My new find!

I am so excited, I found a new treasure at my favorite local coffee shop. We, as a family, often enjoy a leisurely walk down to Dog Tooth Coffee (the joys of living downtown), and Garrett and I share one "bottomless" cup of joe; taking turns watching Bodhi while the other enjoys a hot cup of coffee while perusing through the little community-style library offered at the coffee shop. You can take a book home to keep, but it's common courteousy to bring one back in its stead. Well, I found a treasure, a new cookbook! I am so excited about this book, and here's why: it is naturally focused, the recipes are truly healthful, calling for ingredients that are good-for-you and wholesome. Also, there are a great variety of recipes; with many new ideas for cooking with and consuming various types of grains and legumes. Just in case you're interested, you can get one too -- for only $4.15 on amazon.com. In my opinion, that is a super-bargain. Welcome, Brand Name Light & Natural Cookbook, to my kitchen, we are going to have lots of fun together!

Why I love my Microplane...

This kitchen tool is seriously amazing. It can do it all, I find myself reaching for my microplane time and time again. Thus, I have brought it before all of you to ponder the wonders of the mircoplane. Perhaps I can encourage you in your culinary skills, or inspire you to go out and get your very own microplane! Or, remind you to dig it up out of your drawer if you already own one. Here's why:

The microplane is extremely versatile. It serves as a very efficient zester, as well as an effortless grater. Let me just run you through some of my very common kitchen scenarios that involve the use of this excellent tool: zesting an entire orange peel (quickly!) for baking up some cranberry orange muffins, grating a hard cheese, such as parmesan reggiano, over a bowl of steamy tomato soup, grating some fresh nutmeg over silky, smooth & seasonal Soy Nog (yum! there's really nothing quite like fresh nutmeg), maybe the zest of a fresh lemon over your foil-baked salmon, and of course chocolate shavings over.......um, everything? Hot cocoa, whipped cream, cake, ice cream, my toothbrush. Who doesn't love chocolate shavings?

The stainless steel zester/grater is sturdy enough that you can hold it over a bowl or dish or even lay it on top of your bowl or dish and grate away, directly into your food. Bonus, the classic microplane zester/grater now comes in five fun colors.