Stephanie's Kitchen Drawer: Stainless Steel Pots & Pans

Pots and pans, I have used a lot of sets of pots and pans and used them to the end of their lives.  I have used non-stick cookware, both traditional Teflon and ceramic, I have used Stainless Steel, aluminum, and I have used cast iron.  Every cookware has a purpose, each has attributes that lend to being the best for certain applications.  My main cookware is the above set.  I bought it at Costco, it is the Kirkland Signature 18/10 Stainless Steel set.  The set can be seen here.  What is stainless steel you ask?  WiseGeek says "Stainless steel is an alloy composed of two to three metals; steel, chromium and in some instances, nickel. The chromium in the alloy prevents or reduces the formation of rust in stainless steel. Higher quality stainless steel has nickel as part of the alloy along with chromium. Nickel works with chromium to increase stainless steel’s resistance to corrosion and rusting.

Stainless steel is a favorite of many cooks because it is a non-reactive metal. This means that it can be used to cook foods with heavy alkaline or acidic content without the stainless steel reacting to and changing the taste and appearance of the food. The non-reactive nature also means that stainless steel will not corrode or pit when it comes into contact with acidic or alkaline foods. In comparison, cookware made with aluminum and cast iron that is not coated nor anodized does react with acidic or alkaline foods."

 Another benefit to stainless steel is the ability to brown meat and create "fond" the bits of stuck on food bits that when a liquid(ie broth, water, wine) is added to them can be made into a fantastic sauce.

Years ago my husband and I bought a set of stainless steel pans we saw in an infomercial with a famous chef I shall not name.  When we got the pans I used them and I was disappointing because my food kept sticking and they were very hard to clean.  I decided I was not meant to use stainless steel and switched to anodized aluminum non-stick until last year.  These past few years I have thought often about switching to stainless steel again because they are more durable and produce better results.  I had been contemplating the pans pictured above for months waiting for the right time to buy them, that came when once again my non-stick pans were scratched and the non-stick was peeling on one of them.  My husband bought me an inexpensive set of pans before we moved here, since we sold most of our kitchen wares.  I used the red pans(the reason why he chose them was the color is my favorite) for a year, not bad.  Did you know that stainless steel can be cooked in such a way as to be nonstick, I didn't switch partly because of the mess I would make of food when using them.  Click here for the best tutorial on cooking with stainless steel pans ever, she opened my eyes to the possibility of cooking.  My last concern was the clean up, I scoured the internet(like that play on words?) for a way to clean stainless steel pans and what I found was just about everyone recommends Bar Keepers Friend, you can see it here.  

I have enjoyed my cookware, it isn't as high end as All-Clad, but it cooks as well for a fraction of the cost.  Cooking eggs successfully still eludes me though.  I have seared meat and sauteed vegetables and been very happy with the results.

Homemade Mozzarella Cheese

I am on a mission to make everything we eat, crazy, I know.  I love to make food, prepare food, and eat food.  Preparing food is the one passion I can indulge in, so I indulge and everyone wins.  Making mozzarella is pretty easy, but does include a few steps that can be daunting.

You want your own homemade mozzarella?

 Ingredients for this recipe are: 1 gallon of milk (your choice, but do not pick ultra pasteurized Organic, pasteurized but not homogenized is good, raw is best), 1-2 teaspoons Kosher
Salt, 3/4 cup water, 1 1/2 teaspoons citric acid, 1/4 teaspoon vegetable rennet.

 Dissolve 1 1/2 teaspoons citric acid in 1/4 cup water in a non-reactive (stainless steel or
enamel dutch oven, non-stick) stock pot.

 Pour 1 gallon of milk into pan, turn burner on to medium low.

 Heat milk to 90 Fahrenheit, use a clip on thermometer.

Add 1/4 teaspoon vegetable rennet to 1 cup water. When milk has reached 90 Fahrenheit
remove pan from heat.  Add rennet mixture and stir milk slowly bringing spoon up and down
and in a circle motion for 30 seconds.  Bring milk to a stop with spoon, cover with lid and let
sit for five minutes.  Walk away people, walk away.

 Uncover milk and using a long metal off-set spatula or a large spatula cut the cheese
across and down in 1 inch increments.

 Turn burner on to medium heat and cook until it reaches 105 Fahrenheit.  Remove from stove.

 Pour mixture into colander placed in a large bowl. Spin the pan in a circular motion to drain whey from cheese curds.

 Place cheese in microwave safe bowl, microwave for 1 minute.

 Remove cheese from microwave and begin stretching and kneading the cheese and removing as much whey as possible.  The cheese is hot, we used gloves.

 Microwave cheese again for 35 seconds.

 Remove from bowl and stretch cheese and create a ball.

 The formed cheese.

Put cheese ball in ice water to cool.  You have successfully made cheese!

Enjoy!

Homemade Greek Yogurt

Today I made homemade yogurt. Do you like yogurt?  This is the way to go, homemade is better AND you know the ingredients, especially the sugar content.  You will need half a gallon of milk, your choice, whole, 2%, 1%, or nonfat.  Buy milk that you would drink.  You will need a yogurt starter, which is already prepared yogurt.  A single serving cup of good yogurt, not the cheap stuff.  I used Fage Greek yogurt.

Do you like Greek yogurt?

 

Ingredients for this recipe are: 6 cups milk, and single serving cup of Greek Yogurt (room temperature).  I used an 8 qt. Stainless Steel stock pot to cook the milk in, and a 1/2 gallon 

mason jar for the yogurt.

 Pour milk into cold pan, turn burner onto Medium.  Using a thermometer to guide you, heat

 the milk to 185 Fahrenheit,  when it reaches temperature maintain this temperature and 

scald the milk for 30minutes.

 

 After scalding the milk place pan in sink filled half full with water and plenty of ice.
You will need to cool your milk to 110 Fahrenheit before continuing.

Time to pitch the yogurt, put a few tablespoons of you cooled milk with the yogurt and stir.
Do this a couple more times to bring yogurt to temperature.  Pour the milk in the mason jar,
and add the yogurt to it and stir gently (not too much).

 Wrap your jar in a heating pad set to medium.  The yogurt needs to remain warm for 7 hours,
 this will produce the right amount of thickness and tang. 

 After seven hours mix the yogurt, and remove from the heat.

 Strain your yogurt in a cheesecloth lined colander over a bowl and put yogurt in an airtight
container of your choice and refrigerate.  The liquid in the bowl is Whey, you may use it in
place of liquids in a myriad of recipes, bread, pancakes, smoothies, or drink it as is.  Your
yogurt will reach its peak thickness within the first 24 hours.  

The yogurt is complete, and we didn't use any sugar, so you may add honey, jam, cut
up fruit, the choices are endless and all within your grasp.

Enjoy!

Stephanie's Kitchen Drawer: Scale

I learned the virtue of a kitchen scale years ago, but recently even more.  When I started grinding my own spelt I learned that freshly ground grains don't measure the same as flour that I purchase milled by a factory.  I stated converting the cup measurements to weight measurements using online converters, an example is here.  

On the Joy of Baking website is says "Professionals seldom measure their ingredients by volume (cups). They usually prefer measuring by weight, and there are many reasons for this. Baking is not like cooking where you can add a little extra of this ingredient or leave out that ingredient. Baking is all about precision and accuracy so that you can achieve consistent results. And there are so many variables when baking - your ingredients, how you measure your ingredients, the mixing technique, your pans, temperature and humidity, and your oven. Some of these variables are hard to control, but you can control accuracy by weighing ingredients. Unfortunately this is not always true when measuring by volume (cups), especially with dry ingredients. One excellent example is flour. If you "dip" the measuring cup into the flour bag you will get a different amount of flour than if you "spoon" the flour into your measuring cup. This is because flour tends to compact with transportation and storage and there is also the problem of humidity affecting its' density (volume). However, neither of these things will affect the weight of flour. Because a 130 grams of flour is always 130 grams of flour."  More information can be found here

The pictured scale I bought at Costco on sale for $12, it does everything you need a kitchen scale to do. It has multiple measurement choices, on/off button, and a Tare(zeros out weight) button.  I use mine to measure ingredients, also to measure dough so I can portion it equally.  I like when I make two loaves of bread to be the same amount of dough, and my tortillas all to be the same relative size.  This scale can also be found at Amazon here.http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AQMGFDI?ie=UTF8&creativeASIN=B00AQMGFDI&tag=quefoomam-20

Stephanie's Food For Thought: Coconut Oil

I started substituting coconut oil in some of my recipes for a couple of reasons.  First was I had heard it was healthy oil, second because I wanted the flavor, third because I ran out of oil or butter.  Dr. Oz wrote on his site "Studies have show that intake of coconut oil can help our bodies mount resistance to both viruses and bacteria that can cause illness. Even more, it also can help to fight off yeast, fungus and candida.  Coconut oil can also positively affect our hormones for thyroid and blood-sugar control. People who take coconut oil also tend to have improvements in how they handle blood sugar since coconut can help improve insulin use within the body. Coconut oil can boost thyroid function helping to increase metabolism, energy and endurance. It increases digestion and helps to absorb fat-soluble vitamins."  More about what he says on coconut oil can be found here.  Right now I'm not sure about feeling the health benefits for my family but I do enjoy the taste, it adds a very subtle flavor.  I buy a 54 oz container of coconut oil, the picture above is what I buy at Costco for $15. Amazon also sells it here.

Kettle Corn

My son asked for Kettle Corn a couple of weeks ago and I found a recipe and used the basics but changed it to my liking.  Today he asked for Kettle Corn again, so I obliged him, because I like it too.  My Kettle Corn ingredients include unpopped popcorn, sugar, coconut oil, and salt.  I gathered up my ingredients and my son volunteered to help.

Is your popcorn boring?

Ingredients for this recipe are: 1/4 cup of coconut oil, 1/3 cup sugar (I used turbinado sugar),
1/2 cup popcorn, salt to taste.

 I put the coconut oil, and Turbinado sugar in a tall stock pot and stir until melted.

 Add popcorn, stir and even out on the bottom, cover.  Shake pot on burner when you hear popping then cook until the kernels have all popped. 

 Put the finished Kettle Corn in a bowl and sprinkle with salt. The coconut oil does add a lovely taste, and the sugar is what makes it Kettle Corn.  This is a wonderful movie snack, a must for any movie night. 

Enjoy!

Spiced Red Chai (Roobios Herbal Tea) Latte

I had a sip of a real Chai latte when I was in college and have fantasized about them throughout the years.  It was just a lovely pumpkin pie spice flavor with so many yummy memories.  Silly really, I had a sip and that was it.  I don't drink tea, as in black, white, green. I do drink herbal tea.  I mentioned to my friend Leah that I wanted something like a Chai Tea (traditionally a black tea with spices) and she said I should try Roobios (pronounced Roy boss) Tea.  Roobios is a African herbal tea.  Recently I looked up how to make a Chai Latte and decided to use the basic idea and create a Red Chai Latte with the Roobios tea.  My ingredients include Trader Joe's brand Roobios Tea packets, hot water,  sugar, and homemade whipped cream.

Need a warm drink on this cold morning?

Ingredients for this recipe are: 1 cup hot water (I used an electric kettle), two Roobios Tea Bags (Trader Joe's), 1 tablespoon sugar (I used turbinado sugar), and 3 tablespoons of whipped
cream (homemade).

 I steeped my two tea bags in hot water for three minutes, then I pressed them against the side
of the cup using a spoon to get all the good stuff out.

 I added the sugar and the whipped cream.

Stir it together, and sip to your hearts content.  This really is a wonderful substitute for that
sip of Chai Latte I had so many years ago.  I love food memories.

Enjoy!