The Right Cookware Makes the Cook

Some people love to cook some people hate it.  I have a love/hate relationship with cooking.  I love to find and try new recipes...minimal ingredients are key for me.  I save the gourmet stuff for when we enjoy evenings out...too much work for me.  But if you have the right cookware and a good recipe you can even surprise yourself with your abilities. 

For Valentine's Day I cooked a recipe from one of my favorite cook magazines in the world... Cuisine at Home. Another great one is Cooks Illustrated both magazines take cooking to a whole new level with great tips and wonderfully illustrated directions.  On top of having the perfect recipe and great ingredients I also have the best cookware.  I made the $50 meal at home recipe (listed on the blog) using my Pampered Chef square grill pan.  The key to this recipe is pan searing the tenderloin on one side for five minutes and then placing the tenderloins into the oven.  By using the PC grill pan I was able to put the tenderloins from the stove top right into the oven and it made a huge difference. 

My daughter asked for cupcake stuff for Christmas and wow did she get some really cool stuff.  A couple of our favorites are the Wilton cupcake decorator and the 24-cupcake carrying caddy.

We volunteered to make cupcakes for her school Valentine party.  I usually shy away from any kind of baking because well usually my cakes get stuck in the pan and well I just don't bake well.  Well, that's a thing of the past, now that I have learned to use good tools and good techniques. 
We might even make our own cupcake batter and frosting next time...once I find a good recipe. 
The finished cupcakes...

Last but, not least...I love my blender.  I got it at Costco last summer, after reading online reviews decided on a Oster.  The kids and I love smoothies so we needed a powerful blender to whip up our favorite concoctions.  I bought the Oster Counterforms it has a reversable motor that allows the blades to go forward and backward pulling ingredients down into the blades. 

Here's my soy protein shake...