Using the Cup Drawer on the Bunn My Cafe Single Cup Multi-Use Brewer

Last week I excitedly wrote about our new Bunn My Café MCU that replaced our failing Keurig B60.  The new Keurig 2.0 will not allow you to brew any other coffee except that packaged in their Keurig licensed K-cups despite their original hoopla that you could have the convenience of a single brew while enjoying your own coffee by using their My K-cup filter.  Unfortunately, that decision has turned a lot of faithful users against Keurig.  It doesn't help that the old machines are simply refusing to brew.  It also doesn't help that Keurig is getting a lot of negative publicity from the manufacturers of K-cup like pods and environmental groups.  At any rate, the Bunn My Café MCU has a drawer designed to use K-cups and off brand cups meant for Keurig machines. 

I have very few Keurig licensed K-cups.  The reason being both cost and recycle-ability.  I do however, have a several non-licensed K-cups especially the soft bottom cups that are 97% recycle-able. It's nice that I will be able to use these cups in the Bunn.

The cup drawer for the Bunn is easy to use.  Open the lid but do not try to remove the lid from the hinge.  Place your desired K-cup or similar into the cup holder (1).  Close the lid down onto the K-cup (2) then give it a firm push to puncture the lid on the K-cup (3).  When seated properly, the lid of the cup drawer will rest neatly against the bottom of the cup drawer.  Place the cup drawer onto the Bunn, snapping firmly in place (4).  Add water to the Bunn then press brew (5).  When finished brewing (6) remove the cup drawer and empty.  Rinse so that it is ready for the next time you want to brew.

I took this short video to show how the Bunn brews slightly different than the Keurig.  There is an option of the Bunn to use a pulse when brewing.  This is used when brewing loose tea or if you want a stronger flavoured coffee.  When the pulse is turned on, the bottom light is indicated by red.  I didn't use pulse for this cup of coffee.  Once the cup drawer was in place with the desired K-cup, I hit brew.  The most notable feature about the brewing is the final burst of hot water.  This results in a more flavourful cup of tea or coffee.  It does cause a small amount of splattering.  The important thing to remember is to not add too much water to the reservoir.  Make sure you leave enough space to account for this final blast of water!  This final blast of hot water occurs with all of the drawers although it is not as pronounced with the plain water drawer.


I remove the brewing drawer and rinse out after each use.  This way, the Bunn is ready for the next use.  Unlike the Keurig, there is no issue with your tea having a little coffee off-taste.  The reason being, the only time the puncture needles come into contact with coffee is when using the cup drawer.  Everything else is brewed using a different drawer.  I was concerned that there would be a bit of coffee off-taste in my herbal teas using the ground coffee drawer but so far that has not been a problem.  If you switch to the Bunn and have the My K-cup or other reusable filter meant for the Keurig machines, there is no need to use them.  Simply use the ground coffee drawer.  It is a lot easier to clean than the reusable Keurig filters!

Goodbye Keurig, Hello Bunn

Like many people we embraced the concept of a single cup coffee brewer.  A single cup brewer can save a significant amount of money.  We bought our first single cup coffee brewer, a Melitta One:One that took special coffee pods.  At that time, the only place we could buy the pods was Zellers and Sobey's but then Zeller's discontinued them.  We found Sanka pods at Meijer's in the US so were still able to use the Melitta when Sobey's closed.  Finally, we bought a Keurig Special Edition (B60) to replace the Melitta.  The selling feature of the Keurig was we could use our own coffee rather than relying on the environmentally unfriendly K-cups.  In fact, I was so impressed with Keurig that we bought a mini for the office, and another larger unit for our vacation home.  All was well until, the only four year old Keurig B60 started acting up!

During our brief three weeks home in the fall between our two longer stays at our vacation home, the Keurig would say it was brewing but nothing happened.  I cleaned it and all seemed fine.  We arrived home in the early morning of December 22 after being on the road for eighteen and a half hours.  With only four hours sleep, I needed coffee!  The Keurig failed but after a lot of opening, shutting, and restarting I finally got it working.  From there it worked sporadically.  I went online and found a site with instructions how to fix.  I cleaned the Keurig with vinegar then cleaned it again, then cleaned the heads with the special K-cup cleaner then cleaned again only to be rewarded with half cups of coffee if and when it would brew.  I repeated including adding in the spanking.  The problems persisted.

In the meantime my temper was rising.  I checked the new Keurig 2.0 ready to buy on the spot only to see it will only take Keurig licensed K-cups and not allow you to brew your own coffee.  This renders the Keurig 2.0 completely useless if you should move to an area where Keurig licensed K-cups are unavailable or Keurig goes out of business.  The one that does allow you to use your own coffee has almost zero features and looks cheap.  We were visiting our kids in January where we used their Bunn My Café MCU marveling at how good the coffee was.  We came home where I cussed at the Keurig a few more times before ordering a Bunn My Café MCU. 

I ordered the Bunn My Café MCU through BuyCoffeeCanada.com on Wednesday and it arrived the following Friday so I was quite impressed.  The total price with shipping and taxes was $231.65.  Consider though that when I looked at the Keurig 2.0 it was $189.99 plus taxes $24.69 for a total of $214.68 and it wouldn't brew the coffee of my choice.

The Bunn My Café MCU is a four in one brewer that uses ground coffee or loose leaf tea,  K-cups (or similar), soft pods or tea bags and hot water.  There are four drawers designed for each specific usage (bottom left).  There is an internal water storage tank but water you need to add water each time you use it.  This is not a huge change for me since I always poured water into the external water reservoir of the Keurig with each use.

The Bunn has a slightly smaller footprint than the Keurig (bottom right).  There is no on or off button, simply brew with optional pulse for stronger coffee and tea.  There is no clock on auto-off.  The Bunn brews at 200°F which is 8°F higher than the Keurig.  The higher temperature does give a better tasting coffee, full flavoured without bitterness.  After 6 hours idle, the Bunn temperature drops to 140°F and enters sleep mode after 26 hours.

The worst part of setting up the Bunn My Café MCU was waiting for it to warm a bit after being in a cold shipping van.  I felt it best not to plug it in immediately especially since it has been bitterly cold.  So I drooled over the Bunn in anticipation while drinking the last cup of coffee I would make with the Keurig.  Once the Bunn had warmed a bit, I plugged it in and primed it.  I washed all of the drawers.  My reward was a hot, deliciously brewed cup of coffee!

A final word on Keurig:  I was a happy Keurig user until my brewer that was only four years old stopped brewing properly.  The funny thing is, one of my friend's had her Keurig quit the same week except she could not even coax a final cup of coffee from it.  Keurig's selling feature was being able to use your own coffee meaning you did not have to contribute to the landfill.  They took that feature away with the Keurig 2.0 at a time when there is growing pressure as to the damage the K-cups are doing to the environment because they are not recyclable plus their failing brewers will end up in the landfill as well.  To me, that is not good business.  Keurig has lost my business!

Normally I have one kitchen catcher garbage bag per week if that.  That is for the entire house not just the kitchen.  Even though we  use the My K-cup filter on a regular basis we do use the K-cups for company and entertaining.  Last week, almost a quarter of the kitchen catcher was used K-cups!  It quickly became apparent that we have become part of the problem by using the K-cups.  I'll use up what K-cups I have but won't be restocking Keurig licensed K-cups.  I may possible still stock a couple of the soft bottom pods that were working in the old Keurig but not the Keurig 2.0.  These cups have only a small plastic ring that can be re-purposed.

Ninja Professional Blender and Raspberry Coconut Smoothie

I had to admit that when I started my fitness journey over a year ago that I really had little appreciation for smoothies.  Sure, I had made them before but not very often.  It is possible to pack a lot of calories into a smoothie and if the focus is on fruit, a lot of carbohydrates as well.  As I worked my way up to a daily high calorie burn routine, smoothies became an appealing way to incorporate a high protein recovery meal.  They are an economical, easy to prepare post-exercise meal that can be tailored to individual needs.  I tend to boost the protein on the days I have a high exercise calorie burn but on the weekends when I take a break from the higher burns, I don't worry about boosting the protein.  I also pay attention to the carbohydrates content adjusting based on activity.

A blender is necessary to make smoothies.  While a regular blender works fine for the occasional blender, a heavy duty blender performs better for regular use.  There are specialized smoothie blenders (eg. Magic Bullet) but I have not seen good reviews on them.  At the same time, I didn't want to pay $600 for a Vitamix, the king of the blenders.  I simply wanted a heavy duty blender that would stand up to fairly regular use making smoothies.

Canadian Tire had a good sale on small kitchen appliances.  The Ninja Professional was reduced to $79.99.  This is a no frills, heavy duty blender that had good reviews so I bought one.

I've had the Osterizer blender for a number of years.  It is a 425 W, 8 speed blender with a glass pitcher.  The base fits a mason jar and a separate smaller blending jar that I use quite often for sauces and dressings.  This is not a feature available on most newer blenders so my Osterizer will not be going anywhere any time soon.

The Ninja is a 1,000 W blender with three settings - on, pulse and off.  It has a heavy 72 oz plastic blender.  The size is impressive, definitely larger and heavier than the Osterizer.  The lid has a locking feature that must be activated for the blender to work.  A mason jar cannot be used on the Ninja base.

The Osterizer blade sits in the black screw on base.  A rubber gasket sits on the blade then the assembled unit is screwed onto the pitcher.  The design of the Osterizer The Ninja blade has a completely different design than the Osterizer.  It is a one piece unit with three sets of curved blades that sits on a post in the pitcher.  A pin at the top centres the blade unit when the lid is locked on to the pitcher.  The design of the Ninja blade reduces the need to stop the blender to redistribute food for smooth blending.  It is designed to efficiently crush ice, The Ninja is reputed to blend ingredients smoother than any other blender.  I certain will be putting this blender through the paces!

Protein shakes made with water, milk or nut milk and protein powder are great by themselves.  They are the perfect base for smoothies.  My morning smoothies start with a base of protein powder and almond milk.  This gives a base calorie value of 165 to 195 depending on which protein powder I use.  I like to boost the protein content and nutritional value.  I made a tasty raspberry coconut smoothie inspired by a cookie recipe to test out the Ninja.  The carbs are a bit higher than I would like so will adjust to reduce that but overall I'm pleased with the taste.

The Ninja gives a thicker, frothier texture to the smoothie which is quite appealing.  It is nice and thick, similar to a milkshake without adding a thickener or crushed ice.  The volume was increased as well.  This is a definite improvement over the Osterizer.  The Osterizer makes a nice smoothie especially using unfrozen ingredients, ice or harder fruit but it is a thinner consistency than a smoothie made in the Ninja. 

Raspberry Coconut Smoothie
recipe by:  Garden Gnome

1 c Silk unsweetened almond milk
1/4 c (100 g) Greek yogurt, 0% MF, vanilla
1 scoop (33 g) Vega Sport Performance protein powder, vanilla
15 (50 g) raspberries

Measure ingredients into blender.  Blend until smooth.  Serve.

Yield: 500 ml (16 oz)

Nutritional value: 322 calories, 30 g carbohydrates, 6 g fat, 38 g protein, 452 mg sodium, 6 g fibre

Frugal Kitchens 101 - Green Appliances

Kitchen appliances have come a long way from those of our parents.  While I am sure they were concerned about energy usage especially if heating or cooking with wood because let me tell you, that is a lot of work, in today's world we are dealing with energy conservation concerns.  The modern kitchen is a mecca of both large and small kitchen appliances, all demanding their use of electricity or hydro.  That means the frugal homemaker has to decide between the best and lowest energy usage for any appliance he or she is purchasing.  Surprisingly, there is a trend among frugalistas to buy non-electric appliances, and that is certainly an option for small kitchen appliances.  However, with large kitchen appliances you are still left with wood, natural gas, hydro and propane.  We specifically chose to go with a natural gas range when we bought this house because here in our little corner of the world, natural gas is about a third of the price of hydro.  For the amount of cooking we do, buying a natural gas range has pretty much paid for itself and we haven't been here 2 years yet.

Manufactures like Kleenmaid based in Australia are rising to need of eco-friendly, green appliances.  Oh my gosh, I so want their pop-up oven!  That is about the slickest kitchen appliance I have ever seen.   They also have an induction cooktop that I would love to have.  The beauty is both of these appliances are eco-friendly aka green appliances in that they use less energy than similar appliances in their category. Other manufactures are also doing the same thing buy manufacturing eco-friendly appliances.

Energy Star is a rating system that tells you how that appliance performs in relation to other appliances on the market.  A high Energy Star rating really means that is the unit you should buy because it uses less energy than one similar to it.  Essentially, if you are comparing 2 refrigerators - one has no Energy Star rating and the other has an Energy Star rating then the wiser choice is the Energy Star rated appliance and if you have a choice between ratings, choose the higher ranked appliance.

When it comes to large appliances, choose the appliance based on the fuel choice for your area.  If natural gas is less expensive, it may be wise to choose a large kitchen appliance that operates on natural gas.  You have more leeway with smaller kitchen appliances.  They are seldom on long enough to make much of a difference in cost of operation still, manual is more cost effective over electric.  Avoid single use small kitchen appliances.  This will help you in the goal of running an eco-friendly, green kitchen while saving money!

Freshly Extracted Orange Juice

I recently wrote about using my new Bella High Power Juice Extractor for the first time.  I really liked the results and quickly saw that I could create unique juices that are unavailable in the grocery stores.  Unless you have a free source of fruits and vegetables for juice or you can find them at a good sale price, you won't realize a savings on the basic juices (eg. orange, grapefruit, cranberry, grape).  However, like jams and jellies, juices can be a blend made by stretching the more expensive fruit or vegetable with less expensive or free ones.  It is possible to make the new fruit and vegetable juices that are now popular for less money than store bought plus you can custom the blend to your tastes. 

Store bought orange juice is made from concentrate as are most commercially prepared juices.  Once the oranges are juiced, the juice is stored in holding tanks that have had the oxygen removed for up to a year.  During that time the juice loses flavour.  Many of the popular brands of orange juice use a chemical process (flavour packs) to make the juice taste and smell like oranges.  Pulp and/or sugar may be added to the juice as well.  So, the orange juice you buy in the grocery stores is anything but fresh!

Freshly squeezed orange juice is delightful!  It can vary in flavour from sweet to sour depending on the variety of orange used.  I bought 7 medium sized oranges to test out the juicer. The skins may be left on all produce for juicing except oranges, grapefruit and tangerines as the oils in these citrus fruits is bitter and hard to digest.  I cut each orange into quarters then removed the peel.  The peel need not be discarded if the oranges are organic.  It can be dried and powdered for culinary purposes as well as a natural source of Vitamin C medicinally.  It can also be candied.  There is no need to seed the orange wedges for juicing unless you want to try growing orange trees.  Don't laugh!  I have three small lemon trees started from lemon seeds in a lemon I cut up for Caesar salad.

The peeled quarter wedges fit nicely into the hopper but I did have to refill it a couple of times.  The only thing different with juicing the oranges was needing to peel them.  The juice goes into the pitcher to the right while the pulp goes into the pulp basket (left).  A small amount of pulp can be added to the juice if desired.  The remaining pulp can be dried then powdered or it can go into the compost. 

The seven oranges were quickly juiced on low power..  It actually takes longer to disassemble the juice extractor for clean (less than 5 minutes) than it does to extract the juice.   At this point the juice is ready to be enjoyed!

When the juice is first made there is a layer of foam on top of it because the stainless steel blade basket revolves at a high speed.  The juice quickly fills the pitcher which cause the foaming similar to what would happen if you shook a jar of juice.  This foam settles down rather quickly and has no effect on the flavour of the juice. 

The seven oranges gave a yield of almost 750 ml (3 cups).  I paid $2.50 for the oranges so the freshly extracted juice is definitely more expensive.  The taste is definitely worth the extra price!  It is also fresher than juice commercially made from concentrate.  It still is not 'picked that day fresh' as oranges as well as other citrus fruits are shipped to Ontario from Florida or California.  Clementines are an exception as they are usually imported from Morocco. 

I'm only making the fresh extracted juices in the amount we will use within 3 or 4 days.   store homemade juices in mason jars in the beverage chiller of the refrigerator.  It's an easy and inexpensive solution as I have so many mason jars.  It also means I have taken one more step of reducing kitchen waste by eliminating a large portion of frozen juice concentrate containers (not recyclable) and juice bottles.  I usually use a Bernardin storage lid in the refrigerator by my supply is low so a recycled snap lid and ring was substituted. 

Even though the freshly extracted orange juice is more expensive and the price will fluctuate more than juice made from concentrate, I am confident is a healthier choice for us.  I can't wait to buy some oranges from the Indian River trucks from Florida.  They come up each spring with about as fresh of oranges as you can get here.  There are two drivers so the make the trip from Florida to Ontario within a day.  These oranges are so good, they sell out their truck with a day or two!  In the meantime, I have to use store bought oranges. 

I'm also planning on buying a juice extractor for our vacation home in Florida where I can get inexpensive citrus.  During the orange season, finding free fresh oranges is very easy.  In our resort, residents not wanting oranges from their trees put them in a box free for the taking.  I just found out we can bring oranges back from Florida so will bring some the next time we drive. 

Frugal Kitchens 101 - Small Kitchen Appliances

Like many modern homemakers, I have a plethora of small kitchen appliances.  Unlike some, I tend not to get small kitchen appliances that are single purpose.  This is actually interesting as I was gifted with a waffle maker for Christmas and just bought a high power juice extractor, both single purpose small kitchen appliances.  However, these are specialized single use appliances for specific tasks that I know of no other way to get the same results without the appliance.  Ok, I do know how to make juice manually with a reamer but that is limited to juicing citrus fruits.  At some point I would love to buy a steam juicer for home canning juices but for the most part, the only way to make a wide varieties of juices at home is using a juicer.  There are manual waffle makers available, closer to what you would use for camping although they could be used on a regular stove top, I think.  At any rate, small kitchen appliances come at a cost.

Small kitchen appliance use electricity and while it might not be much because they are seldom in use for more than a few minutes, they still use electricity.  The second problem is small kitchen appliances take space, either on the counter or in storage.  I now have 20 small kitchen appliances of which only two have earned their place on the counter.  Surprisingly, I do not have a breadmaker, cotton candy machine, chocolate fountain or any of the other gimmicky small kitchen appliances.  Most of them help immensely with entertaining and bulk cooking.  They are not fancy but they are high quality.  Of those 20 small kitchen appliances, only three would be an immediate, not even blink an eyelash, this minute replacement.  All are invaluable small kitchen appliances that save me both time and money while giving me consistent good results.  They are:

• Kitchen Aid stand mixer - We raised four kids and I can't tell you how many times I wished for a Kitchen Aid stand mixer but funds were tight when the kids were young.  I splurged on a KA stand mixer about 10 years ago.  It is my kitchen work-horse!  I use the KA pretty much daily, often multiple times in a day.  Additional KA attachments let me use the KA for grinding meats, making pasta, shredding, slicing and straining foods.  This save us a considerable amount of money by not having purchase pre-made, store bought versions and it also us to avoid the food additives in store bought versions.
• Keurig single brew system - This is one small kitchen appliance that earns its keep on our counter.  It is used daily and often multiple times.  It is a God send when entertaining!  The Keurig K-cups range in price from 35¢ to 79¢ depending on where they are bought.  While this sounds expensive, we can easily offer our guests gourmet coffee without having to slip to the coffee shop where the price of a cup of coffee ranges between $1.25 to $3.50 but I've been told some specialty coffee shops charge more.  We have the re-usable My K-cup filtering system so can use regular ground coffee at a current cost of 8¢ per cup.  This is a nice extra that insulates you from not being able to find K-cups as what happened with the Melitta One:One single brew system.  Since we bought the Keurig, we don't get take-out coffee on a regular basis so we are saving right there.  We are further saving because we only brew what we need so there is less brewed coffee wasted.  It is especially convenient being able to make only one cup without having to make a whole pot of coffee.
• FoodSaver vacuum sealer - This appliance, despite the low cost, saves me so much money I wouldn't think twice about replacing it!  It has saved us countless dollars by eliminating freezer burn as well as keeping home dried foods at their peak of flavour without moisture or insect damage.  It protects our valuables and important documents from possible water damage when boating and I use it to seal original genealogy documents in acid-free holders.  I've used it to make home made ice packs, protect skeins of wool from silver worms, make boil-in-the-bag ready meals, as well as in many crafting projects.  

My New Bella High Power Juicer Extractor

There are a multitude of small kitchen appliances on the market.  Some are fluff, single purpose appliances that may or may not save you money.  In general, if the small kitchen appliance is not gimmicky, at some level it will save you money along with time while enhancing what you can cook in some fashion.   Sam's Club has a limited selection of small kitchen appliances.  By limited, I mean there really are only a very few to choose from and not the common ones like toasters what some consider daily use small kitchen appliances.  You will definitely save on the purchase price, likely ending up with a higher end appliance than you could find elsewhere but at a lower cost.  I bought my Kitchen Aid Professional HD stand mixer there with a savings of almost $200.

I am very pragmatic when it comes to small kitchen appliances, especially those single use ones.  I have wanted a juice extractor for years but really couldn't justify another appliance to find space for if it wasn't going to save me money or enhance my cooking in some manner.  Well, we were at Sam's Club a couple of weeks ago and they had a Bella High Power Juice Extractor on sale for $49.98 so for that price I decided to buy one.

The Bella high power juice extractor has a 1,000 W motor for juicing hard vegetables fast. It has a wide feed tube for quick and easy juicing with easy to clean dishwasher safe parts.  The 1 L juice pitcher has a splash free lid and there are two speeds for hard or soft fruits and vegetables.

The juice extractor is extremely easy to use.  Simply set up as per instructions then wash the fruit or vegetable you want to juice.  Fruits with pits (eg. mangos, peaches, cherries) should be pitted.  Fruits other than citrus do not need to be peeled.  Fruits containing starch (eg. banana, papayas, avocados, figs and mangoes are not suitable for the juice extractor as the will not yield a clear juice.  Bananas will also clog the micro-mesh screen.

The juice goes into the pitcher or if making a smaller amount you can use any glass that will fit under the spout.  The pulp goes into the pulp basket.  Do not throw this pulp out as it can be dried then used to make fruit or vegetable powder helping you increase your cooking diversity.

For the most part, a juicer is a single use small appliance with the sole purpose of making juice.  While the waste pulp can be frozen or dried for other uses, the goal is making juice.  That is one reason I did not buy a juicer earlier.  At the same time, a juicer makes small quantities of juice at a time while being a fair amount of work to clean.  For those with small kitchens, a juicer will take up more room than a stand mixer on the counter.

A juice extractor does not save you money unless you grow your own or have access to a free source of some fruits or vegetables.  A juicer does result in a healthier product that has not been subjected to heat for preserving.  Nor has it had salt, sugar, artificial flavourings or colours, or harmful preservatives like sodium benzoate.  The enzymes are still active in freshly extracted juice (aka better for you).  You can juice just about any fruit or vegetable, even herbs so you can make something at home that you can't buy.  I've have recipes that called for cucumber juice.  The only way you can make that quickly is with a juicer although you could set up an old fashioned strainer if desired but it will take several hours to collect the juice.

Juicing allows you collect the juices then use them in cooking, baking and jelly making.  If I wanted to make a juice for jelly it could take a half of a day or more to collect the jelly but a juice extractor reduces that to just a few minutes.  You can easily make home-made versions of the new and popular fruit and vegetable combination juices.

Pictured are carrot, celery and pineapple juice.  Now, I did save money on the carrot juice because 3 lb of carrots that were on sale for 97¢ gave a yield of 1 L carrot juice (less than the cost of store bough) and carrot pulp for drying to be made into powder, a win:win deal.  The celery juice is really a speciality juice you would be hard pressed to find in grocery stores.  It can be used in baking, cooking, drank as is, blended with other fruit juices or froze into ice cubes to flavour drinks later.  The celery was $1.49 but I got a unique product that I would either make off season when celery is on sale or use in season local or home grown celery.  Pineapple juice is not a cost savings it is a quality savings.  I paid $1.99 for the pineapple so I know store bought pineapple juice is cheaper but it has been subjected to heat for preserving meaning enzymes have been killed and there is a flavour change.  The freshly extracted pineapple juice is far superior in flavour to store bought canned pineapple juice.  Use it in baking for a wonderful punch of flavour that can't be beat!

Homemade Verses Store Bought Plain Waffles

There are a multitude of small kitchen appliances available, many of which can save you a substantial amount of money over their lifetime.  Some are a more frugal choice than others and as always it depends on your needs.  For example, if you are buying store bought frozen waffles to have on hand for quick hot breakfasts, then consider a waffle maker.  They start at under $20 on sale ranging into the high end of about $150.  Consider too that waffles aren't just for breakfast any more.  You can make some rather tasty desserts using waffles and savory waffles can be used in the place of biscuits for dinner. The payback period on a waffle maker is about 6 months to a year depending on how you use it.

One of our kids very generously gifted us with a Cuisinart 4-Slice Belgian Waffle Maker (WAF-100C).  This maker produces waffles with deep pockets to hold more toppings.  There are five settings for browning control as well as ready-to-bake and ready-to-eat lights with audible signals.  The plates are non-stick so only need washing then a light oiling before use.

Another of our kids who has had a waffle maker for a few years showed me how to use the waffle maker while giving me a few tips.  The grandkids and adults enjoyed fresh made waffles for breakfast that morning.

The following week I decided to do a test run myself.  I had two goals in mind.  The first goal was learning how to use the waffle maker and find the sweet spot for perfect browning.  The second goal was to do a comparison of the price of store bought frozen waffles, to those made with a store bought mix, then finally to waffles made with homemade batter.

I had just enough Krusteaz pancake and waffle mix to make four waffles.  This is a mix that only requires the addition of water that the guys like for hunt camp.  I mixed up the batter then poured into the heated waffle maker.

According to the manual, it takes a bit of experimenting to determine the right amount of batter needed.  They suggest two cups of batter poured evenly over the bottom then quickly spread with a heat resistant spatula before closing the lid.  Obviously, I have to work on my technique a bit but as my first attempt, I was rather pleased.

The next batch of waffles was made with the basic waffle recipe that came in the Cuisinart manual.  I did a test batch by halving the recipe to make 8 waffles.  What really impressed me was the higher rise using the homemade batter (right).  Clearly, the homemade batter gave nicer results but the true test was the taste.

The waffles made with the store bought mix were good.  They were fluffy with a nice flavour.  The waffles made with the homemade mix were fluffier with a cleaner flavour (aka no chemical overtones).

Basic Waffles
modified from: Cuisinart Instruction Booklet, WAF-100, Pp. 7

3 c unbleached all-purpose flour
3 tbsp organic granulated sugar
1½ tbsp baking powder
¾ tsp baking soda

¾ tsp sea salt
2½ c milk
½ c plus 1 tbsp vegetable oil
3 large eggs, slightly beaten

Combine the ingredients in the order listed in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Blend until smooth.  Let the batter rest 5 minutes before using.  Pre-heat the waffle maker then pour about 2 c of the batter onto the centre of the lower grid.  Spread evenly with a heatproof spatula.  Close the lid and cook until the tone sounds.  Open lid and carefully remove the waffles.

Overall, I was very impressed at the ease and cost of using a homemade waffle mix.  The results in terms of rise and flavour was superior to using a store bought mix.  Store bought frozen waffles cost about $4 for 12 or 43¢ each.  Homemade waffles using a store bought mix cost about 8¢ each and those using a scratch batter cost about 6¢ each.  Now there isn't a huge difference in cost between store bot mix and scratch batter but with scratch you aren't getting all the additives.  You are getting 8 ingredients rather than a whole list of chemicals.  Another thing you aren't getting with home-made is all that extra packaging.  Homemade waffles are about 20% larger than the store bought frozen version so that's something to consider as well.

The cooled, stacked waffles were ready for packaging for the freezer.  Home-made waffles reheat in the toaster just like store bought so you still have the convenience of a quick, hot breakfast.  I packaged 4 waffles per freezer bag each separated by a piece of parchment paper and pressing the air out of the bags.  I didn't vacuum seal them as they are meant for short term storage in the freezer.

This is just a really easy way to put healthy, hot breakfasts on the table with a minimal of effort while saving a considerable amount of money.  The two batches took me under 15 minutes so I can't complain at being able to stock the freezer with waffles ready to pop into the toaster being time consuming at all.  An easy way to do this would be to make a double batch of batter, then freeze what isn't used that day.  On the other hand, if you are making waffles for a family and need a larger amount, in a half hour you can easily make 64 waffles by making a triple batch of the basic (recall I halved so double then triple).  The cooking time is very minimal so you can really make a lot of these in a very short period of time.

Expanding the Drying Space on My Dehydrator

In August of 2012, I bought a Nesco® All American Harvest® Dehydrator & Jerky Maker at Home Hardware since I no longer have my Jenn-Aire slide-in range as I went to natural gas when we bought this house.  My ancient Mr Coffee Maker stand-alone dehydrator quit back in 2005 and I didn't bother replacing because the Jenn-Aire had a dehydrating setting.  Well, Home Hardware had had the FD-61, 500 W, expandable to 12 trays on sale so I bought one.  It had to be ordered in on a rain cheque but I still got it at the sale price of $65.  I had considered ordering extra trays at the same time but wanted to see how the dehydrator performed.

The extra trays were $20 for two so expanding to the full 12 trays would cost me an additional $160 plus HST bringing my initial investment close to the cost of a smaller Excalibur dehydrator.  The reality is only a small portion of our food storage goes into home dried foods. Don't get me wrong as I do dry a lot, just no as much as some do.  Now that we are settled into our new home, I will likely do a bit more dehydrating.  One of my projects is to make more home dried foods that could easily be popped into our backpacks when flying down to our vacation home.  Liquids are restricted to a quart bag, 3 oz per container so that eliminates taking any home canned foods.

We stopped at a Bed, Bath and Beyond while we were doing Christmas shopping.  They had my exact same dehydrator and beside it the add-a-trays priced at $9.99 for two.  I popped one box into the cart figuring that it was a good deal and I may not want to fully expand to the 12 trays so reasoned that buying 2 at a time as needed would be the more frugal choice.  My old Mr Coffee was a five tray, round model that served us nicely for several years.

My dehydrator has light grey speckled trays but the trays in the package were solid white for the FD-40, FD-50 and FD-60 series.  They are identical in every way except for colour.  They fit perfectly and really, the colour difference might come in handy when drying two or more types of foods.  For the price savings, I can live with two colours of trays!  Besides my husband and I will more than likely be the only ones seeing it and others would realize it isn't supposed to be a stripped effect when assembled.

At that price, I now have $75 into the dehydrator.  If I expand again, it will cost me another $10 for a total of $85 investment, something that would be recouped during the first year of dehydrating depending on use.  Each 2 tray expansion kit gives an additional 1.73 sq feet of drying space meaning each tray is 0.865 sq feet of drying space.  With 6 trays I now have a total of 5.19 sq feet of drying space which is a fair amount of drying space.  Whether or not that is enough drying space for my plans remains to be seen so I will expand further if needed.

Frugal Kitchens 101 - Tips for Saving Money on Kitchen Equipment

We are now into November which means starting to prepare for gift giving and the holiday season. I have a love/hate relationship with this time of year.  I love that you can get some rather good deals for anything kitchen related but I hate being inundated with stacks and stacks of store flyers that to me are a waste of resources especially when we are on a mission to reduce paper waste in our home.  We just received the stuffed with flyers local can't opt out of newspaper.  I have to admit there are a few good sales on small kitchen appliances (eg. West Bend slow cooker reg. $31.99 on for $18.97) , kitchenware and all things kitchen related.  While small kitchen appliances go on sale throughout the year, the best time to find the bargains is during the period leading up to Christmas Day.  Kitchen items will be reduced as much as 75%  which makes waiting to buy well worth it.  The next best times for these bargains are Boxing Day followed by about the end of January when some of these small appliance gifts and kitchen ware will make their way to the resale shops (sad but true).  The reason being, even though the giver thought the receiver would love a breadmaker, the receiver didn't.   So it makes it's way to the resale store without the giver ever knowing.  I have picked up some lovely Pamper Chef pieces this way.  The second reason, is some of the kitchen items on sale for the purpose of gift giving are really unnecessary gadgets or gimmicky that result in cluttered kitchens.  Finally, another good time to find kitchenware bargains is the couple of weeks before Mother's Day.  With this in mind as to when the best times to shop for kitchen equipment here are a few tips:

• flyers - Go through the flyers and compare the prices in the comforts of your own home.  If the price is excellent and it is a small kitchen appliance or other kitchen item you need, then take the flyer with you to the store.  Some stores will price match their competitors price which can save you an extra stop.  
• know your prices - I am more than willing to wait for the excellent sales for our own kitchen needs as well as kitchen items for gift giving.  Some sales are good but others are excellent.  It pays to keep a price book of items you need.  For example, Canadian Tire routinely puts the Anchor 6 pc glass storage sets on sale from 30% to 50% off.  This week they are 65% off so I'll pick up a couple of sets for gift giving because I know this is going to be about the best price I will find for new sets.  
• be prepared - I keep a price book, well actually it's now on my iPad in our ongoing efforts to reduce paper waste, of household items we want or need.  My rule of thumb is to never by anything kitchen related that is not on sale.  Even stocking our vacation home, everything was bought on sale.  At the same time, I am prepared to buy if there is an excellent sale on a kitchen item.  I keep a small stash of funds on hand that basically comes partly from saving on grocery shopping and partly from very generous gifts (eg. monetary or gift cards).
• gift cards - Some folks like to give gift cards as gifts and I do receive gift cards as part of the compensation for various promotions on my blogs.  The instinct when getting a gift card is to rush out and buy something you want.  I'm the direct opposite.  A gift card here (Ontario, Canada) has no expiry date so it is as good as money in the bank.  I save gift cards to use when I find an excellent sale on an item I need or want for gift giving.
• wants vs needs - One of the primary concepts of frugality is distinguishing between wants and needs.  For example, I want a meat slicer but I don't really need one because I have several good knives that will do the job manually.  Our kitchen is very well equipped so at the moment I would say we have no needs but an example need would be someone who has arthritis and can't use a manual can opener would need an electric version. If you are buying a kitchen gift for someone, do a bit of research the buy what they need.  If they don't need anything, then splurge and buy something they want.  Oh, and the research is as easy as asking a few of the right questions at the appropriate moment or simply being observant  Just keep your ears and eyes open and it will be easy to see what they need.
• rain cheques - Sometimes a store is out of a sale item.  Unless it specifies in the flyer 'no rain cheques', ask for a rain cheque.  Generally the item will arrive on the next shipment allowing you to still purchase the item at the sale price even if the sale is over.

Prepping Ahead and Slow Cookers

September has notoriously been an extremely busy month ever since we were newlyweds.  Two of our kids were born in September, a year apart.  September signifies the end of summer so it always meant closing the pool, canning copious amounts of tomato products and back then getting kids ready for school.  I began my undergraduate studies the year our youngest started kindergarten.  This involved a daily round trip commute of three hours on a good day.  Yet I was determined to put healthy food on the table and eat dinner as a family each night.  I quickly developed a lot of techniques to help me achieve that goal.

I always took the kids fishing Saturday mornings whenever the weather was nice.  It was a fun way to bond, always with the hopes of a large enough catch for dinner.  On the way home, we would stop at a couple of orchards and roadside stands for fresh produce.  During the winter months, we took the kids to the grocery store on Saturday mornings for fresh produce.  They were allowed to choose what they wanted.  We'd come home and as a family would prep about half of the produce for easy healthy snacking during the week.   Vegetables went into the fridge and fruits into the never-ending fruit bowl.

The kids are grown with kids of their own.  I still prep vegetables for the week ahead of time but now I put them in FoodSaver canisters.  This keeps them fresh longer and they are in plain sight to encourage healthy snacking.  This is a great easy lunch idea for those dreaded school lunches.  The produce is already cleaned and ready to use!

Shortly after starting my academic career that spanned a total of ten years including a graduate degree, I started once-a-month cooking then quickly modified the concept to meet our family's needs.  I used my slow cooker to make chili and meatballs.  I would make a large batch of meatballs then freeze them for an easy to warm up, go to meal starter.  I also used the slow cooker to

I have three slow cookers, now used mainly for bulk cooking sessions and entertaining.    However, all of them are in use when doing a bulk cooking session.  They are wonderful for compact cooking.  One of our kids uses their slow cooker almost daily through-out the week.  I'm old school so rely on my pressure cookers but seriously, the slow cooker is the way to go for ready to eat, healthy meals for the busy family.  The meal is basically ready to eat when you walk in the door making the slow cooker an ideal tool for the busy home kitchen

My slow cookers really see the most use when entertaining.  That is because I can make a dish in the slow cooker then set it to warm.  My smaller slow cooker is used mainly for entertaining as it is not programmable.  It does do a lovely job of warming cheese sauce and keeping it warm.  It's also nice for cooking smaller batches of chili and soups.

This is a presentation I did for an gathering earlier this year.  The 250 ml squatty Elite mason jars do double duty as serving bowls.  That is home canned salsa and hot peppers as well as homemade sour cream.  The neat thing is you could easily tailor this for a kid's after school snack.  You can put the toppings in containers in the fridge, sauce in the slow cooker and corn chips in a bowl still in the package ready to be used.  Easy, peazy!

Nesco Dehydrator

We started camping in tents when our youngest was still in diapers on the Labour Day weekend with good friends of ours.  In October of the same year, we packed up our kids and gear in the pouring rain to head to Pinery Provincial Park.  It rained the entire time we were there but as a family we were hooked on camping.  The following spring we bought a pop-up tent trailer and less than a year later bought a 28' Prowler.  Our kids were fanatics about homemade trail mix and beef jerky as snacks so I splurged and bought a Mr. Coffee 5 tray dehydrator (135 W).  When we bought our Jenn-Aire range in 2005, I switched to using the dehydrating cycle on it as the Mr. Coffee had burned out.  When we moved here, the Jenn-Aire went to one of our kids because I wanted natural gas for home canning.  Since last September, I have been unable to do much in the way of dehydrating as my new gas range does not go low enough in temperature.  It wasn't much of a problem until this spring when I wanted to start replenishing our dried food supplies.

A couple of weeks ago I bought a Nesco® All American Harvest® Dehydrator & Jerky Maker (FD-61).  Home Hardware ordered it in for me, which is one reason I love supporting this local business.  The dehydrator is a 500 W 4 tray model expandable to 12 trays.  It came with one fruit roll-up sheet but extra trays, screens and fruit sheets are available.  Unlike the Mr. Coffee where the heating element and fan were in the base, the heating element and fan are in the lid of the Nesco.  The nice thing about this design is food drippings never come into contact with the heating element or fan making clean-up a lot nicer.  Also, this dehydrator has an adjustable thermostat making it much more versatile than the Mr. Coffee one.  I do plan to expand this dehydrator with at least two more trays if not more depending on how much drying I'm doing.

I decided to make a batch of beef jerky to test out my new dehydrator.  This is the golden standard in dehydrating for our family.  I use a lean cut of beef (eg. flank or round steak) either thin sliced from the butchershop or hand cut at home from a piece of meat from our bulk beef purchase or venison from my husband's hunt camp score.  The meat is marinated for 4 to 8 hours in the refrigerator.  The beauty of the marinate is it can be a very simple to complex homemade marinade or your favourite bbq sauce.  A curing spice that contains sodium nitrate and salt (eg. Morton's Tender Quick) should be added to the marinade in a ratio of 1 tsp per pound of meat.

I marinated the beef in Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce.  I dried the beef jerky at 165ºF (74ºC) setting until it was tough but not brittle.  I wrapped the finished jerky in paper towels to absorb any excess fat before packaging.  Jerky is shelf stable for about 3 weeks or if vacuum sealed longer.  To extend the storage life, I store beef jerky in the refrigerator.  It will keep nicely for 6 months in the freezer, not that a batch of beef jerky would ever last that long around here!

The jerky was delicious.  I do think there was a bit of a borderline sweetness that while quite pleasant needed toning down.  Yet no one complained so it might have been just my tastebuds off a bit.  The next batch I make will be using Blazin BBQ's  Blazin' Nitro BBQ Sauce.  This is an award winning, specialty bbq from Canadian ribbers.  The sauce is only available through their restaurant or at ribfests they are participating in.  I think the sauce will make an amazing beef jerky!

Frugal Kitchens 101 - Buying a Dehydrator

The ability to dehydrate foods is a fundamental component of home food preservation.  Ideally, any food preservation you do should be in the form of home canned, frozen and dried for any given food.  What this means is, for example, if you are preserving tomatoes - a portion will be froze, a portion will be home canned and a portion will be dried.  The preference as to which is the larger portion will depend on a few factors.  I personally preserve tomatoes in many forms as home canned (about 80%) with drying and freezing at about 10% each.  However the reverse is true with respect to meats where the bulk of preservation is freezing.  Still, I dry and can meats as well because you never want to put your food storage into one basket. 

Food dehydrators come in three forms:

1. homemade sun trays
2. part of some ovens
3. stand alone dehydrators

I have used all three.  There are pros and cons to each.

1. homemade sun trays -  Homemade sun trays consist of a frame with a screen at their simplest form.  The food is prepared, placed on the screen then the screen set in a sunny spot for drying.  The method is very much at the weather's mercy and does not work well in humid areas where the food will mold before drying.  Drying using this method requires extended periods of time exposing the food to any contaminants in the outdoor air as well as bugs, insects, rodents and marauding pests like squirrels, raccoons and skunks.   Some have put their sun trays in parked cars to take advantage of the heat but it is still not an ideal solution especially if you need to use the car.  The main pro is sun trays are free to operate but the cons by far outweigh this.
2. oven dehydrators - Some ovens are capable of dehydrating and some even have actual dehydrator settings.  In order to use an oven as a dehydrator it must be able to be set as low as 95ºF/35ºC to a high of 160ºF/71ºF.  Many newer ovens can only be set as low as 170ºF/77ºC which is too hot for dehydrating.
3. stand alone dehydrators - A stand alone dehydrator ranges in price from $40 to $500.  The cheaper models have no thermostat and round trays.  These should be avoided because different temperatures are required for drying different foods.  For example, herbs are dried at 95ºF/35ºC but meats, fish and jerky are dried at 160ºF/71ºC.  Models without an adjustable thermostat likely dry about 115ºF/46ºC resulting in burning of herbs and under drying of meats.  A mid-range dehydrator with a thermostat, round trays and expandability will cost about $80 but with extras can quickly add up to the $200 range.  The nice thing is you don't have to expand if you don't want to nor do you have to put out all this money at once, just expand as required so the cost is spread out over a few years based on need.  The alternative is to buy a high end model then use it enough to recoup your costs.  Wattage does matter.  Some of the cheap models are 135 W meaning a longer drying time.  Mid-range models are 400 to 500 W so the drying time is greatly reduced.  Higher end models are 830 W - 1,600 W or more meaning even faster drying.  Unless you are drying foods for commercial use, a 500 W to 830 W model is more than sufficient for normal household usage.

Frugal Kitchens 101 - Buying Small Kitchen Appliances Tips

The modern kitchen is a mecca for small kitchen appliances.  Some of them are not essential but rather nice to have and yet others are essential.  While most households have a fairly large selection of small electric appliances, it is possible to get many of them in manual (non-electric) versions.  In some cases it may be preferable to use a manual version especially if your area is prone to frequent power outages or living off the grid.  Manual small appliances may also be preferred if using them for camping or you want to reduce your electricity consumption.   As the cost of electricity continues to rise, the manual small appliances will increase in popularity.  However, small electric appliances can be essential for those with motility problems like arthritis. 

Here's a few tips to consider when buying small kitchen appliances:

• where to purchase - Most small electric kitchen appliances are bought at box stores like Canadian Tire, Home Hardware and Wal-mart.  Those sold in specialty kitchen stores tend to have a higher price tag.  Those sold at liquidation stores (eg. Liquidation World, Giant Tiger, Big Lots) tend to have lower prices than the box stores and they may be considerably less if there is no box or manual or if it was a display model.  [We actually bought a brand new Kenmore display model microwave oven, 1,100 W for $49.99 at a liquidation store!  It has every button imaginable.]  Manual kitchen appliances can be found at dollar stores (eg. can opener) but my recommendation is to spend a bit extra for a higher quality one that will last.  One of the best sources for manual kitchen appliances is anywhere there is a Amish or Mennonite community.  Home Hardware (head office is St. Jacobs, Ontario) is a very good source for some manual small appliances as are camping supply stores (eg. Camper's World) and outdoor supplies stores (eg. Gander Mountain).  Lehman's is an excellent online source for manual kitchen appliances.  Yard sales and resale stores are a good source for some small kitchen appliances.  Check the resale stores in January and February as that's were unwanted gifted small kitchen appliances end up.
• when to buy - Ideally and unless it is an emergency, never pay full price for a small kitchen appliance.  The large box stores often have a clearance bin or table so check there.  Certain small kitchen appliances are viewed by the stores as being seasonal.  December is always a good month to pick up small kitchen appliances on sale as is the couple of weeks before Mother's Day.  However, if you are looking for a good deal on outdoor grills (one of my kitchen must have appliances) the couple of weeks before Father's Day and end of summer sales are the times to buy.  Watch for grand opening or one day only sales as they tend to be better deals than the normal cyclic sales. 
• need verses want -  In general, most small kitchen appliances are for convenience to lessen the work load and make it quicker.  Unless you have motility problems, most small kitchen appliances are a want not a need.  If you do a lot of home canning or entertaining, some small kitchen appliances are a need not a want and in this case it is advisable to have both electric and manual versions.  Now, there is nothing wrong in buying a small kitchen appliance you simply want but these are the appliances that tend to end up in yard sales and resale store.  If the small kitchen appliance is not an emergency (eg. can opener) refrain from buying it until you can find it on sale.  
• avoid gimmicks - Gimmicky small kitchen appliances are a dime a dozen.  Now, if you have kids you may want the cotton candy maker or if you do a lot of entertaining you might want that chocolate fountain but the reality is these types of appliances get tossed into storage, seldom ever seeing the light of day.  They essential end up being a waste of money and valuable storage space.

KitchenAid® Pasta Roller and Fettuccine Cutter

As a newlywed, I made breads and pasta by hand but as I became busier with raising a young family while earning higher education, I moved onto a few mechanical methods.  I went to a breadmachine, but never pleased with the baking results it ended up being a glorified dough mixer.  I opted for buying dry and fresh pastas at the grocery store.  A few years ago I splurged on a KitchenAid® stand mixer, made bagels and immediately saw the potential so started buying attachments.  Several years ago I started having problems with my wrists and fingers, so these attachments would allow me to save money without stressing my joints.

I honestly don't think I have ever paid full price for any kitchen equipment including my stand mixer or attachments.  I have no problem waiting for a good sale to pick up a piece of kitchen equipment I want but I won't pay full price!  Canadian Tire really makes it's money off of automotive supplies and repairs which means they tend to offer great deals on the other items they stock.  About a month ago, they had the KitchenAid® stand mixers on sale and a promotional offer for the pasta roller and fettuccine cutter set (KETPRA) for $89.99.  The paster roller is valued at $90 itself on the KitchenAid® site so it was like getting the fettuccine cutter free!  It wasn't in stock so they gave me a rain check.  It came in yesterday so I am beyond excited!

Sometimes being frugal in the kitchen is not about money, it about getting a superior product in terms of freshness and flavour.  So it is with homemade pasta like homemade egg noodles.  If you compare current prices fresh, ready to cook deli pasta is about 10¢ per serving, dried pasta is 18¢ per 85 g serving and homemade is 39¢ per serving.  The price per serving of homemade pasta looks quite high on the surface but it all depends on how much your eggs cost.  I am currently paying 30¢ per egg but I can get them as low as 15¢ per egg when available which reduces my cost for homemade pasta to 23¢ per serving.  Now the thing is, I do pride myself in my homemade, gourmet style tomato sauces so paying a bit extra for that ultimate pasta taste to match the sauces is worth it to me.  Unlike the ready to cook, fresh deli pastas there are no preservatives with homemade pastas either.  I know I'm using free range eggs as well.  Homemade pasta comes in less expensive than the specialty pastas (eg. vegetable, whole wheat).  The neat thing is homemade uncooked pasta can be stored in the refrigerator for use that week or frozen for later use.

Our New Outdoor Charcoal - Gas Combo Grill

Grilling has always been a fundamental way of cooking for us.  I don't recall a time of ever going without one.  One of our first purchases as newlyweds was an outdoor charcoal grill.  It was a simple, assemble it yourself round grill with a half shell hood.  We've had full sized grills for the house, firepits with grates, and table-top grills for camping.  When we bought our first house we splurged and bought a propane grill.  We continued to use propane and occasionally charcoal until we went to a natural gas grill when we moved to a semi-rural location.  Our next move was to a rural location where we continued to use a natural gas grill.   Natural gas makes a lot of sense for an outdoor grill as there is no worry about running out of fuel.  This move was to a urban location so we opted to go with a dual fuel outdoor grill.  It's a real beauty!

Of note, each grill fuel (eg. wood, charcoal, natural gas, propane) have pros and cons.   Grilling using wood or charcoal takes a bit more effort but the results are well worth it.  Charcoal is the preferred fuel for steaks and burgers!  My husband prefers propane over natural gas as propane burns hotter giving better grilling results.  I spotted the Nexgrill charcoal - gas combo grill in the Canadian Tire flyer a couple of months ago.  He bought that model the same day, brought it home where it sat in the crate in the garage until we moved it to the new house where it sat in the crate on the deck for a week and a half before there was enough of a break in the rain to put it together.  About half-way through the assembly process it decided to rain again but he was able to finish the assembly the following morning.

This model has 36,000 total BTU on the propane side (larger hood).  The smaller hood is charcoal with an adjustable charcoal tray.  There is an electronic ignition on the propane side.  Rather that use lighter fluid (environmentally unfriendly) he opted for an electric charcoal starter that starts the charcoal to red hot in about 8 minutes with the fire ready to cook on when the charcoal is nearly covered with grey ash (about 20 minutes).  Each grill compartment is equipped with a thermometer gauge.  The top is stainless steel that will prevent some of the rusting issues we've experienced with previous outdoor grills.  There is no side burner with this grill

As with any change in cooking fuel, I relied on tried and true for the first meal.  The reason being is there is a bit of an adjustment in cooking times with propane running hotter than natural gas.  We've been grilling mainly with natural gas for the past almost 10 years so know we will have to reduce the grilling time for propane.

Pictured are the pork loin chops in the propane grill compartment with camp style potatoes and niblet corn.  The grill performed nicely, much as expected running a bit hotter than natural gas.  We experienced no problems at all.  I can't wait to try the charcoal grill compartment!

Our simple meal was cooked to perfection with beautiful grill marks on the pork loin chops.  A little Diana's sauce and black bean salsa (a generous gift from our guests that night) finished off the chops.  We enjoyed the meal with our friends at the dining area of the deck.  It was a wonderful meal spent with good company.  I'm sure there will be many more to come so I'd best get working on dealing with mosquitoes!

The mosquitoes are bad in the evenings here but what we have found worse are the yellow jackets attracted by the ripening peaches.  My husband was stung on his palm while assembling the outdoor grill and I was stung the same day on the palm side of a finger while picking a peach.  The yellow jackets were swarming the peach trees, doing considerable damage.  I knocked the damaged fruit from the tree, picked what I could and within a day the yellow jackets were gone.  They never did bother the pear tree.

A Sneak Peak at My New Kitchen

We have been essentially living between two houses for the past fourteen days.  Today is the last day of ownership of our old house so basically the only thing left to do there is remove the last of the boxes and vacuum.  We signed all the papers yesterday and gave our lawyer the key so tomorrow we officially own our new house!  Here's a sneak peak at my new kitchen. 

There is a large raised deck off the kitchen.  Out of sight to the left is a spacious area for our outdoor dining area.  There is a gate at the top of the stairs that will be quite helpful in keeping the grandkids safe and sound.  We have a second, smaller deck on one side of the pool that we don't intend on putting an eating area on.  The new dual fuel (charcoal/propane) grill sat in the box in the intended spot for the first week.  We could not get it put together due to daily rain, rather heavy at times.  Then we finally had a break in the weather so my husband started putting it together but about half-way through it rained again.  Thankfully the next day was clear enough he was able to finish the assembly.  We grill pork loin chops on it that night (more on that later). 

We decided on a stand alone breakfast bar.  Originally it came with the two bar stools.  I ordered two more that currently at the furniture shop waiting for us to pick up.  I hung one of the paintings from our collection of original paintings from a local artist.  His work is amazing!  The beautiful, realistic, mesmerizing landscapes draw you into them.  We have four of them at home each bought when we moved into a new house.  We never bought one or even hung the ones we had at our last house, perhaps an premonition neither of us bonded to the house.

The stainless steel kitchen cart is temporarily in the kitchen.  I really like it as the cart holds a lot of stuff but both of us agree the cart does not really suit the kitchen so we will likely move it down into the games room.  We are debating adding a base cabinet to match our cabinets tiled on top to use as a side server but may just buy a server.  That's up in the air.

The long branch of the counter has double sinks, dishwasher, stove and microwave.  It will see the most changes in the kitchen.  I'm not sure whether or not I will be putting anything above the cabinets so that is just temporary.  We are putting in a garburator on one of the sinks.  The existing dilapidated White-Westinghouse dishwasher has already been replaced with an energy efficient Whirlpool Gold Quiet Partner (model# GU2475XTVB1).  The new Whirlpool Gold free-standing gas range (model# GFG461LVB) blocked part of the patio doors to the deck since Sep. 2 but was fully installed this morning.  The dishwasher was a royal pain to replace and the range was a very tight fit but things look rather good now.  Obviously the previous owners did not consider that appliance need to be changed out from time to time!  The floor is marble tiled.

I really didn't like the gold knobs on the cabinets so have replaced them with smoked mirror finished knobs.  The range hood needs to be replaced.  The microwave oven doesn't match so one of our kids offered to trade their black one for our white one.  The walk-in 10' x 11' pantry holding freezers, small appliances, food and other culinary equipment is downstairs so I'm getting my exercise!  A friend of ours is custom making a shelf with lighting to run just above where the tile ends in the centre of the cabinets.  It will be used for cookbooks, something I will very much appreciate.

The short side of the cabinets ends at the refrigerator (Maytag 26 cu. ft, model# MZD2666KEB).  There is the entrance from the dining and living room to the kitchen to the left of the fridge.  The refrigerator was left with the house as part of the real estate deal.  It is only a couple of years old and still had the protective plastic on the controls.

Originally we wanted to take out part of this wall to create an open concept dining/living room with kitchen and breakfast bar but it is a load bearing wall and it would involve a massive amount of work.  Besides I love the marble tiled floor so don't want to damage it.  We are considering turning part of the deck into a three season room but haven't made any definite plans.

In total there are three dining areas in the house - the dining room that is open to the living room, the breakfast bar and the deck for a total seating for 15.  We have further seating for 30 in the games room on the lower level as well as our full sized, white Whirlpool side-by-side from the old house.  So it will be a wonderful home for entertaining with the first larger event this weekend.  I have a lot to do to get ready for that!  I hope you like my new kitchen and enjoy the foods I prepare in it.