This Mama Cooks! Reviews

Dear Santa, please bring me more Frigidaire Gallery appliances

So what’s our next major appliance purchase? After falling in love with the Frigidaire Gallery Freestanding Electric Range and Frigidaire Gallery Over-The-Range Microwave I now want to have the full set.

I’ve been scoping out the Frigidaire Gallery dishwashers and refrigerators at Lowe’s. They’re selling Frigidaire Gallery top mount refrigerators for under $1000. That’s about what we paid for our refrigerator nine years ago at Sears. Luckily, I’m not much of a side by side kind of gal because those models from GE Appliance are much more expensive. Still you can get a side by side starting for around $1400-1500, which isn’t bad for a stainless steel refrigerator though some of Frigidaire’s models are over $2000.

What I’m really lusting after is a Frigidaire Gallery dishwasher. (I’m such a nerd.) I cannot stand the cheapo dishwasher that came with the house. It’s beginning to show it’s age and doesn’t work very well. It’s gotten to the point where I have to hand wash dishes that were just washed in it. 

The Frigidaire dishwasher in stainless is selling for around $550, but if I use a $25 off Lowe’s coupon and open a charge account for a 10% off, I could get it for a bit over $400, I think. I’ll be keeping my eye out for sales and rebates, too, that is just in case Santa doesn’t get his jolly old elf (my husband) to buy me one for the holidays.

Nasoya-nara BlogHer Food

I learned so much at BlogHer Food. The biggest action item of the conference was to read my camera manual! Who knew I could adjust the speed and f-stop on my point and click camera? That makes me happy beyond belief.

At the conference, I made new friends, and visited with old. I even got to reminisce about the Beat Farmers and Country Dick Montana with the always terrific Grace Davis. (See her post Whereupon I Begin to Get Out More about BlogHer Food.)

I also had a chance to visit the the Richard Avedon photography exhibit at SFMOMA, which is a terrific place to get lunch and browse the bookstore, too. I even got to see Rocco DiSpirito run around and flirt with 300 people at one time. Finally, I ate too much chocolate, noshed on mushrooms wrapped in prosciutto, drank too much wine, and had a fabulous time.

I want to thank everyone who made the conference possible, from the founders of BlogHer, to the speakers and sponsors, to my fabulous roommate who helped share expenses.

I especially want to thank my sponsor, Nasoya, who made budgeting for this trip a whole lot easier. I have a few free sample coupons left over from the conference. If you’d like to try Nasoya noodles or wraps for FREE, leave your email address below. I’ll contact you to get your mailing info.

While you’re waiting for your coupons, please check out the Nasoya website for recipes and info on all their products including their noodles and wraps. Check out their new Nasoya Wrappers Recipe Booklet and my blog for Nasoya recipes in these posts:

• Going to BlogHer Food with Nasoya - Broccoli, Ham & Cheese Calzones
• See me and Nasoya at BlogHer Food - Nasoya® Morning Mini Quiches

See you San Francisco in November for the FoodBuzz Blogger Festival! Who’s going?

Has my Frigidaire Gallery Freestanding Electric Range saved me time?

It’s almost been two months since I’ve received my Frigidaire Gallery Freestanding Electric Range and Frigidaire Gallery Over-The-Range Microwave. I think we’re finally out of the honeymoon phase. I no longer pet them and call them My Precious (sick, I know). But they do make me happy and I love to show them off to friends who come over.

So, have the new appliances saved me time? The answer to that is…

YES!

Here’s how:

• The kids can easily heat up their own microwave meals and oatmeal in the morning.
• It’s easy and quick to defrost ground meat.
• Water for spaghetti boils faster.
• Soup heats up more quickly on the stovetop. Sometimes it’s even easier to heat up soup on the stove than it is in the microwave.
• Eggs and pancakes are done in no time.
• The convection oven cooks dishes quicker and loses less energy. (It probably saves me money, too.)
• And clean up is quick and easy. I came home the other night from giving a workshop. My husband and kids made pesto from scratch and spaghetti. While they cleared off the sink and counter, the stove top was a mess. After trying to wipe up the spills with a sponge, I got out a special acrylic pad I bought that is just for ceramic top stove. Using some of the special ceramic top cleanser that came with the stove, I had that baby looking new again in about five minutes. With my old electric stove, I would have had to soak the plates under the burners and spend at least half an hour scraping off the baked on mess underneath them.

So what am I doing with all my extra time? I haven’t a clue. After all, a mom’s work is never done since there’s always something I’m working on. Still, meals are getting made more quickly and I love cooking with my new Frigidaire appliances. The happiness quotient has definitely gone up since they arrived.

Cooking up some cobbler in Frigidaire Galley's Effortless Convection oven

I’ve been intimidated by one thing on my new Frigidaire Gallery Freestanding Electric Range – the Effortless™ Convection oven. One of the benefits of the convect feature is that food may cook up to 25 to 30% faster, saving time and
energy. Cool, right? But how does it work?

A convection oven uses a fan to circulate the oven's heat uniformly and continuously around the oven. This improved heat distribution allows for fast, even cooking and browning results. It also gives better baking results when using two racks at the same time. Heated air flows around the food from all sides, sealing in juices and flavors. Breads and pastry brown more evenly, too. However, if you’re baking a layer cake, they recommend using the bake pad feature instead.

When using the convect feature you must preheat the oven and reduce the temperature by 25°F from recipe’s recommended oven temperature. Then follow the remainder of the recipe’s instructions using the minimum recommended cook time. If you’re nervous about over cooking your dish, set the timer to check the recipe 10 or 15 minutes before it should be done – it probably will be.

The convection oven is easy to use. You just press convect, set the temperature, then press start. If you don’t want to do the math, you can use the Convection Convert setting, which does it all for you.

See me and Nasoya at BlogHer Food

Back in August, I posted that Nasoya is my sponsor to BlogHer Food. Time has zoomed by and I leave this Friday for the conference in San Francisco. If you see me, ask me for a Nasoya coupon or goodie. I’ll be in the photography sessions and chatting away at the meals, I’m sure.

Cooking with Nasoya Egg Roll Wraps

I’ve been trying out some of the recipes from their New Nasoya Wrappers Recipes Booklet. One that my family enjoyed was the calzones. Here’s my version of the Nasoya’s recipe. I wanted more vegetables and less cheese. Also, the calzones needed more time to cook in my oven than the original recipe required. This may be because I’m at elevation (over one mile up), so if yours cook up more quickly, don’t be surprised.

Broccoli, Ham & Cheese Calzones
Makes approximately 21 calzones (entire package)

Ingredients:

• 1 package of Nasoya Egg Roll Wraps
• 8 ounces of sliced ham, diced
• 2 cups of frozen broccoli florets
• 1 1/2 cups of shredded low fat cheddar cheese*
• 1 1/2 cups of shredded Monterey Jack cheese*

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Microwave the frozen broccoli per the package directions – 2 cups usually takes 4-6 minutes on High in the microwave.
3. Line a large bowl with paper towels. Place cooked broccoli on paper towels. Bring up the edges to pat the broccoli dry. If necessary, repeat the process until the excess moisture is removed.
4. Combine broccoli, ham and cheese in a bowl. Mix well.
5. Prepare a baking sheet. Either line with parchment paper or a silicone mat or lightly oil.
6. Take 3 tablespoons of mixture and place in the middle of the egg roll wrapper.
7. Dip finger in water and rub two edges of the wrap. Then form a triangle by folding one corner to the other corner. Press down firmly to seal edges. (The wraps aren’t quite square, so you won’t be able to line up the edges properly. If this bothers you, trim the edges with a sharp knife.)
8. Place on baking sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden.

Tips:

• Experiment with different types of cheeses and low and no fat versions. Some no fat cheeses don’t melt very well, so test them out before making the recipe. No or low fat ricotta cheese instead of shredded cheese could be good, too.
• Add different types of veggies – green, yellow and red peppers would be delicious.
• My children liked dipping the calzones in barbeque sauce. Blech! But the idea of dipping is genius. Maybe a marinara or yogurt taziki type of sauce would work better.
• Don’t just stick to ham. Try diced up chicken, turkey slices, or tofu crumbles. Have fun with it!