A. G. Russell Kitchen Knives

A Good Kitchen Knife

Invest in a high quality chopping knife- there are many out there, but on my meager budget we chose A. G. Russell since they have superior quality and reputation for reasonable prices. I throughly researched many different brands and weighed their cost versus the ratings and for unlimited money it seems that Shun knives have the best to offer. However, in the real world and keeping in mind that this purchase is just a darn knife, we went with A. G. Russell. Since I do quite a bit of cooking which involves furious chopping of poor victim veggies and fruits, we bought both a 10″ Chef’s knife and an 8″ Santoku. I believe that the proper title for the knives is “VG-10 Core Damascus Kitchen Knives” which is important since the “Damascus” business is the highest quality steel for the kitchen knife line. The knives are lightweight and simply sexy; they practically beg to chop and are comfortable to hold. Best of all, the knives come with a complete satisfaction guarantee for 10 years.

Vitamix

Please know that I do not make any purchases lightly and that I am sure to research and scour previous customer reviews, compare guarantees and, of course, prices before buying and especially promoting anything!

Vitamix Blender and Food Processor

We received the Vitamix as a family gift and it has proven to be the single best investment in our kitchen aside from good quality stainless waterless pots and a good chopping knife, both of which I will address later. I am not promoting these various items for personal profit, but because I truly believe in them and feel they are invaluable keys for longterm good health with minimal effort. The customer service quality of all of the various companies’ products which I promote is unparalleled (and I have tested it with various returns, special request, and bartering).

As as note, if you do decided to invest in a Vitamix, then please use the coupon code below when ordering so that you get free shipping.

The Vitamix Lowdown:
Healthy Whole Food Meals are Quick, Easy and Delicious! A whole food diet is the key to a long and healthy life according to the USDA. New recommendations total 12 servings of fruits, vegetables and whole grains every day. Those guidelines are easily met with terrific-tasting, nutrient-rich whole food meals made in the Vita-Mix Super 5000.
Benefits:

• Make whole food juice that’s full of fiber and flavor in under a minute. Cook soup from scratch that’s hot, hearty and satisfying in just 4 minutes. The edge the Vitamix has here over a juicer is that you use the whole fruit- skin and all, so you are not losing the fiber and bulk like you do with a juicer. I used to make my own soy milk, but recently I have converted to making my own almond milk, so the Vitamix can replace a blender, food processor, juicer, and “milk” maker already. This doesn’t sound that important now, but if you’re committed to a raw food/vegan/GF or DF special diet then I think you will eventually find you want and need such specialty items (I sure did- prepackaged foods and drinks are expensive and never fresh).
• Make frozen treats that are full of fruit and low in fat in only 30 seconds. (I have many GF DF low carb recipes for smoothies, “ice cream,” puddings, etc I will post in the future which all use the Vitamix)
• Grind fresh whole grains into flour and knead dough for healthy home made bread in one 5-minute operation. (Great for gluten free cooking since it is much more inexpensive to buy whole grains and rice in bulk and grind at your convenience!)

As a personal antecedent, the original wet blade container Vitamix is what we were given as a gift. Once I discovered the fun and economic viability of grinding our own flax and grains or making bread, I found I needed what they call the dry blade container (it does the grinding with special blades so it does not overheat). Of course, I need two such containers since my life is entirely too complicated and we were not a gluten free household at the time- one for me and another for Jon’s lovely 100% whole wheat, oat, and germ breads. I simply emailed the company and asked for a deal to support my gluten-free lifestyle. One of the customer service reps, Sue Harpster, promptly emailed back and offered a fantastic discount and a free whole grains cookbook for my purchase of two dry blade containers so that I could dedicate one as GF. They were very understanding and supportive of my needs and were quite patient with my incessant emails and bartering- this made a real impression on me since sometimes it feels like few companies (like Target) care at all about accommodating their consumers. In the end, our family caught wind that we were going to spend money on the containers and decided they’d surprise us with a Chanukah gift of one dedicated GF dry blade container. I had to frantically call and cancel our order last minute and Sue was wonderful, calm, and empathetic; she refunded our money with no fees or fussing and even sent us the cookbook for free! In fact, she had to send the cookbook twice since it was lost in the mail the first time… Sue and the entire Vitamix establishment went well out of there way for some twenty-something kid asking for discounts who actually never bought the containers

Start your 30-day no-risk in-home trial today and we’ll give you FREE Standard Ground Shipping, a $25 value. Click “Update Quantity” during checkout to receive your shipping discount and click here to get started: Vitamix: Healthy Eating, Healthy Living

GF Bread Machine Woes

My first breadmaker is, ironically, for the start of my ambitious gluten free lifestyle. I read all the reviews and decided for the money that I’d stick with a well-rated Sunbeam despite the fact most gluten-free bloggers recommend more expensive brands. The Sunbeam Breadmaker is a great price with free shipping on Amazon, and has proven itself worthy of gluten free bread lovemaking (that’s what I call getting to peak in the window as it kneads the dough for me!). It lacks a gluten free cycle, but the quick cycle works fine for gluten free bread.

My only complaint is that is isn’t quite large enough since my loaf rose all the way to the viewer window (maybe it was just my first loaf going nuts). I used a Bob’s Red Mill homemade wonderful GF bread mix and substituted Almond Breeze milk for dairy; the mix was a bit expensive, but it was worth the assurance that if the loaf failed it was not me. The bread was great, Jon savored every bite since it was his first nongluten-lad slice for awhile.

I recommend this breadmaker if you want to purchase one and don’t mind that it doesn’t have a special gluten free setting. It is available here on Amazon cheapest.