Here we are halfway through another month and it’s time for me to share a bit of what is happening round these parts for Celia’s ‘In My Kitchen’ February linkup…
In my kitchen this February:
Remember how back in December I burnt out the motor on my food chopper trying to make nut butter? Well I finally pulled our old one out of a storage bin in the garage.
I scored this beauty about a decade ago from St Vinnies for something like $20. At the time I was on a work-not-allowed visa, living 30 mins by train from the city, had no idea what a blog was, and was going stir-crazy with nothing to do day-in-and-day-out.
So I volunteered at the local Vinnies a few days a week… and proceeded to come home with a new little kitchen something pretty much every time, whoops. Some of my favourite OppShopObsessions are things I picked up way back then!
Anyway, I adore this little machine and it has been terribly neglected these past few years. It has all sorts of fun bits and pieces to slice, dice, chop and puree – and it works like a dream. We have it to thank it for the Chocolate Macadamia Spread amongst other things. Don’t be too jealous when I say I’m dying to try out the ‘French Fry chipping disk‘.
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Ok, enough about the chopper, moving on to a few other bits and pieces.
A fail of a coconut flour cake – delicious yet not remotely the right texture and possibly under-baked.
It is actually this colour – naturally – so it will no doubt show up again one day.
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We finally made it to Salt Meats Cheese a few weeks back and after sniffing every single flavoured salt they had I decided on a Serrano Chili one.
Smoky and spicy for the win.
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Remember my Plum Sauce post? I mentioned there that I freeze as much as possible and these long skinny silicone trays are one of my tools of the trade.
They are meant to make ice cubes that fit through water-bottle openings however I’ve discovered that the frozen sticks not only fit perfectly in a zipper freezer bag but stack on top of each other.
I currently have leftover coconut milk from my Pina Colada Rice Pudding, Sriracha Chili Sauce, and coffee from an evil chocolate tart.
UPDATE: After an unexpected reaction to this little trick I figured I’d add in a bit of a mini-infographic…
If you are looking for these silicone trays I got mine at IKEA from a last-minute-on-the-way-to-the-register-distraction display, well played IKEA, well played. I may have a star one too…
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I attended a demo for Eliunt Olive Oil before Christmas and got to pick out three to take home. These oils are not meant for cooking but for finishing dishes.
They are all from different regions of the world and while they are certainly not cheap, they do add really interesting flavours to your meals. I just need to remember to use them more often!
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Another little something that has been sitting in a corner of my counter is this Pyrex carafe and insulated glasses from World Kitchen.
I tend to associate Pyrex with heavy baking dishes but these are really delicate. As an added bonus the silicone protectors slide off.
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Finally, remember that sprouting ginger from IMK January? I got a very cute pot for it but may have waited too long to put it in soil so it just sort of shriveled and got mouldy. Then Mel told me to bury it instead of sitting it on top.
I have one on top and one underneath with fingers crossed for both… and little hope for either. But at least the pot is cute – ha!
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That’s about it for this month. Make sure to pop over to see all the fun things happening in Celia’s kitchen at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial – I’m coveting a few things from her February post!
I’m sure I’ll think of a thousand more things I could have shared as soon as I hit publish – and if we’re lucky I’ll write them down for March. Crap, it’s almost March, lets not speak of this again ok? Thanks. Sigh.
You can see all my ‘In My Kitchen’ posts here.
what a score on the food processor. What a great find. I bought a really expensive blender/food processor combo and the food processor is that loud it makes my baby cry! Oh dear
oh no! This one isn’t too bad although I don’t think I’ve ever owned a truly quiet one 😉
Love the food processor. But I really love those long, skinny silicon trays for freezing sauce – what a BRILLIANT IDEA! Am going to get me some of those. Thanks for the shout-out. Will do my growing ginger post soon…
Lovely things in your kitchen, those freezing trays are very cool!
I like the silicone trays- I had some plastic bags that were supposed to do exactly that- make ice for drink bottles. But they were disposable and now gone.
And I love gadgets and kitchen goodies from a thrift store- my favorite buys are secondhand!
Thanks for sharing!
Those ice sticks are brilliant. I have some of those trays knocking around somewhere. I will have to dig them out. It never occurred to me that they would stack so well. I am also coveting the French fry cutting disk.
I think I read somewhere that you can only add a certain % of coconut flour to a cake before it starts to affect the texture. I can’t remember how much off the top of my head but I know you can only sub 30% lupin flour before you affect texture so maybe something similar!?!
Yeah, coconut flour is a tricky one, I’ve had success before with 100% coconut flour cakes but I thing I had too much liquid in this and needed a bit more flour. Cheers!
Extreme envy over your Sunbeam processor. I bet it works better than any new one. Those were the days they were built to last *sigh*
My mum has a food processor like that! She tells me its the best kitchen appliance she’s had. Great icecube trick – I’m definitely using that one. 🙂
Wow, that was a great Op Shop find. I love bargains. I also love your silicon trays. They are clearly very useful.
That’s such a good idea with the long ice-cube trays I’m going to have to get some myself! Love the old-school processor. Everything was made so much better a while ago. Working in Vinnies would have been a bit dangerous I imagine!
very very dangerous – and those were the days before I looked at everything as a prop!
Everyone loves your ice-cube trays and so do I! I have some that are also intended for water bottles but they’re not as easy to use as your silicone ones. I’ll have to look out for some.
Thanks everyone for the ice cube stick love! I’ve added a mini infographic to the post 😉 They came from IKEA
Hi JJ! Great post! I love that you chose the Serrano Chili salt. It sounds amazing. I’m picturing it on some yummy guacamole!!! The olive oils look great too. A couple years ago, I use to manage a boutique olive oil shop where we had the most amazing range of oils. I would bring tons home, but never use them. I was just squirreling them away! But you’re right- you definitely have to use them more! Enjoy 🙂
JJ, the food processor is a classic – everything about it screams retro. Love it! The skinny ice cube trays are a great idea – I think we have some in the pantry, and thank you for the link to Salt Meats Cheese! They’re not too far away, and that serrano salt sounds sublime… 🙂
I’m probably a bit late but I recently bought a food processor exactly the same as shown here but no manual/instructions came with it. Never had a food processor before. I’m not holding my breath, but do you have the instructions and if so can you email a copy to me? I can’t find anything online.
Thanks
Hi Dawn I have the booklet for this. Not sure how you can contact me though..