NaBloPoMo

NaBloPoMo-The End

November 30, 2013 by Renee

Thirty days, thirty posts. The end is here. It’s been wonderful having you share this month with me and I am grateful for all of you who came, visited and commented. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you! From the bottom of my heart. I could not have done it without you.

I’ll be back in a few days. I won’t be gone for long. There are plenty of posts for me to write- cookbooks to review, recipes to test and even some products to discuss. But in the meantime, I’ll be spending a few days resting and catching up on some reading. And hanging out with my kids, helping with homework, catching a few movies, and just being.

So I leave you with this…

See you soon!

NaBloPoMo- Some thoughts on a month of writing.

November 29, 2013 by Renee

Only two more posts to go. This one and tomorrow’s. This NaBloPoMo thing has been a real challenge.

They say a habit takes 30 days to be created. So perhaps posting daily and making sure that something, anything is down on paper (on the web) every night before I turn in, has created somewhat of a routine. I actually don’t mind it so much anymore. I could keep going, really. Except for one thing- content.

I just don’t have that much interesting content to write about. Truth be told, my days, more often than not, have not been in the kitchen developing recipes or cooking fabulous meals as I would have liked but have rather been spent in a myriad of other ways. Not that I am complaining! I had an out of town guest for a long weekend, I’ve been interviewing for a corporate position again (fingers crossed and lots of prayers please!), I’ve been helping with a lot of homework and science fair projects and working on client websites and several other projects. There have been nights of order-in pizza and Chinese take out. There’s also been cereal and pancakes for dinner. And there have been too many days filled with migraines, exhaustion and just plain ole’ ‘stay in bed in pjs’ kind of days. So not too many recipes or real cooking happened this month.

Unless you count Thanksgiving and then tons of cooking and food happened. But that was only one day and while I could have had two full weeks of posts just for that one day, I didn’t.

I have not always been so forthcoming in my writing either. It’s something that I struggle with every time I begin to write. I feel as though I have been rather reserved here. Cautious and actually kind of boring in a lot of posts, I think. (Feel free to tell me I’m not boring! haha) There are posts where I feel my “voice” doesn’t seem to even appear. I don’t really like that and it needs to change.

Yet, despite the challenges, it’s been very rewarding as well.

One of the best parts of this month has been reading other people’s blogs. I’ve added a few to my bookmarks and I will try to keep up reading and commenting when I can.

Apparently, another perk, I can also stay up much later than I would like too. But not without some snafu. There was one night that I actually fell asleep writing a post and had to do some creative editing in the morning. Oops!

So, I could write every day. I have proven that I could, with almost 30 days of posts behind me. But I think paring back to a steady 3x a week would be sufficient if I posted something worth reading. Something you might actually be interested in, told in my authentic voice, letting you into my real life a bit more and actually giving you something to connect with.

Are you ready?

#NaBloPoMo- Entry 29!

How Wolfgang Puck Saved Thanksgiving

November 29, 2013 by Renee

Last month we received a Wolfgang Puck Pressure Oven to test out. The idea is that this table top oven works on the same concept as a pressure cooker- except in an oven form. When you close and lock the oven door, the pressure sealed compartment browns your foods perfectly while locking in juices and cooking much faster. It bakes, roasts and much more in less time.

The first thing we made was a rotisserie chicken, which turned out perfectly! It was so incredibly delicious- juicy and flavorful. Just like a chicken you’d pick up in the market’s take out section. This is a really great feature of the oven.

Pleased, we then made some cupcakes in it and those turned out really well too. They baked perfectly and around five minutes faster than my regular oven- which for something that only takes 20 minutes normally, that’s a striking 25% faster!

We pulled it out today when we realized that not everything was cooking that well in our regular oven. It’s been on the fritz for some time, it doesn’t always keep temperature and everything was taking much longer than expected. Especially the turkey! It was only supposed to take 5 hours to cook at the standard 20 minutes per pound method, but nearing 6 hours, it was still very undercooked.

So we cut the turkey apart and in shifts, we finished roasting it in the Wolfgang Puck Pressure Oven. It worked like a charm. Not only did the turkey have a turn in the oven, but so did all of the side dishes. We also used it for warming everything up right before we sat down to eat too.

Having this extra oven really saved the day! I am really glad we had it here.

There are some drawbacks to the oven though that might cause some raised eyebrows. For one, the steam valve on top is a bit quirky to use and you really have to wear an oven mitt when you turn it, or you could be seriously hurt by the steam it releases. It’s rather hot! Secondly, the oven itself gets very hot on the outside. It’s an all metal casing and that gets very heated when you are cooking, so be careful not to touch the outside of the oven.

Speaking of the casing, it’s very easily dented. The oven I received first had many dings and dents, and was replaced but even this one has a nice big dent in the side, but because it doesn’t affect the way it cooks, I kept it. It’s just an aesthetic kind of thing and I really wanted to test it out without waiting for a third one to arrive. I was told that the manufacturer has since changed the packaging to protect the ovens a bit more, so hopefully they won’t be dented anymore when they arrive to the consumers.

Lastly, the timer doesn’t work on the oven at all. I am sure it’s just on my model, but the knob doesn’t do anything. We have tried it on every cooking occasion, and no luck, so, we just kept an eye on things from the glass window and our estimates were correct with the timing of things being fully cooked.

Even with those few negative things, overall, the positive outweigh them. The oven cooks really well and in less time than my regular one. The rotisserie will be used often too. That’s my favorite feature. I’m glad we had the opportunity to test it out.

Having a second oven is a huge help- especially when your primary oven isn’t working well. It is most especially useful on a huge food holiday such as Thanksgiving! It really saved the day! The turkey made it to the table in good time and all the sides were hot!

And that’s one thing I am thankful for!

Disclosure: I received a Wolfgang Puck Pressure Oven to test and review. I was not compensated in any other way for this post. As always, the thoughts and opinions are my own!