Kitchen Talk

 I’ve been spending a lot of time in the kitchen lately…cooking and washing dishes. Yes, I wash dishes because the dishwasher that came with the condo stinks. That’s ok, I don’t mind washing dishes. It’s like ironing…mindless.

Anyway, I have been spending a lot of time making soups, cakes, cupcakes, and muffins. That, in addition to my regular meals.

I have come to this conclusion: other than regular meals the rest of it might not be worth all the fuss and time. Mostly because it takes a lot of time to do from scratch what can be done by opening a box or a can.

Let’s start with soups.

The cream of broccoli and cream of asparagus that I make is good and worth continuing because I like them. If I had use for them as a cooking sauce, I would buy Campbell’s. My cream of mushroom is best left to Campbell’s and used as a cooking sauce. It’s good, but…

Today I made what looked like a great tasting soup, actually a bisque, but it was a great disappointment. It was a butternut squash and sweet potato bisque and after all the work it took to make, I don’t like it. I have packaged for freezing what is left in the hope of finding someone who does like it.

My cream of tomato and chicken soup is worth making. Easy to make and really taste good.

Cupcakes, etc.

Sure they taste good! But…why go through all the mess and clean up when I can open a box and be done with it. Homemade from scratch doesn’t have all the preservatives...point for that. But…

Coffee

My cup of coffee in the morning and another in the afternoon is very important. I want my coffee to have some body to it. I don’t want anything weak and watery. And I want it to taste the same cup after cup.

With the two Kitchenaid coffee makers I had (in two years) it seemed that no two cups were alike. I wanted something I could count on. I made the decision that when my Kitchenaid went squat I would look into getting a Keureg. However, I did not expect my Kitchenaid to go squat so soon.

I did buy a Keureg and two refillable filters. I will not pay all that money for the pre-filled K-cups. And so the search begins.

I tried some of the K-cups that came with the Keureg. Thank goodness there was a book giving the strength of coffees available for the Keureg…some of them were in the complimentary pack. I soon weeded out the weak and totally unacceptable from the dark roasts and bolds. Dark roast and bold…ahhhhh!

I figure I’m saving a lot of money, water and coffee by using the refillable filter. 

I measured the coffee today and found that in the Keureg refillable I use 3 tbsp of coffee. With my old coffee maker I used two 2-tbsp measures...rounded. So I'm using one tablespoon less coffee now.

With the water, instead of using 5 cups (which was the minimum) and throwing away a cup of coffee because I didn't drink it...I now use only the water it takes for one cup...in the case of what I used this morning...I used 14 1/2 ounces. I use a BIG mug! Because I use a refillable filter I am not throwing the K-cups into the garbage!

So in the long run, I am saving $$ and the environment with the Keureg.