We had fifteen terrific entries to the Weekend Cookbook Challenge #10: Neglected Kitchen Gadgets. I want to thank each of you for participating and especially Sara over at I like to Cook for hosting this event every month and for letting me co-host, it was heaps of fun!
Now on to the Round-Up:
We'll start off with our fearless leader, Sara at I like to Cook and her yummy Panini made in her often over looked George Foreman Grill
She made two Panini; one a savory panini and the other a dessert panini. The first was the Mozzarella, Basil Pesto and Peperonata Panini with warm gooey cheese seen above and the second was Sara's introduction to Nutella by way of a Nutella spread between two pieces of white bread and grilled.
Sara is a Nutella convert now...
Next off in the realm of neglected gadgets we visit Ruth over at Once Upon A Feast. Ruth remembered she owned a crockpot after her daughter started talking about buying one. The last time Ruth used her poor crockpot was almost a year ago when she made crockpot lasagna. She was going to give her daughter her crockpot but now that she has used it again (and bought that great new cookbook to go with it!) maybe it won't sit in the back of the cabinet so long.
Ruth made the sticky but in a finger licking good kind of way Crockpot Peking Chicken Wings seen above.
Chrispy from Experimentation of Taste had a hard time finding a neglected kitchen gadget because she doesn't keep implements or cookbooks she doesn't use. So, she wrote instead about her newest but saved for fall implement: silicone mini loaf pans. She made the perfect the perfect fall quick bread below (along with her mini loaf pans): Ginger Pumpkin Bread.
You know, it is comforting to know that even "down under" in Australia, there are neglected kitchen gadgets lurking in drawers and cabinets. Anh at Food Lover's Journey is like most every one of us. She bought a pasta machine with visions of fresh homemade pasta dancing in her head. It was a walk by of her local pasta shop that shamed her into going home and taking her pasta machine from it's box and making the lovely looking Fettuccini with Spicy Seafood Sauce, her favourite pasta dish.
That picture (and recipe) makes me want to run right out and buy a pasta machine...
Back on the west coast of the US, in Oregon, we find Michelle from Je Mange la Ville dusting off her immersion, hand-held blender from it's hiding place to make a delicious sounding Curried Acorn Squash and Leek Flan that she adapted from the Williams-Sonoma Autumn Cookbook.
Unfortunately, Michelle had a digital camera malfunction and none of her final product pictures turned out. But if you read the recipe you can almost taste the curry combined with squash and leek!
On the opposite coast of the US and just across the Charles River from me here in Cambridge, Jo at Amuse Bouche used not one but TWO neglected kitchen gadgets: her chinois and food mill to make good English comfort food for her hubby, Fish Pie. Not only is her fish pie amazing looking with it's perfectly browned top but how she came up with the recipe is amazing!
She combined three recipes and little of her cooking school know-how to make a recipe I'm dying to try out.
Lis from La Mia Cucina had her gadget picked out the minute we announced our theme of Neglected Kitchen Gadget. She picked her food mill as well to make a cherished family recipe from her mom for the ultimate fall soup, Beef Vegetable Soup.
She says using the foodmill on fresh tomatoes makes all the difference for the flavour. Judging from the picture above, I would believe her.
The next stop on the tour of neglected kitchen gadgets is in the heartland of America, to Columus, Ohio where Becke of the Columbus Foodie joins us for the very first time by plugging in her unused rice cooker to make a recipe she found browsing through Recipezaar, Golden Corral Bourbon Chicken.
She says the recipe she used had too much bourbon but she found another she will try next time.
Ok, so it is getting close to Christmas and time to bake those cookies! Not only did Brilynn at Jumbo Empanadas find a neglected gadget but she had me laughing so hard reading her post that the folks in the office thought I was having some type of fit and almost called 911. Brilynn's neglected gadget is her icing gun, Ames which she used to make some wonderfully decorated Gingerbread Cookies. Not only did Brilynn give Ames a good workout on all these lovely decorated gingerbread men
But she then made sure that the cookies got a chance to go see the great white outdoors of Canada and then get warmed up by a glowing fire...
I'm swapping cookies with Brilynn this Christmas!
Leaving winter in the Northern Hemisphere to head for summer in the Southern Hemisphere, we go back to Melbourne, Australia for this month's contribution by Haalo at Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once where the theme of WCC#10 elicited a little guilt at not using a present from her sister, her waffle maker. Judging from this wonderful stack of golden Ricotta Waffles
I'll bet she doesn't let the waffle maker stay neglected.
Using our transporter we are going back to Canada for some wonderful looking Lefse made courtesy of Pepper at Frugal Cuisine. This WCC was an opportunity for Pepper to use not only left-over mashed potatoes but also a family heirloom and a time honoured family recipe for Lefse.
The next kitchen we visit is also in Canada and bilingual at Cream Puffs in Venice with Ivonne but it wasn't Ivonne who we met next to the sink but rather Monsieur Mandoline, Ivonne's once often used French mandoline. Monsieur finds himself neglected due to an interloper, her food processor. Hoping to prove his true worth, Monsieur made quick work of the butternut squash for the delicious looking Butternut Squash Gratin with Goat Cheese and Walnuts.
With results like this, let's hope Monsieur doesn't stay trapped in his wooden cabinet too long between uses.
The next entry for Weekend Cookbook Challenge #10: Neglected Kitchen Gadgets used this month's theme to not only use a neglected gadget but to get re-introduced to her kitchen! Andrea at A Small Group of Thoughtful Citizens squeaked in under the wire late last night by sending me an email telling me she was going to post but needed a little bit more time to remember where her kitchen was (just joking Andrea). She used her unused bread machine to make her grandmother's Cinnamon Rolls. And just in case those of us who only know Andrea as a crusader for worthwhile social causes think she can't actually cook, here is proof positive she does a darn fine job, apron or no apron...
And since we are on the subject of neglected bread machines, here is my entry for this month with two breadmachine offerings: whole wheat and French bread.
In our final entry for this month's WCC, Pat over at Up a Creek Without a Patl finds her apple peeler/slicer/corer about once a year hiding out in the upper regions of her kitchen cabinets. This year she put her peeler/slicer/corer to some serious work making bunches and batches and, in this case, bushels of apple recipes: Apple Chips, Apple Spice Cake, Baked Apples, an Apple Tart, and her Blushing Apple Cream Pie.
I think I understand why her peeler/slicer/corer needs the rest of the year off!
WHEW.... that completes this month's round-up for WCC#10: Neglected Kitchen Gadgets. Thanks again everyone for participating! If I missed someone, please drop me or Sara a line or post a comment here. I'll update the round-up to include you.
It was lots of fun co-hosting and I'm looking forward to next month's event. Keep your eye out on the Weekend Cookbook Challenge blog for the theme I'm sure Sara will be posting very soon. Also keep your eye out for her round-up of the next Cookbook Challenge.
