My New "Can't Do Without"

So I have never owed a cast iron skillet until now. I know. A southern cook without a cast iron skillet? That's like Superman without his cape, Linus without his blanket or Pee Wee without his bike. Those references totally date me. I'm okay with that. 

My mom found this beauty for me at the Peddler's Mall. Are you familiar with these places? We call it a Peddler's Mall in Kentucky but I am sure there are similar set-ups all over the world. Basically sellers rent booth space to sell their wares which consist of antiques, yard sale type items and even new things. No one mans the booths and there is one check out at the front so you can feel free to browse without pressure. It's an amazing treasure hunt. You never know what you will find. One time I found a book called The Professional. It was a very short book published at the turn of the century about a man who installed out houses. I could kick myself for not getting it.

My mom makes this AMAZING deep dish pizza in her cast iron skillet and now I do the same. There is something about this skillet that just makes things taste better. You see, cast iron skillets are like fine wines. They get better with age. But, they have to be treated with the utmost care.  They can't be put in the dishwasher and in fact they can't be soaked or left in water for very long at all. Each time I am done with mine, I wipe it out real good with a wet washcloth (not much of anything ever sticks to it) and wipe the inside down with an oiled paper towel. This is called "seasoning" the skillet. A cast iron skillet is the treasured item of a southern cook.

So for the pizza, I just press my dough into the skillet, add sauce, cheese and toppings and bake at 450 until the cheese is bubbly and a bit brown. I will NEVER make regular pizza again. This stuff is phenomenal.

My mouth is watering right now. I am a HUGE pizza lover. If I had to choose one thing to eat for the rest of my life it would definitely be pizza.

Obviously there is SO much more you can do with a cast iron skillet. Martha Stewart swears by it for frying chicken. My mom uses it for many cooking jobs. It has a ton of uses from frying up bacon or sausage to sauteing veggies to chicken pot pie. I even found an apple upside-down-type cake online the other day that turns out beautiful from one. It was touted to knock your socks off. I hope to try it soon.

So my advice when it comes to a cast iron skillet? As Turtleman would say, "Getcha some!"

Can't Do Without...

Oxo Good Grips Food Scale

I love this gadget.

Seriously. Love it.

Remember when you were little and kids would say, "If you love it so much why don't you marry it?"

It's that kind of love.

This is the Oxo Good Grips Food Scale. I use so much more than I originally thought I would.

I initially bought it to measure precise portions for more accurate calorie counting, but it has since come in handy for tons of other jobs.

I buy meat in bulk so it's perfect for dividing it up before freezing. 

I buy butter for baking in 8 ounce blocks so when a recipe calls for two sticks I just weigh out 8 ounces. 

I use it for measuring flour and sugar when the recipe calls for an increment in weight rather than volume. 

I even use it when I am making burgers to make sure each one weighs exactly the same as the others for  more even cooking. 

In addition, I use it to measure out batter when I am making a layer cake. If all three cake pans have the same amount of batter, that means they are all baked to perfection at the same time AND they're all the same size.

I could go on all day listing the many jobs I have used it for. 

This gadget makes the perfectionist in me as giddy as a school girl.

And what's really great about this bad boy is...

...the display slides out for easy reading. That means if I am using a large bowl that sits too far over the display, I simply pull it into my view. And, when using a bowl or plate to measure your ingredients, you can zero out the scale so it doesn't count the weight of the dish. 

Pretty cool, huh?

I can say without hesitation this is one kitchen tool I can't do without!

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*All opinions on "Can't Do Without" are 100% mine and are not influenced by outside sources. I feature products I have a legitimate love for and that have truly made my life easier!*

Can't Do Without

Meet the SideSwipe Spatula Mixer Blade. This handy gadget is my new best friend. For anyone out there with a Kitchen Aid mixer, I highly recommend you hook yourself up with one of these bad boys. 

When mixing with the regular paddle blade, I always have to stop and scrape down the sides and around the bottom of the bowl to ensure everything gets incorporated well. There is always some dry ingredient of some sort down there just waiting to get in on the action.

With the SideSwipe, those days are no more. The SideSwipe blade is coated in rubber fins that scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as it mixes. That means better mixing and shorter mixing times. I tried it the other night and it was fantastic! I didn't have to scrape the bowl once and everything mixed up better than before. My mixer is now even more independent than ever!

Amazon has it for 20 bucks and it's a great investment if you ask me. Consider it time saved in the kitchen!

Can't Do Without

I think I have mentioned before that I am a perfectionist of sorts. In certain aspects of my life, I like things precise and just so. It bites me in the backside sometimes. But fortunately, I have some things that help me get there. These scoops fall into that category. I LOVE them. They make every treat in a batch uniform and just the right size.

I use the small one for cake balls and truffles. The medium size is a MUST for cookies and the large one holds the perfect amount of batter for cupcakes. I will never again use regular spoons for any of those tasks.

I can't do without these kitchen cohorts.

Go Make This Now!

I came across a video on You Tube of a woman making homemade non-stick baking "spray." It's a spread really, not a spray, but the idea is that it is supposed to replace baking sprays and work just as good as greasing and flouring your pans. 

I was pretty skeptical but I am here to tell you, I will NEVER grease and flour when baking again! This stuff is incredible! If that isn't enough, it is super cheap and easy to make and it lasts in your pantry indefinitely.

Here's the recipe:

With a hand mixer or blender, mix equal parts all-purpose flour, vegetable oil and vegetable shortening until smooth.

That's it!

I used my immersion/stick blender and it came out silky smooth. It has the consistency of sour cream.

To use, just spread inside the pan. In the video she uses a pastry brush, but I found that it left too thick of a coat. A little goes a long way.

Want to see how great it works?

This cake fell right out of the pan. Look how clean and smooth! Virtually crumb-free! And no more messy flour coating my beautifully baked caked.

I will never be caught baking without it!

Can't Do Without

I feel like I have hit the jackpot today.

My dad gave me his old iPod. I mean OLD. It was originally given to my sister for Christmas years ago and she passed it on to him a while back. It's the iPod Mini and the screen is just digital black and gray. No color. No album artwork. It is one of the first to be made. It's ancient in terms of technology.

Hang on. The jackpot part is coming, I promise.

I have a Sony Walkman MP3 player that I LOVE. No, I have not owned an iPod until now. I also don't have an iPhone or iPad or iAnything. I like to stay a bit away from  the mainstream, thank you very much. Plus, I enjoy being a weirdo who's not especially predictable. 

Anyway, there are some Podcasts I have wanted to check out and in order to listen to them in my car, I need an iPod.

So last night I downloaded iTunes and plugged up the old Mini to charge overnight. When I checked on it this morning I noticed that  iTunes said it was loaded to capacity. I turned it on and opened the "Artists" folder to see what I could delete. I suddenly felt like it was Christmas morning. My mouth dropped open and a loud "Woo Hoo!" followed. 

My dad had loaded this baby FULL of the greats! Abba, The Beatles, Electric Light Orchestra, Marvin Gaye, Simon and Garfunkel, Crosby Stills and Nash, The Temptations, Bob Welch, Joe Cocker, Fleetwood Mac. (I could seriously go on for two more paragraphs.) All the music that filled the house I grew up in.

I had ELO's "Livin' Thing" cranked up on the way to work this morning. I was dancing in the seat and my little girl was laughing like I was an idiot. Good times. 

Needless to say, no music will be removed from this player and the Podcasts will just have to wait. The iPod Mini is going to be something I can't do without for a while.

So what does this have to do with baking? Not a thing. Except that there are lots of things I use when I bake that I also can't do without. I often find myself actually telling these lifesavers how much I appreciate them. 

"I don't know what I would do without you!"

"Where have you been all my life?!"

"You are the best thing ever!" 

"You are so great! Do you think you could help with the laundry, too?" The stand mixer just gave me a blank, silent stare on that one.

I have decided to write an ongoing series of posts about all the things that make my baking life easier. Those wonderful gadgets and magic ingredients I just have to have around.

Which brings me to this great wonder of the baking world:

A baker's best friend.

Powdered buttermilk!

I can't tell you how many times I have bought a quart of buttermilk for a recipe that called for just a cup, only to have the rest sit in the fridge way past its expiration date. (Can anyone tell me why isn't it sold in anything smaller than a quart?) And making your own concoction with whole milk and vinegar is just not the same to me.

Powdered buttermilk is the answer. Say a recipe calls for a cup of buttermilk. You simply mix 4 tablespoons of the powder in with your dry ingredients and add in a cup of water with your wet ingredients. It's that simple! The results are fantastic and it keeps in the refrigerator for at least a year.

I could give you all the boring science behind how it's made and why it works, but trust me, it rocks. I don't know if the person who invented this product has been given his or her proper commendation, but I am here to say I will dance at your wedding. Though, it apparently came on the market in the 70's, so maybe I should change that to "your granddaughter's wedding."