Kitchen Must Haves..Sharp Knives

Every Kitchen Must Have Sharp Knives. Dull knives drive me crazy. You also do not need to be equipped with 10+ to have what you need.
I have owned Cutco, Pampered Chef, Henckel, and numerous other brands of knives but about two years ago I found the ones I find to be the best for home use. I also use them commercially but that's a completely different arena knife wise so we will stick to home use.

The knives I use are made by Victorinox and have a lifetime guarantee. They are NSF rated so they are completely versatile in what you can use them for. NSF stands for National Sanitation Foundation and they rate different kitchen products based on food safety regulations. This is a great thing to look for in kitchen supplies, it also pertains to how well things can be cleaned. Knives especially need to be able to be completely sanitized in between uses, especially after contact with raw meat.

Why don't I show you what I have...

Victorinox Santoku Knife
This knife is really nice for making thin slices, chopping (the design of the blade allows for fast chopping because of its ability to rock), I have broken down chickens with it, and slicing. This is also a great knife for fish filleting. It is a fabulous all-purpose knife.


Victorinox 8inch chefs knife
This knife is amazing. It can do anything mince, chop, dice,etc. I love it because it has a nice think sturdy blade which makes it nice for dealing with big hunks of meat, potatoes and the like.


Victorinox Bread Knife
Everyone should have a great bread knife. A sharp bread knife makes bread cutting a whiz, you can also use a bread knife for flaky pastries, or anything else with a crusty outside and soft inside.

All of these knives are on sale on Amazon right now. We purchased mine in Fairhaven at Pacific Chef.

Every kitchen should have a couple of paring knives as well, brand and quality doesn't really matter though because you can really use them and abuse them and get a new one. You can usually find a decent paring knife for under $10 so just pick one you like.

Remember a dull knife is a dangerous knife. So sharpening is very important. In a normal house you can probably get them sharpened every year to 18 months. In our kitchen we get them sharpened every 2-3 months and during wedding season we get them sharpened every month. It only costs $2-3 a knife to have them sharpened so it is really a small price to pay to keep your knives in good working order. I have a knife guy his name is Elmer....if you need help in that department let me know I can get you his info.

Last little tidbit on knives. Storage......knives should not be thrown in a jumbled drawn. As they rub up against each other the blade dull. I know knife storage can be tricky especially with little ones in the house so I have two recommendations. One is a magnetic strip that you can hang on the wall (not the kid friendly option), or in a knife roll that you can keep on a high shelf or in your pantry. At work we use a magnetic strip and at home I use my knife roll.

This cute little guy is mine. They make them in all sorts of colors and sizes. Most basic ones can be purchased for under $20.

So here's to having sharp knives. I promise a sharp knife in your kitchen will change your world.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

BIG WINNER!

Yeah Julie you won the cookie scoop. I know you said you were going to gift it your mom if you won, and since she is one of my favorite people in the world, I am so happy you won. I will get this to you on Wednesday.

Thanks for reading kitchen must haves!!

Kitchen Must Haves + A Giveaway

I am so excited for this weeks kitchen must haves. Homemade baking is something that speaks to my heart. I have fond memories of my grandma's home made cookies cooling on the counter waiting patiently to be devoured by tiny mouths. I also remember my grandma scrub my fave with a dish cloth until my skin hurt, cleanliness is close to Godliness right.

So we do a lot of baking around here especially cookies and thought that maybe sharing my cookie baking must haves would be a good topic for today. Including a new recipe find.

Here are two of the tools I use when baking cookies.


The colored mats are silicone baking mats that I use in place of parchment paper. I find they help with more even baking and I at they same time they keep the cookies from sticking to the pan, the cookies just slide right off. The other nice thing about the baking sheets is they are reusable for an amazing amount. I have read that you can use them 100's of times before needing to be replaced. When cleaning you just wipe they with a damp cloth and most everything disappears. For stickier uses such as meringue cookies or something with lots of chocolate you may need to use some warm soapy water, however no scrubbing needed

The second tool I find to be a kitchen must have is a cookie scoop. Pictured above is an OXO brand cookie scoop that my Grandma gave me years ago. I heart this tool. It makes all of your cookies the same uniform size and prevents the rogue extra large cookie from crowding its neighbors space. This also helps all of your cookies take the same amount of time to bake.

The last piece of info will answer a question I get a lot....what type of cookie sheets do you use. There are 100's of types of baking sheets out there and I have tried a number of them, however I have completely switched to a plain jane commercial style cookie sheet. You can get them at any wholesale market, in our area I get them from cash and carry. They are not fancy by any means, just plain stainless steel. I like this because you can scrub them down without ruining the surface and they are good to go for the next time. They also work for many other cooking needs.

The giveaway item is a brand new OXO Cookie Scoop . Hope you are excited, if you don't use one already it will change the way you make cookies for sure.


So that leads us to the give away and rules for winning. You can enter in one or both of the following ways.
1- Leave a comment telling me what your favorite kind of cookie is. Leave your email so that I can get back to you if you win.
2-For an extra entry- Post about the giveaway on your blog.
Any one is eligible to win and I will ship the cookie scoop to whoever the lucky winner is.
By the way I will allow entries until Saturday at 4pm Pacific time.

And as promised my new favorite cookie recipe.
I am calling it the Triple Threat.

Triple Threat Cookies
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 sticks butter softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 tblsp vanilla
3/4 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
8 oz of chocolate chips
8 oz chocolate chips - crushed up

in a food processor or blender grind up 1 cup of the oatmeal.

Combine - Oats, flour baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Cream Together - butter and sugar until light and fluffy ( I usually turn on a timer for 5 minutes) and then beat in canilla and peanut butter. Add eggs one at a time.

Gradually blend in Flour mixture.

Add Chocolate Chips, beat just until combined.

Chill cookie dough for 1-2 hours.

Form into balls smashing slightly (perfect time to use your cookie scoop).

Bake at 325 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Enjoy and good luck to whoever wins.

Kitchen Must Haves A Few Days Late

Originally I was in a dream world that included me blogging on Thursday. However the procedure I had on Tuesday had different ideas. Wisdom Teeth removal is not fun however after a follow up visit with the dentist yesterday, and a quick idea on how to correct a painful situation I am close to on top of the world this morning.

So wait no longer.....kitchen must haves is on the topic of oils:) I know everyone is excited. But I know from experience there are a lot of oil out there derived from different things and they really all do hold unique purpose and ability.

I am going to cover four today, however I would be more than happy to answer questions on any oil..just let me know.

First up Olive Oil.

Now there are many types of olive oil - Virgin, Extra Virgin,Pure, Pomace, and a few others. If you see the word virgin in association with olive oil it just simply means there were no chemicals used in the making or extraction of the oil from the olives. Pure Olive oil is a bit more misleading, it is usually a blend of chemically treated olive oil and virgin olive oil. They chemically treat t to give the olive oil a more neutral flavor. Olive Oil with the word Pomace associated with it is oil that has been extracted from the solid parts of the olive, normally they balance it with some virgin olive oil.

I know this is very exciting already but now I am going to tell you what and what not to use olive oil for. Please use olive oil in salad dressings, sauces, soups, and the like. you may also use it in sauteing.....not frying. The temperature should never be high when using olive oil because olive oil burns and can put off a rancid taste. However this being said if you want to use olive oil at a higher heat a Pomace based olive works wonders.

Dates do matter on most oils, they can go rancid. Best to store oils in darker glass bottles in a dark cupboard or space. Light and heat will make your oils spoil faster.

Vegetable Oil is second on our list.

Vegetable oil comes from plants. Being that vegetable oil is flavorless it is perfect to be used in baking. Most recipes for cupcakes or cakes or even some cookies, quick breads and the like call for vegetable oil for this exact reason. It does not provide some of the same health benefits as olive oil or the others, but it stills serve a purpose. so when a recipe calls for it specifically use it unless you don't mind the flavor of olive oil in your baked goods, which there are plenty of recipes for. Vegetable oil can also be used for frying because it can withstand high heat. I keep it on hand it gets used often.

Vegetable oil has been getting a bad wrap for ages....just don't bathe in it or drink you will be fine:)

Peanut Oil is the last oil up to bat . I actually use Peanut Oil for frying because it gives off a nutty flavor and I think it also make things a bit crunchier when frying. You do however need to be careful if using this and you are not aware of any of your dinner guests possible foo allergies. They say people with nut allergies are usually not affected by peanut oil unless its cold pressed oil...which who really wants to find out if its cold pressed or not, so my advice is to avoid if you know someone with peanut allergies. SO make some french fries and enjoy:)

Lastly my friend Sesame Oil. YUM!

Although Sesame Oil is most often used in Asian dishes, I do not like to classify ingredients like that so much, so I say you never know until you try. I use Sesame Oil to saute, in marinades, in sauces, for frying...you can pretty much use it for anything and the flavor is amazing. If you are going to use it to fry use a light Sesame Oil, because it has a higher smoking point then the dark. However I find the dark much more flavorful, so I keep both on hand. A stir fry dish is best place to use this for the first time.

And lastly the secret weapon....Bacon Fat. One last little tip when searing meat I use bacon fat that I have reserved from the breakfast menu on many occasions. It doesn't take much and it will kick up the flavor ten fold. You can keep it in a plastic lidded container in the fridge and it keeps for quite awhile. Its a kitchen trick when you go to a restaurant and order a large piece of meat this is no doubt what they use to give it the flavor. They even will use it in chicken dishes.

Hope this was helpful. Thanks Lea for the idea and the delicious bottle of olive oil.

Next week we are going to have a give away attached to the kitchen must have, so check back to find out how to participate.

Must Have Kitchen Goods

So I interrupt our normal posting to announce a new segment on the Jager blog.

Must Have Kitchen Goods

Each week I will share one of my must have kitchen goods. I am labeling them goods so I have the freedom to share a gadget, pantry item or the like at my free will. Some will be silly, some will be handy, some will be tasty, some will be cheap and others won't. I would also love to start reviewing some kitchen items so I might incorporate that as well. Feel free to leave questions about particular items,have a gadget that you have never used because you don't know how to use it, have a recipe that never works but you want to figure it out (I might be able to help)...the lines are open any food related question will be answered.

This first item is a cheese grater, I own 4 cheese graters(I have a problem), up until a year ago I disliked them all. I found them hard to clean, hard to hold onto in use, and messy.

When moving my Grandma into a new apartment this past year she passed on a cheese grater she had gotten from my aunt and never used, I think she called it silly.? And for a family of 1 or 2 that doesn't need a lot of grated cheese she is probably right. However in our house we use lots of grated cheese so this thing is real handy.

This grater is from IKEA and it is a handy little guy that sits on the counter top in use (solving the hard to hold onto problem). The best part is the cheese falls right into the little detachable bowl, so no need to dirty extra plates or cutting boards in the prep process. I have also found it extremely easy to clean with the ability to pop off the top you can just spray it off and throw it into the dishwasher, no need to fear for your hand while reaching down into the depths of the grater. On top of this I saw the new ones have a lid as well giving you the option to store grated cheese in the container portion.


Unfortunately I have no idea how much it costs, but being from IKEA it can't cost much.

Sometimes it is the simplest things that make your life easier...this is one of them!