Why can’t I just stay home and cook?
You know, I hate to be a name dropper … oh hell, no I don’t! 
For those of you who’ve seen the viral video of the little girl screaming about everything she likes, I feel like screaming:
I love my KitchenAid Stand Mixer!
I love my Cuisinart food processor!
I love my Chantal enamel on cast iron dutch oven that weighs 50 pounds!
I love my Henkel knives!
I love my Henkel garlic press!
Good tools do make a job easier and a pleasure, especially for me in the kitchen!
I tell you, making cheese cakes and pound cakes is so much easier thanks to my KitchenAid Stand Mixer. I’ve had it for at least five years, and while I am prone to invest in gadgets and tools I never or rarely use, this is not one of them. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this beautiful (it’s red) machine! I know my pound cakes and cheese cakes wouldn’t be half as good without this machine. Face it, some of us are lazy when it comes to hand mixers. We cut corners; we cheat. We don’t mix as long or as thoroughly as we should. Three packages of cream cheese can be a pain to mix, especially if we neglected to let it warm to room temperature. The same goes for butter. But my gorgeous, hulky red KitchenAid Stand Mixer is always there to rescue me! I love you, red KitchenAid Stand Mixer!! That’s why I leave you proudly displayed on my countertop, not shut away in the dark of a cabinet. You are a thing of beauty and pragmatism! You are to be admired! Red KitchenAid Stand Mixer, have I told you today that I love you? Well, I do! xoxoxo
Cuisinart Food Processor: I’m still getting to know you, but I think I’m falling in love with you, too! Even though I have awesome Henkel knives, I’ve never quite learned how to cut an onion properly. Oh, I can slice and dice a little, but I’ve never gotten the hang of cutting an onion in tiny, perfect pieces – you know, like perfect hotdog onions? But guess what? My Cuisinart Food Processor does it in seconds! As long as I remember to unplug when handling, this is a much safer way for me to get the consistency I want regarding onions.
Speaking of consistency – another thing I learned today while making heavenly spaghetti sauce is that I can use the pulse feature on the Cuisinart to make ground beef the consistency of Jim’s spaghetti sauce. You see, I’m very sensitive to texture. One of the reasons I don’t really like ground beef/hamburger, especially crumbled, is the texture. (Well, that and the fact that I grew up on a farm where we had our own beef supply and ate a lot of it – until everybody learned that copious amounts of red meat isn’t good for you. Even as little kids, my brothers and I could have whole steaks to ourselves! We always had to split a bottle of Pepsi, but we could have huge, delicious steaks all to ourselves! But, we also had a lot of hamburger – ugh!) Similarly, I like the taste of cottage cheese, but the texture grosses me out. Well, I’ve always admired the texture of Jim’s spaghetti sauce. I know some people turn their noses up to its taste, but I do like the texture – the fact that the meat is so fine, no globs or discernible crumbles, just smooth! Well, hallelujah, I just replicated the texture thanks to my Cuisinart! I lightly browned the hamburger (which came from my brother’s farm) – not too much, just enough to get the pink off. Then I drained it and put it in the Cuisinart for a quick bit of pulsing. It worked beautifully!!
Now, it’s simmering in my lovely, heavy-as-an-anvil, red enamel on cast iron Chantal Dutch Oven. God, it smells good! I’m using my brother’s recipe for spaghetti – yes, my brother! Both of my brothers, my mom and my dad are excellent cooks! So, Kent’s recipe includes tomato sauce, tomato paste, lots of chili powder, oregano, basil, marjoram, a little salt, pepper (I use cayenne instead of black), minced garlic cloves (thank you Henkel garlic press), mushrooms, onions (diced perfectly thanks to you, Cuisinart), brown sugar, a little vinegar or wine, a couple of bay leaves and some paprika. I’ll boil some angel hair pasta shortly, but I honestly could just eat this on some good bread! Yum!
And then, for dessert – pound cake – thank you KichenAid Stand Mixer!
I love quiet, lazy days like this when I can cook leisurely. Tomorrow, it’s back to work. Why can’t I just stay home and cook?
I dream of a kitchen aid. But totally agree about cast iron. I use cast iron everything!!!
Do you fry chicken in a cast iron skillet?