YumSugar

Alessi Anna G Cheese Grater: Love It or Hate It?

YumSugar — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 05:30:00 -0800

Italy's Alessi has a thing for anthropomorphic kitchen tools, such as this Anna G Cheese Grater ($97).

The brightly colored tool lets you shred your parmesan with the likes of a little girl in an orange dress. But is it too precious?

Stanislav Katz's Cheese Grater: Love It or Hate It?

YumSugar — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 07:57:31 -0800

Designer Stanislav Katz has created the grate-est cheese grater ever. It's similar to your standard box grater, but the holes are round, and it's painted yellow to resemble a piece of Swiss cheese. I think it's wonderfully whimsical and absolutely fabulous. How about you, what do you think?

All You Need To Enjoy Your Cheese

partysugar — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 08:57:32 -0700

It's National Cheese Day, so I decided to scour the web and highlight a few essential tools to help you enjoy cheese to the fullest. For slicing perfect slices of cheddar and Gruyere, choose a wooden board with an attached metal cutter. For softer cheeses, like Brie, use a special edged knife that allows you to smoothly spread cheese on crackers, toasts, and fruit pieces. Hard cheese such as Parmesan requires a cheese plane to create thick shaved sheets that can be placed onto pastas and salads. For wine and cheese parties, a wooden cheese board is essential for displaying a variety of cheese types. A box grater is useful for pizzas, tacos, gratins, and more. Lastly, for those special occasions, a shiny fondue pot allows you to savor melted cheese - it's an indulgent splurge that you won't use as often as your box grater, but it's one that you'll definitely delight in. To check out all these finds, scroll through the box below.

Fast & Easy Dinner: No-Bake Macaroni and Cheese

partysugar — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 07:45:01 -0800

Stop! Put down that box of macaroni and cheese and pick up a cheese grater. This recipe for no-bake mac and cheese is creamy, delicious, and simple to put together. Made with lowfat milk, whole-wheat pasta, and broccoli, it's far healthier than its boxed counterpart. To serve this meal without heading to the grocery store, use whatever cheese and frozen vegetables you have on hand. Sound delish? Get the recipe when you read more.

No-Bake Macaroni and Cheese
From Eating Well

Ingredients

8 ounces whole-wheat elbow noodles (2 cups)
1 10-ounce package frozen chopped broccoli
1 3/4 cups low-fat milk, divided
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
3/4 cup shredded extra-sharp Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Directions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook pasta for 4 minutes. Add frozen broccoli and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the pasta and broccoli are just tender, 4 to 5 minutes more.
Meanwhile, heat 1 1/2 cups milk in another large pot over medium-high heat until just simmering.
Whisk the remaining 1/4 cup milk, flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a small bowl until combined. Add the flour mixture to the simmering milk; return to a simmer and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture is thickened, 2 to 3 minutes.
Remove from the heat and whisk in Cheddar, Parmesan and mustard until the cheese is melted.
Drain the pasta and broccoli and add to the cheese sauce. Return to the heat and cook, stirring, over medium-low heat, until heated through, about 1 minute.

Serves 4.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per serving: 412 calories; 13 g fat (7 g sat, 1 g mono); 37 mg cholesterol; 56 g carbohydrate; 22 g protein; 7 g fiber; 640 mg sodium; 236 mg potassium. Nutrition bonus: Vitamin C (70% daily value), Calcium (40% dv), Fiber (27% dv), Vitamin A (25% dv), Magnesium (16% dv).
3 Carbohydrate Servings

Print recipe with images | without images

6 Tempting Gratin Dishes

YumSugar — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 05:50:25 -0800

In the dead of Winter, during a period of economic stress, there's nothing more appetizing than down-home comfort foods. While mac and cheese, burgers, and pot pies get a lot of press, I have to argue that the title of The Ultimate Comfort Food should go to the gratin. Coined after an obsolete French term for "grater," a gratin is a very loosely defined dish: it's simply any course that's topped with browned crumbs, butter, and cheese. Read on to see six different renditions of this homestyle dish.

View Slideshow ›

Out of the Toolshed and Into the Kitchen

YumSugar — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 00:03:11 -0800

Twelve years ago Lorraine Lee of Ottawa, Canada changed the world of grating forever. Tired of dealing with her old grater, she picked up her husband’s fancy new woodworking tool and voila! history was made.

And thank you Lorraine! The microplane grater is by far my favorite kitchen gadget. With its super fine teeth, it upgrades grating from a chore to a fun task and cuts through tough blocks of Parmesan cheese like a hot knife through butter. If you’ve ever wondered why grating has to be so frustrating, then look no further.

Now at the risk of being pummeled by your old box graters, I have to say, get your own Microplane Grater ($12.95) and you’ll be “grate”ful - sorry! I couldn't resist!

Off To Market Recap: Mandoline

partysugar — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 03:13:39 -0700

To kick my culinary skills up a notch, I've decided to invest in a mandoline. Pronounced mahn-duh-lee, a mandoline is a compact, hand operated machine similar to a cheese grater. Instead of grating, the blades can be set to various settings to cut vegetables and fruits into uniform sizes. With this fabulous little gadget, I can make melt in your mouth gratins and perfectly uniformed French fries. I asked you to head off to market in search of the most functional mandoline. You saved the tool in in the Yum Market on TeamSugar with the keyword tag Mandoline. As much as I would love to be able to afford a super sleek $200 mandoline, I'm more inclined to purchase a reasonably priced, practical mandoline like this one bookmarked by mellie_608. It has five blade attachments to cut waffle, straight, or julienne slices and it's on sale! Awesome find mellie! Scroll through the list to check out the rest of the finds.

Please refer to geeksugar's guide to bookmarking on TeamSugar for more information on how this fabulous feature works.

Off To Market: Mandoline

partysugar — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 03:01:39 -0700

The quintessential French gratin is one of my all time favorite dishes to make and eat. I've made many a gratin in my day, but I know that my gratins will not be as delicious as they could be if I had a mandoline. Pronounced mahn-duh-lee, a mandoline is a compact, hand operated machine similar to a cheese grater. Instead of grating, the blades can be set to various settings to cut vegetables and fruits at uniform sizes. French fries are cut with a mandoline set on the julienne setting and it can be used to slice perfectly circular thin potatoes and zucchini for gratin making. Let's all head off to market in search of the most functional mandoline. Bookmark the mandolines that you find in the Yum Market on TeamSugar with the keyword tag Mandoline.

Please refer to geeksugar's guide to bookmarking on TeamSugar for more information on how this fabulous feature works.