Wine Aerator & Tomato Knife

Rio Seco Malbec

Every few months I'll order wine from the internet. This bottle came from the latest shipment. I'll order if it comes to less than $10/bottle. All of them have been okay, not outstanding. The only company that I didn't like the majority of the wines was Giordano Winery. This Rio Seco Malbec was more enjoyable after being put through this aerator:

Wine Aerator

Before the aerator the wine tasted a bit like cough medicine. After it was drinkable, but I wouldn't but it again. I did use it in my meatloaf and it worked well in there. As for the aerator, I definitely notice a difference when using it. What I do is pour about half an ounce without the aerator and sip. If I'm unsure about the taste I put another half an ounce through the aerator and compare. The majority of the time I prefer the aerated version. I enjoy using it. With the particular aerator, I did have some staining on the white paper that you can see on the inner ring. It didn't bother me, but thought you should know.
Another thought regarding liquor...I'm in the midst of trying to lose some weight and don't want to give up on my alcohol consumption. I've already conceded to not drinking during the week (well, mostly). I also read any article I come across on the subject. I found the below article pretty helpful so thought I would pass it along:
Everyday Health Alcohol article
Now, on to today's gadget...

Pampered Chef Tomato Knife

I used to never eat tomatoes. I grew up eating only ketchup and tomato sauce for pasta. However, since being on the South Beach diet I have learned to enjoy tomatoes. Well, they do say your taste buds change every seven years, right? I started to like tomatoes in my scrambled eggs and even used them to replace eating ketchup with my eggs. After realizing I now like tomatoes I became jealous of my mother's tomato knife. I learned that it cut so easily through the skin of the tomato. Once I received my own knife, it cut the tomato so thin! It comes with its own protective sleeve. Though I just got my own tomato knife, my mother has had her own for a few years and it is still as sharp.

Just the right size

If you eat a lot of tomatoes I highly recommend this knife. It particularly comes in handy if you are using tomato slices for presentation.
- C

Wok This Way

First things first, I hate to cook.  Loathe it actually.  The fact that I actually have to plan meals kills my spirit....just a little bit.  However, I'm forced to do it because otherwise my kids would only eat ice cream, peanut butter crackers, pretzels, Kit Kats, and cookies.

I really shouldn't have this stuff in my house :-p

This really sounds like the perfect menu to me but kids on sugar highs, and then lows, are probably worse than cooking.  I can usually tolerate the regular kid craziness and chitter chatter with a glass of wine at the end of the day but sugar filled days make kids insane.   If you haven't experienced this it's a little bit like the movie The Exorcist.  Spinning head & all.  There's only so much of that my mind can take before I finish the bottle of wine. 

Doesn't this look heavenly?

So, since I'm not really interested in becoming an alcoholic, I have to cook. My goals for each meal (besides being tasty, healthy, blah, blah, blah...) are for them to be at least one of four things:

*Quick as possible - No matter what time I start dinner or how much they have eaten that day, the kids are always starving to death the second I start preparing to cook.

*Fun to make or eat - Kids like fun foods & making cooking fun takes the chore out of it.

*Have very little clean up - Really, who likes to do this?!

*Something everyone will eat - I hate waste more than I hate cooking.

If, by some miracle, the meal ends up being all of these things then we are probably eating out ;-)

I had a little taste for fried rice one day and decided to try the Asian Chicken Helper: Chicken Fried Rice.  I'm not really a fan of Hamburger Helper but was interested when I saw this.

I actually used the gluten free version!

To spice up this evenings meal, I decided to throw the fried rice mix in my electric wok instead of cooking on the stove top.  I omitted the chicken since I was using this as a side dish and making chicken tenderloins to go with it.  My Aroma brand electric wok is fantastic because it's huge!

I don't think I've ever come close to running out of room in it.  We can fill it with many vegetables and chicken and still have room to stir freely!  It heats up fast and the dial allows you to adjust the heat and retain a consistent heat level throughout cooking.  The handles, and even the wok itself, stay cool to the touch reducing the risk of burns. The big dome lid allows you to cover while cooking to retain heat and reduce splatter mess.  It's also easy to clean because of it's nonstick coating!   

A fun, easy, kitchen gadget that reduces mess?!  It could only be better if it actually prepared and served the meals itself!!  (Someone really needs to invent a robot for this.)

Even though the Asian Helper Chicken Fried Rice was very easy to make, it wasn't a big hit.  Maybe it was because I didn't add the chicken, I don't know. The kids didn't like it and complained about the smell. I'm big on taste and even more on smell and something just always seems "off" with these to me.  Unfortunately, I won't be buying it again and it pretty much solidified the fact that I just don't enjoy the "Helper" line.

The wok I love though ;-) 

Has anyone used an electric wok before?  What do you think?

-E

  

Avocado Tools

Pama Margarita

Pama Margarita 

2.5oz Pama Pomegranate
1oz Cabo Wabo tequila
.5oz triple sec
Dash each lime juice & simple syrup

Shake & pour over ice. Great mix of flavors. Not too tart. Would try blended. 4:5 Sworded Olives. #SwordedOlives

And what goes with margaritas? Guacamole! Hence, our avocado theme. 

My favorite guacamole recipe is two avocados mixed with one packet of Simply Organic guacamole mix. Then refrigerate for 30 minutes. 

Avocado Corer/Slicer

After cutting your avocado in half the first thing you have to do is remove the pit. The left side of this tool scoops out your pit. A necessary gadget? No. Fun? Sure. The left side of the tool is the avocado slicer. The avocado has to be at the just right consistency for this to work effectively. It can't be too hard or too firm, but makes good slices for salad. 

Avocado Scooper

For guacamole I needed the entire avocado so I used this avocado scooper. The very end is tilted up just enough to slide in-between the skin and flesh to separate the two and pop out the flesh with very little lost, stuck to the skin. This also may seem like an unneeded gadget, but I have to say it works well and eliminates any struggle to get all of the avocado. 

Avocado Storage

Though I used two entire avocados for my guacamole I wanted to include all my avocado tools in one post. This is for avocado storage, when you only use one half. The top, dark green strap secures your half avocado in like a seat belt! You can see the dent just underneath the strap, this is for your pit. Keep the pit with the avocado half and it will not spoil as quickly.
- C

Coors Bottle Opener

Bottle Opener

This review combined our drink with a gadget! We've all been there - you're out at the bar and you see the promotion girls coming around. For some reason, no matter the liquor or the swag you feel compelled to own it! This is how I came into possession of the Coors Light bottle opener. It stays wrapped around a magnet on my refrigerator, always at the ready. I was able to remove the cap on this bottle of Stella in one swift move. This is one of the very few liquor promotion products I 1. still own and 2. find useful!
*Note I bought this 12 pack of Stella in order to get the free engraved Chalice. I haven't ordered it yet, but am looking forward to it! I will report back on that one.
- C

Pie Pop Maker

No drink with the first part of this review because I was at work, but I threw in the airplane bottles for good measure!

A good friend and colleague had her last day in my office last week. What a great reason to break out the Babycakes pie pop maker!! We decided on a dessert themed treat - S'mores Pie Pops!

All the ingredients were at the ready!

The recipe called for one mini marshmallow and 2 chocolate chips, but after the first batch we increased it to 2 marshmallows and 3 chips for more flavor to balance out the pie crust. You need to be careful though that the ingredients inside the pop aren't too heavy or else it falls down (see picture above, in the back!). By sticking the marshmallow through the pop stick it helps to weigh it down and keep it in place. The pops cook quickly, only 2-3 minutes which is great. I found the pie crusts grease the tray and there was no need for spray or butter. The pops themselves are best warm though, so it is hard to make ahead and travel with them. One idea is to have a pie pop bar where you have out many different ingredients and guests can make their own pop fresh. In fact, as we were enjoying our s'mores pie pops the idea was thrown out there for pb&j pops. So, we tried those as well! Both types were quite tasty. Here is a closer look at the machine:

We made six pops at a time

I wish the pops were just a little bigger/deeper for more ingredients. The cutter for the crust (seen to the right of the crust in picture two) works very well and really makes the perfect size. I enjoyed this experience enough that I was inspired to bring the idea to Easter where I was charged with bringing appetizers.

Easter Wine!

This Liberty Creek cabernet sauvignon was enjoyable. It was very smooth and not too dry. It was pleasant with appetizers and dinner.

Mini Calzones!

Yes, that's right - mini calzones! We left the popsicle stick out of this recipe. I used pizza dough instead of pie crust. I learned one lesson though - don't precut the pizza crust circles. I precut the circles and put them in tupperware thinking I would save time. However, when I went to put them in the machine they had shrunk a little bit and I had to stretch them out (hence why they look a little misshapen in the picture). Inside is one piece of pepperoni, a small spoonful of tomato sauce and a small drizzle of shredded mozzarella cheese. These were served fresh and were a big hit with kids and adults! We also served tomato sauce on the side.

*The machine did spark once while it was plugged in at my office, but I blame that on my office as it didn't occur at all over Easter.

***Update!! One week after the mini calzones, I saw a family member who had enjoyed them (at least that day and seemingly in taste only)!. She had bitten into a calzone and some of the cheese dripped onto her chin. She ended up getting treatment for second and third degree burns. Lesson learned - wait for items to cool before serving.
- C

Olive Slicer and Tomato Corer

Pama Martini

Pama Martini 

1.5oz each of Pama Pomegranate & Skyy vodka
.25oz triple sec
Shake with ice and strain into a martini glass with lemon zest (as obvious above, I need to improve my zesting skills!).
This drink is a bit too sweet. Try adding .5oz cranberry juice to make the pomegranate flavor pop!

Now, on to our tools...

 Egg Slicer

So today I was making a taco salad that called for chopped black olives. I didn't feel like using the knife and decided to try my hard boiled egg slicer. I was able to fit three olives at a time. This device opens so you can place the egg (or olives) into the 'nest' and then you close the wire top over it. It worked well for making chunky black olives for a salad, but the pieces were not even or tiny if that is what you are looking for. Also, once the wire top would raise I would sometimes have to push the bottom olives all the way through so they would be completely cut. Overall it saved me time and I rarely pass up an opportunity to use a gadget. *I've also used this tool for mushrooms.

And one more for today...

Tomato Corer

My salad also called for grape tomatoes, but I don't like grape tomatoes. I think it's all the skin I don't care for. Instead I decided to chop a whole tomato. Before chopping I used the bottom part of the above tool to remove the core of the tomato on top and the nub on the bottom as well. Could a knife do this? Sure, but using the gadget is always more fun! *The top part of this tool is a melon baller which works well also.

Both of these tools are from Pampered Chef.
- C