Sharing is Caring: Cooking Together with KitchenIQ

I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for KitchenIQ. I received promotional items to thank me for my participation.

What good is food if you can’t enjoy it with someone?

Just like they say if a tree falls in the woods with no one around does it make a sound? Well, I say, if no one is around to enjoy a homemade baked cookie, does it even taste good? Food is meant to be shared – it’s a time to bond, relax, enjoy each others company. The same goes for cooking and baking. The joy of getting your hands dirty and creating something together that you can all enjoy is just something that really brings me peace. 

Since my good friend Valerie Pierre-Cadet runs the blog Mommy R+R which is all about relaxing – I invited her and some friends over to learn how to make one of my favorite homemade recipes including a holiday cookie recipes using the new KitchenIQ Better Zester: Cranberry Orange Bliss Cookies. Now, sometimes you have to substitute (change is the fun in life, right?) a key component – take the “cranberry” part of the recipe title and turn that into pomegranates. 

Better Zester

My grandma was a huge fan of using citrus zest in her baking – lemon bars, orange cookies, key lime pie….I have always followed her lead and kept tradition alive by using zest in a lot of my baking recipes as well. (Zest: scraping the outside rind off of citrus fruit). The zest is sometimes the best part of the fruit – it hold the most flavor and antioxidants (a lot of essential oils come from this part of the fruit as well!), and what’s even better is how KitchenIQ figured out it was so much easier to hold this fantastic zester that actually COLLECTS the zest for you than just using an old cheese grater and guessing what you throw in (hopefully not some finger skin!) like the old days. Since the cookie recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of zest, we were easily able to measure the exact amount out – even though I’ve never really been an exact kind of person.

Valerie found it comical to learn how to hold and zest an orange and how we never wasted any part of the food on the farm! She laughed at me a few times as I told stories of burning cookies and forgetting to add sugar one time (gross, don’t try it)…but I am pretty sure gram would be proud to see me passing along the farmer’s tip.

Potato Tool

Now, this is brilliant. I can scrub, peel and even CUT up my potatoes using one instrument. If you didn’t realize I live in NYC an conserve space yet, this is a true New Yorkers dream come true. Even the kids like to get in on the action. Max is huge fan of scrubbing the potatoes (and he’s not even in the Navy yet!). 

This Potato Tool is great because it helps incorporate the entire family into the cooking process and it’s fun. I told Max we were going to make our own homemade french fries and his eyes lit up with excitement (which is more than I can say about the cookies…what can I say, I have grown a healthy kid apparently!). The Potato Tool makes it easy to make your own faster than you could run out to McDonald’s and buy some. Why do that?

1. Scrub
2. Peel (or don’t! the skins hold the most nutrients!)
3. Cut. Make this a fun game and even try to cut the fries into shapes
4. Drizzle with olive oil and salt (maybe some lemon, maybe some thyme or rosemary if you have it!)
5. Toss with your hands (way more fun than a spoon!) to coat.
6. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30-45 minutes, depending on how crispy you like your fries.

Edge Grip Knife Sharpener

I think one of things we overlook most in our kitchens are dull knives, which can ultimately cause more mishaps and slips ups! KitchenIQ has made this handy little hand held sharpener that will liven up all those old knives that have even been laying around since you were a kid on the farm. Okay, that’s just me but you get the idea. The knife sharpener is even a best seller on Amazon – showing you that well, maybe you better step up your blade game, and I don’t mean Uber Blade. 

This cute little green item for only $8 on Amazon should play a critical component in your kitchen. Especially if you’re reading this saying you don’t cook or use them that often! That means they’re just laying around rusting. Air. Rusts. Fix yo knives. 

The knife sharpener even offers two stages of sharpening:

1. Coarse sharpening slot includes carbide blades that quickly sharpen dull or damaged knives with just a few pulls (think everyday steak knives).

     2. Fine slot’s ceramic rods are ideal for finishing and polishing the edge, and are perfect for light touch-ups to an already sharp knife (like your multipurpose chef’s knife).

Any questions? You’re welcome to join the kitchen of Chef Stephanie anytime you’d like!