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From Talk

Ice Cream maker?

I also have the KA attachment and I absolutely love it. I keep it stored in the freezer. Here it is in action.

From Talk

Homemade ice cream/gelato/sorbet

Please go out and purchase the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Book and the Williams-Sonoma book. You'll be set forever. I usually start with the B&J sweet cream base (it uses raw eggs) and take it from there. My favorites are Cherry Garcia, sweet potato pie and coconut. Cherry Garcia is in the B&J book. For sweet potato pie, just add sweet potato pie filling until the ice cream turns a nice peachy color. For coconut, I add coconut extract, coconut milk and toasted coconut. I'm sorry I don't have more precise directions -- I never measure.

From Talk

Canned Crab Meat? Cheaper seafood options for cooking at home.

I love canned crab! I use it for crab cakes and tossed with a little butter and garlic. Canned salmon is good too. Start at Costco (Friday and Saturday there are seafood specials) and Trader Joe's and you can't go wrong.

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Air-Dry A Turkey?

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From Talk

Ice Cream maker?

I also have the KA attachment and I absolutely love it. I keep it stored in the freezer. Here it is in action.

From Talk

Homemade ice cream/gelato/sorbet

Please go out and purchase the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Book and the Williams-Sonoma book. You'll be set forever. I usually start with the B&J sweet cream base (it uses raw eggs) and take it from there. My favorites are Cherry Garcia, sweet potato pie and coconut. Cherry Garcia is in the B&J book. For sweet potato pie, just add sweet potato pie filling until the ice cream turns a nice peachy color. For coconut, I add coconut extract, coconut milk and toasted coconut. I'm sorry I don't have more precise directions -- I never measure.

From Talk

Canned Crab Meat? Cheaper seafood options for cooking at home.

I love canned crab! I use it for crab cakes and tossed with a little butter and garlic. Canned salmon is good too. Start at Costco (Friday and Saturday there are seafood specials) and Trader Joe's and you can't go wrong.

From Talk

I need an all-round pan

12-in cast iron skillet w/ cover or an enameled cast iron Dutch oven. My aunt found a great Dutch oven at Target. You'll find it easier to cook delicate things that stick (like eggs or fish) in the plain cast iron. You just can cook a lot of acidic stuff in it. With the enameled Dutch oven, you'll need to use a little more oil. However, you can use it for soups and stews w/o having to worry about acidic foods. Cleaning it will also be a lot easier.

From Talk

Where's your Fave Place to Shop for Kitchen/cooking Equipment?

I never really thought about this, but I start at Williams-Sonoma. However, if Amazon has it, I will order it from them. Between Williams-Sonoma and Sur La Table, again I start at W-S because it's more convenient. What I've found is that Sur La Table has a better selection of certain things (like cake decorating tools and supplies). Can you tell I'm addicted to high-end kitchen gadgets?

From Talk

S.E. Efforts: really sturdy, nice grinding salt and pepper mills

Unicorn Magnum for pepper. My salt mill rarely gets used, so I can't provide a qualified recommendation.

From Talk

What should I do with 5 pounds of arugula?

Tosed with shaved fennel and blood orange for a salad with zip. Use a citrus vinaigrette (the blood orang juice makes an excellent one).

From Talk

The Better Kitchen Toy

I promise you won't regret getting the FP first. It's so much more versatile.

From Talk

Cookie Dough Recipe

Sugar! Cook's Illustrated has a great one that is perfect for cut outs (ignore my poor decorating skills). It's their Glazed Butter Cookie recipe. CI is one of the companies that will send you a nice letter for publishing their recipe, so I didn't put it on my blog. You can get it from their website or in Baking Illustrated.

http://nujoiskitchendiary.blogspot.com/2007/12/cookie-rush.html

From Talk

How do you eat for a week for $50?

I echo the well-stocked pantry theme. If you are starting with bare cubbards, try to buy a few staples each week. On $50 a week, which is my budget by default, I do big pots of stuff that can be portioned out over the week - red beans and rice, black-eyed peas and rice, black bean soup, butternut squash soup, chili, spaghetti, etc. I can eat breakfast at any time of the day, so I always have eggs around. I'm loving pasta cabonara right now, which gives me another way to make breakfast for dinner.

I don't eat red meat or pork. I buy my poultry and fish in bulk from Costco. If a warehouse club isn't an option, look to the bulk meat packages in the grocery store. I buy frozen veggies from Trader Joe's, most are less than $2 a bag with five servings per bag. (Working with a budget really helps you understand portion control.) I do incorporate whole wheat and brown grains where possible, so that I can feel fuller on less.

When you first start off, you may have to sacrifice as you build your stores up. Eventually, you'll be able to eat the way you want (as long as you don't mind cooking.)

Good luck!

From Talk

KA Fruit Veggie Strainer Accessory

It rocks for applesauce. I didn't like it for tomato sauce, but my expectations may have been unreasonable. I got tomato juice; I was expecting something thicker.

From Talk

Advice needed on best electric stand mixer

My mixer, Old Faithful, is a KitchenAid Professional model. I bought it right before KA revamped the line -- I got it for $220 at Costco, but it has less power than the current Artisans.

I wanted something from the Professional series because of the bowl-lift and metal attachments. I liked the fact the bowl-lift version looked like what I saw in commercial kitchens. My Aunt's Artisan is year's younger than mine, gets much less use and she's already looking for another plastic paddle.

The attachments alone make KA the only model worth considering. I speak from experience: the ice cream maker, pasta roller and cutters, can opener and meat grinder are wonderful. You can do without the pasta plates. The food strainer is cool too.

With the pasta plates (and I think I got them on clearance at Target) came these wonderful clamps that keep the mixer from walking across the counter. (They either came with the pasta plates or the pasta roller and cutters.) They clamp to each of the pegs the bowl sits on.

KA's customer service on the mixers rocks. My model was a display model and was missing the hub cover; KA sent me on for free. Later, I stripped the screw that holds attachments into the hub; KA sent me a free replacement. I think I was one of the earlier people to get the ice cream attachment or maybe the first one to call about a discrepancy in the instructions. The rep sorted everything out for me.

If I had it to do all over again, and I probably won't in this lifetime; I'd still get a KitchenAid Professional model.

From Talk

party food

Cheese straws! Cheese, butter, flour, salt and pepper. You'll be loved forever. I like Paula Deen's recipe.

From Talk

How to roast a chicken?

I brine all poultry. I generally don't use a thermometer to tell when chicken is done. When it's ready, the juices will run clear. I'm also a believe in the Paula Deen method -- shake the bird's hand (wing and drumstick)! If they wiggle easily, the bird is done.

Here's my roasted chicken recipe:

@stratusgd's brick chicken idea is a great option. I use Tyler Florence's recipe.

Good luck!

From Talk

Cookie Pans

I'm a huge Silpat fan. If you don't use a knife on it, you'll have it forever. I have parchment too, but I'm just lazy enough to think it's too much work. The Silpats fit my pans exactly.

From Talk

What Should I Make to Accompany Mac and Cheese

Roasted chicken and roasted broccoli are my picks. Until you know him better, be conservative and plan a full meal. You'd rather him be overwhelmed than underwhelmed.

From Talk

homemade pasta

I'm a big fan of the KitchenAid Pasta attachments. I use the roller and cutters often. There's a new pasta attachment at Williams-Sonoma. I haven't gotten it yet, but I've got my eye one it.

Here are the roller and cutter in action:

http://nujoiskitchendiary.vox.com/library/post/6a0110186d6cbf860f01101693059f860c.html

From Talk

Croissant Recipe

@tenille10, Please let us know how they turn out. I still have pie crust moments, so I have to live vicariously through you.

From Talk

Biscuit modifications:

After 35 years, I figured out the secret to biscuits: buttermilk, food processor and White Lilly Flour:

Redemption Biscuits

Good luck!

From Talk

Help! Thanksgiving Appetizer

Homemade spiced nuts with fruit and cheese tray.

From Talk

Suggestions for a reliable kitchen scale

I highly recommend the OXO scale. I've had mine for a few weeks and I love it!!!! It's very accurate and precise. It measures individual grams. (My previous scale measured in 5 gram increments.)

From Talk

What is your must have kitchen equipment or tool?

Shun chef's knife. It's not the one I use most often, but it's bigger than the santoku. I'd rather have a knife that's too big for a job than one that's too small.

@BangieB, I do love my silicone spatula/scraper. However, when used properly, it leaves no excuse for licking the bowl because it gets everything out. I'm glad my mama didn't have one when I was little!

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About NuJoi

Website: http://nujoiskitchendiary.blogspot.com/

Location: Chicago

About: I have a sincere culinary passion. I am addicted to good cookbooks, cookware, appliances and gadgets. I’ve written more than 200 kitchen reviews on Amazon.com! I think I may have a future in culinary marketing..

Favorite foods: olives, cheese, dressing, anything with butter, flour and sugar

Last bite on earth: Believe it or not, a thin-cut fried pork chop on white bread with Heinz 57 Sauce. I gave up red meat and pork more than 10 years ago, but I have a special place in my heart for a pork chop sandwich!