Welcome to This Week in My Kitchen, a weekly peek at what I cooked, what I learned, what I bought (because kitchen gadgets have a way of finding me 🤭), and what I’m planning for next week.
Two loaves of sourdough sandwich bread and two dozen blueberry protein muffins.
The muffins are a weekly staple around here. My kids can be picky eaters, so I sneak in a little extra protein by adding powdered whole milk and collagen peptides. It’s an easy way to give breakfast a little more staying power.
The sourdough bread was a brand-new recipe for me. Honestly? It was...fine. The flavor was a little bland, and I think I should have refreshed my starter twice after taking it out of the refrigerator before baking with it.
I’ll definitely be giving the recipe another shot.
That said...those two loaves disappeared in three days, so apparently my family didn’t mind nearly as much as I did.
Recipe: https://nutrimill.com/blogs/recipes/classic-sourdough-sandwich-bread
A perfectly good plastic bench scraper.
I was cooking chicken breasts on my nonstick griddle and, for reasons I still can’t explain, grabbed my plastic bench scraper to clean the surface between batches.
Bad idea.
The edge melted just enough that it doesn’t scrape smoothly anymore. Lesson learned...and thankfully, bench scrapers aren’t expensive and I have a few more sets.
Quite a few cookbooks (no surprises there 😂).
I never leave Dollar Tree without checking the book aisle, and this week I found several great additions to my collection.
I also picked up a few digital cookbooks because my cookbook obsession clearly has no limits.
Some of this week’s finds:
The Bean Book (eBook)
Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream (eBook)
The purchase I was most excited about, though, was my Staub 4-quart braiser.
Late last year, the Smitten Kitchen x Staub braiser caught my eye on the Williams Sonoma website. It normally sells for $399 and occasionally drops to $299. I almost convinced myself to buy the Basil or Grenadine colorway several times.
Then last week, while browsing Zwilling’s website, I found the Cherry braiser for $199 in the Factory Seconds section.
That was all the convincing I needed.
It also happens to match my Cherry Staub skillet, so now they make a pretty pair on my stove.
I also finally ordered a John Boos maple cutting board, something that’s been on my wish list for quite a while.
And while I was wandering through Costco, I picked up a Taylor thermometer set that includes both an instant-read thermometer and an infrared thermometer for $20. That’s a fantastic value.
Shop these:
Staub Braiser: https://benable.com/Chardaeeveryday/cast-iron-collection/details?detail_id=22548144
John Boos Cutting Board: https://thekitchentable.surlatable.com/a/chardae.perry
Taylor Thermometer Set: https://www.costco.com/.product.4000255467.html
Cooking dinner earlier in the day is absolutely my preferred method.
By the time evening rolls around, everyone is hungry, homework starts, somebody needs something, and the kitchen suddenly feels chaotic.
Having dinner mostly finished before all of that starts makes the entire evening feel calmer.
Now I just have to keep doing it.
A build-your-own salad bar is on the menu.
My daughter also found a cake recipe in one of our new Dollar Tree cookbooks and has already informed me we’re baking it together.
Who am I to argue?
A breakfast bread.
Think Morning Glory muffins...but baked as a loaf instead.
If it turns out the way I’m imagining it, it could become an easy grab-and-go breakfast for busy mornings.
Thanks for spending a little time in my kitchen this week.
If you tried something fun in your kitchen recently, or found an incredible cookbook deal, I’d love to hear about it in the comments.
P.S. Some of the links above are affiliate links. If you decide to purchase through one of them, I’ll earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting ChardaeEveryday!
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