulated sugar
1/3 Cup melted and cooled butter, or 1/3 Cup oil
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk (reserve the white)
1 tsp. salt
1/4 Cup instant nonfat dry milk powder or toasted soy flour
3 1/3 unbleached flour (I actually use 2 1/3 cups white, 1 cup whole wheat flour)

Instructions:
Combine yeast, warm water, 1 tsp. sugar. Let sit 5 minutes, or until foamy. Add 1/3 cup sugar, melted butter or oil, egg, egg yolk, salt, instant nonfat dry milk powder, and 2 1/3 cups flour. Beat for 3 minutes. Then stir in remaining 1 Cup flour to make a soft dough.

Let dough rise 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until doubled. Knead for 2 minutes, rest for 10 minutes. Then divide the dough in half. Roll out each half to a 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out circles about 4 inches in diameter.

Beat egg white until foamy, then brush some over one circle. Place jam in center of circle. Make sandwiches, pinch closed, cover on floured board for about 1 hour or until doubled.

Fry in hot oil, and enjoy delicious calories.

Garlic, your winter friend.

Garlic. Your grandmother may have told you to eat more garlic in the winter to stave off colds and flus. You may have seen information claiming it to be a wonder treatment for heart and blood.

If you search in the medical research literature, you’ll see a number of abstracts discussing the possible efficacy of garlic in the treatment of hypertension, in gastrointestinal health, in warnings about interactions with other medical treatments. Little can be said with exacting scientific accuracy.

One article warns of potential interaction with cancer treatments (may we never know): J Clin Oncol. 2004 Jun 15;22(12):2489-503. Such cases are special, and one would need to be realistic about the fact that all dietary intake should be monitored in a medical situation.

However, for a normal healthy individual, the court is still out about just exactly what health benefits garlic may have.

Our current family pediatrician is not afraid to recommend garlic as a preventative measure along with salt water gargles and a good dose of fresh air.

One great way to add extra garlic to your regular diet is in winter soups. Just grate or crush a garlic clove per person into the soup you’re making! If you’re making dumplings, add grated or crushed garlic to the batter! Making fresh dinner rolls? You got it, add the freshly grated or crushed garlic to the yeast dough before baking for a really special flavor treat as well as garlic benefits.

Personally, I like to just grate my garlic on a fine grater. Save your fingers and buy one that uses a drum away from your fingers:

Many people like to use a garlic press. I have two complaints about a garlic press. The first is that so many are not made solidly and thus break within a year of purchase. The second is that so much of the garlic seems left behind with the skin. If you grate the garlic, that slightly thicker skin won’t be felt.

That said, if I were to buy a garlic press, I’d get a stainless steel one with a big old warranty like this one:


18/10 Stainless Steel, 10 Year Limited Warranty

The other thing I like about that one, is that there are replacement garlic press baskets available to order.

For people who think everything in the kitchen should be pretty (well, the cook may be, but the garlic press???), there’s this fancy shmancy one:

In any case, the important thing is just to add garlic to everything you’re cooking!

Kitchen Appliances

Cold rain outside, warm soup and fresh corn muffins from the oven inside.

Corn Muffin recipe:
*Preheat oven to 425F. If using a cast iron muffin tin, put the tin in the oven while it’s preheating and you are mixing the muffins*

1 Cup corn flour/corn meal
1 Cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Sift together, then in a separate bowl mix:
1 egg
1/4 cup good olive oil
1/4 to 1/2 cup honey
dash of dried basil
1 1/2 cups soy milk

Add the liquid all at once to the dry ingredients, and then mix just until everything is moistened. Take the muffin tin out of the oven, and using a dull knife add just a tad of butter or margarine to each place in the muffin tin. Add muffin mix to each place, filling about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way to the top. Bake 30 minutes.

I love my cast iron muffin tin. Once seasoned, it only takes a slight amount of oil to keep it non-stick. It’s lasted so far 21 years without any problems. It’ll probably last that many more!

Here are a couple for sale on the net: