March 1, 2012
by malcolm
in Food, Mains
Tags: beef, burgers
Having your own meat grinder gives you the luxury of cooking your burgers to medium rare. This is something you never want to do with ground meat bought from the store, but if you grind it yourself with quality beef, you can enjoy this delicacy without worry. If you have a KitchenAid Stand Mixer, you can get a KitchenAid Food Grinder Attachment, which works great as long as you keep a few things in mind. First, you want your meat to be cold, so put it in the freezer for about half an hour prior to grinding. Next, cut your meat up into 1 inch chunks before putting them into the hopper. Last but not least, be sure to take it slow. Don’t put too much meat in at once, and let the machine do the work. The manual recommends to put the meat through twice for optimal results, but I just did it once with the big grinding plate and it turned out really well.
If you don’t have a meat grinder, you can always use a food processor. Just work in small batches, and give the meat ten pulses to bring it to the correct consistency.
These burgers are classic and simple. There’s no spices in the meat. Just ground chuck, sirloin and kosher salt. These burgers taste like meat, not like garlic or herbs. Give them a try plain like this before experimenting with other flavours.
Continue reading “Delicious Half Chuck, Half Sirloin Burger Recipe” »
February 28, 2012
by malcolm
in Food, Mains
Tags: chicken, mexican, soup, tortilla
Chicken tortilla soup makes a delicious, yet quick and easy meal you can throw together on the cheap. While not being remotely authentic, it’s rich and full of flavour. You can put this meal together in less than an hour. The tortilla in the name comes from the use of fried tortilla strips as garnish.
Continue reading “Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe” »
February 28, 2012
by malcolm
in Desserts, Food
Tags: dessert, ice cream, vanilla
Making velvety smooth and luscious ice cream at home is even easier than you thought possible. It just takes some equipment and a little planning ahead. If you have a KitchenAid stand mixer, I would highly recommend getting yourself the KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker Attachment
. Just remember to store the bowl in the freezer so it’s ready to churn when you are. If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can get a great stand alone model, the Cuisinart ICE-30BC Pure Indulgence 2-Quart Automatic Ice Cream Maker
. Either way, you’ll be eating velvety smooth ice cream at a fraction of the cost of premium store brands.
Continue reading “French Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe” »
February 27, 2012
by malcolm
in Desserts, Food
Tags: dessert, marshmallows
I learned two things today. One, how to spell marshmallow (it’s not spelled marshmellow) and two, how to make my very own marshmallows.
What’s better on a cold winter night than a cup of hot chocolate with baileys and marshmallows? With a few ingredients in your pantry (and maybe gelatin that you may have to run to the store for) and a little bit of time, you too can put together your very own luscious homemade marshmallows. While you could flavour these a whole bunch of different ways, with everything from strawberry puree to green tea infusion, we’re going to stick with a regular old vanilla marshmallows. They go great with hot chocolate and s’mores. What else did you want marshmallows for anyways?
Continue reading “Homemade Marshmallow Recipe” »
February 18, 2012
by malcolm
in Food, Product Reviews
Tags: 550hd, 600, bowl lift, kitchenaid, stand mixer
For weeks I’ve been looking forward to getting my hands on our new KitchenAid Professional 600 Series 6-Quart Stand Mixer
. We ordered it online and it arrived a few days later, along with an Ice Cream Maker attachment. The mixer comes complete with a dough hook, a wire whisk and a regular beater. The dough hook works great for making pizza dough, breads like baguettes and sweet breads like cinnamon buns. If you’re tired of having to knead bread by hand, this Kitchenaid mixer should be your jam. Instead of having to spend 6 or 8 minutes kneading, the mixer with dough hook can do it in two.
Continue reading “Kitchenaid Professional 6 Quart Bowl Lift Mixer Review” »
February 14, 2012
by malcolm
in Desserts, Food
Tags: chef's choice, dessert, pizzelle, pizzelle pro, recipe, review, waffles
These traditional Italian waffle cookies make a great dessert served with a simple berry sauce and whipped cream. You can keep them round and flat, or roll them up into cannoli shells. Here’s a recipe for Italian Pizzelles that is sure to knock your socks off. Pizzelle’s are made by making a simple batter of butter, sugar, eggs and flour and then cooking them in a special waffle iron. I got one of these for Annie last year from Amazon and it works well, makes perfect pizzelles in about 30 seconds flat.
Continue reading “Delicious Italian Pizzelle Cookie Recipe” »
