Ten Of My Kitchen Favorites

From kat's Kitchen

One of my favorite YouTube channels, Plain Vanilla Grandma, had a list of her favorite things in her kitchen and one of her bathroom. I thought it would be fun to do it on my blog. So here is my list and they are not in the order of what is my favorite as I could not decide what order they would go in. After writing this, I realized I could write another ten. But I will save that for another day. 

1. Duxtop Induction Cook Top

I love this and use it daily. I took all the burners off the electric stove in my kitchen and have the induction cook top on it instead. They say it uses less electric and I can't really comment on that since my electric bill is very low and I pay a set amount monthly. Your pans have to be magnetic to use on it and I have gotten rid of all mine that were not. Cast iron is, but unfortunately it is too heavy for me now. I kept my small cast iron skillet and griddle and have three other pans that are induction friendly. 

2. Nuwave Oven

The Nuwave Oven is another of my favorite small cooking appliances. It works great and can bake, toast or reheat all kinds of different foods. It can be used for baking cakes, cookies, pies, etc, Just about anything you can think of. Meats, casseroles, whatever. It too, is said to be energy efficient. I can even put a frozen piece of meat, such as a hamburger or sausage in it and it cooks it perfectly. I use it to make bacon and it comes out in flat long pieces. Just the way I like it! You can cook a whole turkey or roasting chicken in it too, though I have not done that yet.

3. Instant Pot Duo

I bought the Instant Pot before I moved here. I tried to use it a few times but it was not meant to be used with limited electric from solar panels. I see people who have solar and are living in rvs and vans use it with solar. So it is possible or newer technology helps. I use it a lot here. Cooking with it is a pleasure. Food comes out cooked perfectly (once you master using it) and fast. Not like a microwave for just reheating in a couple of minutes, but I reheat leftovers in it all the time. Does not take that long at all. 

4. The Hot Pot

The hot pot is made by a company called Dash, made in China. It is plastic but it works great. I have had it for almost two years. It heats the water super fast. I use it almost daily for making herbal teas. Anytime I need hot water for a recipe or any other reason I use this. You can also cook in it. I think it was designed for college kids to cook in their dorm rooms. I do not cook in it because I do not want it to take on the smell of food or seasoning. I bought it for heating water only.

5. Vegetable Chopper

I recently bought this vegetable chopper and I have been using it  often. The only thing I do not like about it is cleaning out the squares on the cutting blades. I have been using a toothpick to do it. If someone has a better idea, please let me know. It has made chopping onions tearless. I use it mainly for onions but you can use it for almost any vegetable to need to chop. It has two blades in different sizes. It is a good tool for preparing food and saving time. You still have to cut the onion in half or quarters to fit it into the chopper. 

7. Salad Spinner

I FINALLY found one that really works! I have tried so many of these salad spinners and they didn't really work. This one I bought a few months ago and have been happily spinning ever since. No more grit on our salad or Rabbit's kale and parsley leaves. Easy to use and well made. It is plastic and made in China. 

8. Salad Keeper

I love this so much I am thinking of buying a second one. It has a little switch to turn according to what type of vegetable you are storing in it and how much air flow, or if any, is needed. I just put it on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. Fresh produce is what I buy the most of so storing it properly is important. Rabbit and I eat a lot of fresh salad greens and herbs. This is a big help since I used to lose so much because it would go bad quickly. Now it stays fresh much longer.

9. Pantry Organizer 

In a previous post I wrote about this little space saver in Kitchen Storage Rack In A Small Kitchen. I cannot say enough good things about it! If I had a space for another one, I'd buy it in a second. It is made out of plastic but the heavy kind. As you can see, I have the quart size canning jars in it and other glass containers. No problem at all! Fits perfectly in that small space.

10. Vacuum Food Saver

It doesn't look impressive, does it? Well, I got sick and tired of the build up of frost inside those plastic freezer bags. The plastic bags for the food saver may be more money, but my opinion it is well worth it. I just can't stand seeing all the frost inside the plastic freezer bags. Now I buy the larger packages of chicken thighs and hamburger at a better price.  Then bring it home and vacuum pack the hamburger in small packages of one hamburger each. For the chicken thighs, I put two pieces in each package. I usually only eat one but like to have the other for a leftover the next day or so.

Copyright © 2020 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2020  Kathleen G. Lupole

Updated 2021

The Key To Low Carb Cooking

A Low carb supper

I am excited today because I have posted my very first guest post on another blog! Living A Changed Life is a fantastic blog written by Jennifer, who has photos showing how she lost a tremendous amount of weight! Be sure to go to her About Me page while you are there this morning to see the photos. My guest post is titled, Low Carbing And Loving It, and I'd love for my readers to stop by there and give some blog-love. Please leave a comment so I know you have been there!

The key to low carbing is to be able to cook from scratch. I have had comments about how expensive they think this way of eating is. But if you start adding up those loaves of bread, potatoes chips, potatoes, ice cream, rice and pasta, you will see a savings that can go toward the foods you thought were so expensive.

Meat is the center of a low carb meal. It doesn't have to be expensive steak. It can be cheaper cuts of meat. What you need to get started is to get some good low carb recipes and work from them. I make a variety of dishes and they are tasty and we look forward to them.

For example:

Sausage, Pepper and Onions is really good. My husband will eat the sausage as a sandwich as he does not care for peppers or onions. But it is a good low carb meal and I love it.

Chicken with hot wing sauce. We love this and have it often.

Turkey salad, this is one of those fast foods for us. Mix the turkey with mayonnaise (Yes, you can have it on low carbs and not the low fat variety!) and make a tossed salad and top your salad with the turkey salad. Mmmmm!

Pork Chops we like a lot. I cook them in my big covered roaster and they come out tender every time.

Casseroles that call for cracker or bread crumbs can still be made by substituting almond meal or flaxseed meal for the crumbs. Any recipe that calls for milk I use heavy cream for. And any recipe that calls for potatoes I use cauliflower for. I use zucchini from my garden for making many dishes, but the Zucchini Lasagna is one of my favorites by far.

I have completely banned white flour, cornstarch, and white sugar from my house. If it is not there I won't be tempted to use it. To tell the truth, the meals taste better without it. If I want gravy with my roast beef or turkey, I do what low carb chef, George Stella advises in his cookbook, Livin' Low Carb, "classic French cream reduction." That is using cream with the meat stock and some butter and reducing it to the thickness you want. A lot more taste than cornstarch or flour!

The trouble with low-fat, low calorie diets is they don't give you enough food to eat. It doesn't taste particularly good, and you feel deprived. I know, I was a Weight Watcher for many years. Lost weight, gained weight, over and over again. Now the low carb eating plan gets you into losing weight before you even realized that happened! Within the the first week, I lost 12 pounds which is unheard of for me, a slow loser. Are you a slow loser? Then you know what I am talking about. You are thankful if you've lost  a half a pound! Now I am eating bacon and eggs for breakfast and feeling better than I ever did on any diet! And losing weight too!

What is wrong with cooking from scratch? It is cheaper in the long run. My pantry seemed empty at first without the canisters and jars of flour, sugar, cornstarch, cornmeal, pastas, and don't forget rice! Everyone has to have rice, right? Not in our house. The funny thing is we ate a lot of rice and  beans before I started low carbs, then my husband admitted to me that he never really cared for them. So we easily eliminated them.

After you have gone through the Induction period, you will find that you are eating less food. Yes, you will. You will not want 4 slices of bacon, only 2. Not 3 eggs, only 1 or 2. It is how it works scientifically in your body. Everyone is different so you may need more food than the other person, but it works. Give it a try.

Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2010  Kathleen G. Lupole

Updated 2020