This week's Kitchen Cure assignment is the last one. It's designed to get your pantry restocked with any basics you need, and also any tools or cookware you may be lacking. It's time to get revved up for holiday cooking, and this is your chance to make sure your arsenal is complete. What do you need to replace or supply in your kitchen?
Do you perhaps need a good knife or two? Or do you need to stock up on organic chicken stock for fall soups? Do you think now is the time to reward your hard work with a shiny new Dutch oven? Or a little stash of really good chocolate for baking (and snacking)?
What do you need to restock and resupply, and do you need any advice? If you're looking for something in particular tell us! We'll try to get a good post with suggestions up this week.
Kitchen Cure Assignment #4: Kitchen Cure Week #4: Restocking Ingredients and Tools
(Image: Faith Durand)
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A pastry cutter! Just made a pumpkin pie and cutting butter with a fork and knife is a lot less fun than doing it with a pastry cutter. Not to mention that the tool doubles up to mash bananas for banana bread or potatoes.
I'm not officially doing the cure--I only moved into my apartment a year ago and my kitchen's in pretty good shape--but I restocked my spice collection over the weekend. I made the pilgrimage to my closest Penzey's in Santa Monica and indulged. Talk about a wonderful-smelling way to spend a Sunday morning! Now I'm all set to bake and roast my way through the holidays.
Everything. I really want to organize my drawers and cabinets so that everything has a place. And then I am short a couple of appliances. And for some reason I bought bowls when we moved in and I have no bowls. My silverware is dwindling and I can't figure out if the dishwasher is eating them or my husband and child aren't getting enough to eat and they decided to eat the silverware too.
I desperately need a magnetic strip for the wall to hold my knives, a decent steel, and at least one more good knife though I'm not sure what size to get. I have a utility knife and a vegetable cleaver atm.
sweettooth101, are you sure you want to get a pastry cutter/blender? I found that I never used my pastryblender. Cleaning between the cutters/wires was a pain and it took up too much space in my drawer. Perhaps you have a really good model in mind though?
Now I just use my bench cutter to cut in butter by hand. It works really well, takes up less space, and is a great multi-tasker.
here are my thoughts on a pastry cutter: grate your butter with a cheese grater. smile at your genius in multitasking your handtools.
also --
I need that in-drawer knife block! I have been keeping my good knives in the cardboard sleeve they came in since i don't have the counter space for a block. That thing is brilliant!
a cracked bowl, a pressure cooker and an ice cube tray to make jewel-shaped ice cubes went out ... now I'm planning on a baking tray to make vegetable muffins! silicone or metal, that is the question. any recommendations/warnings?
I finally got rid of some kitchen "junk" and purchased a new Breville countertop oven to replace my old one - it's bigger but so well designed the counter looks less! cluttered. I also decided to quit letting my kitchenaid mixer just "stand" there and purchased the attachment set for it - getting rid of the junk made room for these much more useful items.
I would love some new silent cabinets and drawers. A new stand mixer sounds great too!
And only 2 things could make my kitchen better: more space and less ugliness. In the absence of money: mission impossible! And i LOVE to cook!
Where did that knife tidy in the pic come from? I've been looking for a good drawer organiser for knives and haven't found a good one yet. Thanks!
Marmite
That knife organizer also caught my eye. It's on the Sur La Table website.
http://www.surlatable.com/product/cutlery/blocks %26 storage/sur la table in-drawer knife block.do?sortby=ourPicks
Now if I only had more than one big drawer in my kitchen. :)
I just made myself a kitchen wishlist! My kitchen is fairly spare but I cook a lot. On the top of my list are a knife sharpener, a good chef's knife, a medium sized pot/small stock pot, and cookie sheets, as mine are warped and blackened with oil (made the mistake of seasoning cast iron over the sheets without protecting them with foil).
i feel like more dishes are in order. maybe more colors? we've been doing all white for a while and i'm feeling the need for some more bright. also, a waffle thingy-ma-bob. we love making pancakes, but suspect that waffles would be a huge hit in the house. they may freeze well, too. fancying up weekday breakfast with homemade (defrosted) waffles would win me some major points with the groggy fans! suggestions for one that isn't uber-expensive, but still worth getting?
aneelee you just blew my mind with the frozen waffle idea... that is brilliant.
With all the recent hullabaloo about making cookies, brownies, and even bacon in a waffle maker, you'd really earn some points!
Ooo, and now this!
http://lifehacker.com/5408949/use-a-waffle-maker-to-roll-your-own-pizza-pockets
i would still welcome waffle iron suggestions with open arms. :)
Just like KitchensPro, I have been eager to finally get some hardware to quiet all the banging in my kitchen. Bought some great cushion close dampers at www.SilentCabinets.com that I just installed. What a difference! Now I just need to find some for my drawers - although most that I've seen are way more expensive so don't know if I'll end up having my dream quiet kitchen :(
@froggiegirl - thanks! good find.