Kitchen Gadget Girl Cooks

Wow, that sounds a little over the top for this post, but hopefully the title won’t scare you away.

It has been 5 months now since starting this blogging endeavor, and I thought I would write a bit about the way things work in my kitchen, how I make decisions, the foods and tools and books that I gravitate towards when cooking for my family. I also thought it might be a nice idea to lay down some ground rules about how I cook.

Oh goodie, another whole post about me!

Let’s start with ingredients:

Butter – I use unsalted butter, preferably organic, but I usually buy what is on sale.
Salt – Baleine Sea Salt Fine Crystals.
Cinnamon – Not my favorite spice, I prefer to substitute ginger or nutmeg if it makes sense in the recipe.
Nutmeg – no, I don’t grind my own, the stuff from Trader Joes is fine with me (not that I don’t have a nutmeg grinder, I am KGG for goodness sakes!).
Milk – Nonfat, unless a recipe calls for something else. Always organic. Same with most of my dairy, if it makes financial sense.
Whole Ground Flaxseed Meal – I add this almost all my baked goods, using it to justify baking cookies each week.
Sour Cream – Daisy Light Sour Cream is the preferred brand in my house – not sure why, just like the way it tastes.
Meat and Cheese – I tend to by organic or local if possible, except if the prices scare me. Some weeks they do, some weeks they don’t.
Rice – I use brown rice in all my recipes.
Beets – are always roasted, 400F, 1 hour 15 minutes, then peeled and sliced, sprinkled with balsamic vinegar or tossed with manouri cheese. I am starting to experiment with other ways to use beets, but this is the way we like the best.
Tomato products – I buy the lowest salt version I can find, or use a jar of home canned stuff.
Canned beans (not canned green beans, I don’t buy canned veggies) – again, lowest salt version I can find.
Chicken Broth – I am partial to Swanson’s Natural Goodness in the 14oz can or 32oz carton.
Peanut Butter - all natural in this house. Nothing with palm kernel oil. Creamy and chunky are equally good.
Flour – King Arthur from Trader Joes, and I measure all my flour for baking. Sometimes the scoop & sweep method if I am in a hurry.
Brown Sugar – Light Brown Sugar in the resealable bag is my favorite, I avoid the box as it is cumbersome to measure and pack.
Chocolate – I will buy the best I can afford. These days, I like Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet, Scharffen Berger 99% Cacao Unsweetened and Dagoba Organic Cacao Powder.
Coffee – We are a Peet’s family, through and through. We even take it camping.
Mushrooms – we don’t cook with them in this house – I made a vow on my wedding day to substitute green chile for mushrooms in any recipe calling for them. My husband recommends this to all families, even if you do like mushrooms.

High Fructose Corn Syrup and Hydrogenated Oils have no place in my home. I am a fastidious label reader and will not purchase anything with those items. My husband will, however, but I am training him. Usually means a couple phone calls from the store as he shops and looks at labels.

We don’t buy sodas, we avoid lots of processed foods, we buy mostly whole grain breads and crackers and I like to buy organic fruits and veggies, especially the thin-skinned varieties. In my shopping basket every week is milk, eggs, yogurt, fruit and bread. Our veggies are delivered weekly through a CSA called Two Small Farms. Meat protein is an occasional purchase, we try to have fish 1-2 times a week.

And, my husband and I are completely fine with the double standard in our house – after the kids go to bed, we have been known to break out the ice cream and chocolate while we veg out in front of the television. One of the joys of being an adult.

Now, onto cookbooks.

Lately, I find myself going to the Food Blog Search when I need a new recipe, but these are the books I find myself turning too again and again:

Crazy Plates and Looney Spoons, by Janet & Greta Podleski
Everyday Food, Great Food Fast, from the kitchens of Martha Stewart Living
American Heart Association Cookbook
Martha Stewart’s Cookies
Cookies and Brownies, by Alice Medrich
Chez Panisse Vegetables, by Alice Waters
The Victory Garden Cookbook, by Marian Morash
How to Cook Everything, by Mark Bittman
Whole Grain Baking, by King Arthur Flour

Plus scads of recipes I have cut out from Sunset, Cooking Light, Gourmet, Bon Appetit, Everyday Food, and Real Simple. I also look up recipes on Recipe Source and Epicurious. I tend to avoid recipes that used pre-packaged mixes, preferring to make things from scratch, although I have been known to make Death by Chocolate Cake when the mood strikes.

A favorite party trick is to prepare completely new recipes when we have guests over for dinner. I like the challenge and who better to try to new recipes on. So far, no one has gone away hungry or dissatisfied.

My family is fairly tolerant of my cooking, and at dinner, while not catering to specific preferences, I do try to ensure that there is at least one dish that we have had before, along with several others, and allow everyone to choose what they eat. We sit down and eat as a family 5-6 nights a week, and have been doing that since my oldest started eating solids.

Our dining room table is the first thing you see when entering our house – we did that on purpose, food is important as is feeding our family and friends.

Wow, that is a lot of information – for an introvert, I feel as though I have over-shared. Any questions? Let me know!

P.S. I am working on finding a decent picture of myself to post, so you can put a face with a name. For now, please enjoy a picture of carrots from a recent risotto recipe!