Wednesday, August 18, 2010

An applicance-heavy meal

We had tacos last night, and I couldn't believe how many kitchen appliances/gadgets I used to make one meal.

Pressure Cooker
I wanted to make refried beans. The recipe I use calls for 9 cups of pinto beans and takes about 3 hours. I didn't get home until 6:30pm. I couldn't wait 3 hours. In the pressure cooker, it took about 1 hour. I suppose this also includes the use of my stove, but that's a given.

Hand Blender
Once the refried beans were finished cooking, I used my hand blender to create the pureed with chunks texture it needs without transferring batches to the blender...or using a potato masher (that, funny enough, I don't even own).

Blender
I made Alton Brown's chili powder for use in the refried beans and to season the chopped beef. His recipe calls for chilies toasted with cumin, mixed with other spices, and powered in a blender. Also, I needed 1/8 c salt for my refried beans and only had corse sea salt on hand, so I used my blender to make my corse salt not corse.

Food Processor
I made Pioneer Woman's resturant style salsa to go with the tacos. I calls for dumping things in the food process and turning it on. It's easy and awesome! I haven't bought canned salsa since I first tried this recipe....for our LOST season finale party, I think.

I wish I could say that I used my salad spinner to wash the lettace, but I got it out of a bag....prewashed. :)

Ice Cream Maker
We had raspberry, vanilla ice cream with dark chocolate chips for dessert.

This applicance use seems to be a little much for one meal. But at least they aren't going to waste. And now I have 5 quarts of refried beans in my freezer for the next taco extraveganza (which, coincidentally, we don't have very often).

Do you have any kitchen appliances you just can't do without? Or any you really, really want?

3 comments:

rachel said...

I'm so glad you're blogging again. The appliance I use most is a counter top toaster/convection oven. It is so easy to preheat because of its size and is perfect for small batches of things you need to prepare for making a main dish like roasting garlic.

I haven't been an avid follower of pioneer woman, but recently revisited her site and tried her portabella sandwiches with basil mayo. YUM!

Unknown said...

OMG.. I sooo want a food processor. I am saving up for a good one that is strong enough to mix dough, and has a blender and meat-grinder attachment.

For now, I have to make do with the chopper attachment of my hand blender!

For me it's a tie between my hand blender and pressure cooker. It's getting lots of use now that I'm publishing and photographing the recipes - to my husband's delight. Isn't it like tasting food in High Definition?!?!?

http://hippressurecooking.blogspot.com/

Ohio said...

I have this food processor. My mother-in-law got it for me for Christmas (my in-laws are great gift givers) because my last one couldn't handle dough. This one is awesome, and I love it. It can handle most anything.

http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-DLC-2009CHB-Processor-Brushed-Stainless/dp/B001413A0Q/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1282319588&sr=8-4