There comes a time in every woman's life when we pause and take stock of our personal wants and needs. While we are an incredibly diverse group in every conceivable way, we all have a few strong similarities.
Thanksgiving is on the horizon, and for many women (and men) this means company for dinner. Translation: a whole lot of cooking going on.
Pre-planning is important. I check my cupboards for appropriate roasting pans, skillets, casseroles, pie tins and find the right lids. These same pots and pans I have used for over thirty years are a sad lot. Missing handles, blackened bottoms, bent, scratched, burned and bashed. Enough! I have no incentive to put beautiful food into these ugly vessels. I put them all in used Loblaws bags and toss them into the recycling bin. Free at last. I've researched the latest and greatest kitchen equipment and have chosen Ingenio Essentials, stackable space-saving cookware. Now, once again I will smile and hum as I prepare food for the people I love.
These ingenious pots and pans nest one inside the other, saving me about 50% of my cupboard space. The patented removable handle helps me go from the stove to the oven to the fridge, making this cookware ideal for stove top recipes, oven baked dishes, ready to serve meals and for leftovers storage. The handle is strong and safe, thanks to its three-point safety system that keeps it secure.
I simply press the lever under the handle to attach it in one click. To release, I just squeeze the two side buttons. The Ingenio cookware is dishwasher and oven safe up to 500°F (excluding the handle.) A Thermo-Spot® indicates exactly when my pan has reached the perfect temperature. When the Thermo-Spot® pattern disappears, my pan is perfectly preheated. To say that I am absolutely thrilled with these pots and pans would be an understatement.
I recall my thoughts last year as I prepared the traditional Thanksgiving dishes and spent much of the day in my kitchen with my only companion, the hot stove. Yet, while I was sticking my face into a 350-degree oven many times to check the pies, check the casseroles, baste the turkey and admire its crispy brown-ness, my mind was elsewhere. I was thinking of my face. As the blasts of unnatural heat hit my skin, I was thinking of the small fortune I spend on creams and moisturizers to keep my complexion wrinkle free and dewy fresh, now being corrupted in one day by the many blasts of 350-degree heat.
Not this year. This year, I have a new best friend: T-Fal, who has launched an Infrared Dual 7L 2.0 game-changing Air Fryer just in time for Thanksgiving. With its infrared speed, it requires no pre-heating. This latest innovation has a Dual Heating System. A top infrared heater and a powerful bottom heater for precise temperature and consistent cooking results. The top is glass, and there are touch-screen controls for Air-Fry, Broil, Roast Bake, Reheat, Toast,Dehydrate, plus the innovative Crispy Finish program that gives foods a sear-like finish. The entire process is fascinating to watch through the glass window. It is so easy, the kids will want to cook for themselves.
Another bonus, Cleanup does not destroy my manicure because the container is easy to wash with a sponge and dish soap in a minute. And there you are. Dinner is served.
What else is new? Friends and family members have developed new dietary restrictions. Gluten free, Lactose Intolerant, Vegan, Vegetarian, no Seafood, no Nuts, no Pork products. Well, there goes my idea of a Charcuterie Board with cocktails. But wait, not so fast. After seven years of research and development, Prime Roots has made a leap forward in the deli category. Using mycelium-based whole food protein, Prime Roots is now offering a line of plant-based deli meats that are sliced fresh at the deli counter and—according to third-party blind taste tests—are preferred by many meat-eaters, who would switch to Prime Roots over conventional deli meats. At our tasting party, I liked the sliced turkey best, but others liked ham and specialty salamis. The entire tray was empty in short order. Try it, you'll love it.