A kitchen scale can be a welcome gift.
Photo courtesy Eat Smart Products.

In tandem with our low calorie egg nog recipes, we’re suggesting what some people might think is not a great gift idea: a kitchen scale to weigh and measure portions.

While you wouldn’t give one to just anybody, if you have loved ones who are always voicing their need to take off a few pounds, they’ll love you for hearing them and helping them achieve their goal.

A kitchen scale is not just a “diet scale”: It’s very useful for weighing recipe ingredients, not to mention calculating postage, for those of us who still use snail mail.

The EatSmart line offers economically priced multifunction home scales, perfect for everyday tasks. They include a Calorie Factors Book making it easy to achieve goals such as portion control and calorie counting.

The EatSmart Precision Pro Digital Kitchen Scale shown in the photo comes in black, burgundy chrome, white with a chrome top or all-white.

Check out the line at EatSmartProducts.com.

Inspire someone to cook with these fun knife
designs. Photo courtesy Kuhn Rikon.

Over the past few years, Swiss kitchenware manufacture Kuhn Rikon has produced some stylin’ knives. Blades are coated with everything from polka dots to pineapples; or have cut outs ranging from baguettes (for the baguette knife) to watermelon seeds (for the watermelon slicer).

To encourage teens and other untamed potential chefs to roam free in the kitchen, how about a gift of a Kuhn Rikon Safari Colori Knife Set? There’s a 6-1/2-inch chef’s knife and a 3-inch nakiri knife that slices, dices and juliennes.

The nonstick coating not only bears the design; it ensures that food doesn’t stick to the blades. Each knife has a matching protective sheath. Sets range from $25.00 to $37.00; some are available with a paring knife as well. Designs include:

KNIFE TRIVIA

The chef’s knife, also known as a French knife or a cook’s knife, was originally designed to slice and disjoint large cuts of beef. Today it is the primary all-purpose knife in most Western kitchens.

Japanese nakiri knives are the opposite: thin bladed and not suitable for chopping through bones or other solid items like frozen foods. However, like a Chinese cleaver in mineature, they require very little effort to wield.

Deck the sinks with holiday-scented hand
soap.

With everything getting the holiday treatment, why not your hand soap?

Softsoap Scentsations Limited Edition Holiday Liquid Hand Soaps offers three holiday scents: Enchanting Sugar Plum, Spiced Berry Bliss and Wintermint Wonderland. We installed bottles at the kitchen and bathroom sinks.

 
Softsoap Scentsations Holiday Liquid Hand Soaps are available at Walmart. The suggested retail price is $2.29.

They may get the family to wash their hands more often! And in our germophobic crowd, they make good party favors.

There’s no information at the Softsoap website, but what more do you need to know?

ARE YOU A GERMOPHOBE OR A MYSOPHOBE?

Germophobia/germaphobia means “fear of germs,” coined in modern times. But back in 1897, the term mysophobia was coined by Dr. William Alexander Hammond, who served as Surgeon General of the United States Army during the Civil War. The word combines the Greek musos, “uncleanness” and phobos, “fear.”

Other medical terms, such as bacillophobia, bacteriophobia, molysmophobia/molysomophobia, rhypophobia, rupophobia and spermophobia, indicate a pathological fear of contamination and germs or the need to compulsively wash one’s hands.

Of course, you don’t need a phobia to keep those hands clean!

Looking for an inexpensive but useful gift for a fan of Mexican food?

We’ve gotten a lot of use out of our microwavable tortilla warmer. It’s just $9.78 on Amazon.com.

The tortilla warmer—an insulated pouch—holds up to 12 tortillas, and keeps them warm and moist for up to one hour.

Simply place the tortillas in the pouch, then heat it in the microwave for approximately 45 seconds.

For a more elaborate gift, add a couple of bottles of gourmet salsa.

Tortillas remain warm and moist. Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

Now that we’ve discussed why it’s so important to keep your knives sharp, here’s a video that shows how easy it is to do so at home.

Chef and cookbook author Clifford A. Wright demonstrates how to use a manual knife sharpener and a honing (sharpening) steel.

He makes it look like fun!

Consider daily or at least weekly use of a honing steel with the knives you use daily.

A sharp knife slices easily and cleanly; a dull
knife requires more pressure and can slip
and cut you. Photo of Shun chef’s knife (the brand we use at THE NIBBLE) courtesy Sur La Table.

You can’t be a good cook—or a safe cook—without sharp knives. You should sharpen your knives at least twice a year; more often for the knives you use every day.

A dull knife blade makes cutting more time consuming and the edges of the sliced food less clean. And then there’s the the danger aspect: A dull blade needs you to expend more pressure, which can cause the blade to slip off the food and into your finger.

That’s why Sur La Table is encouraging you to take the time to sharpen your knives. From now until Thanksgiving, the gourmet retailer is offering:

FREE KNIFE SHARPENING

With all the holiday cooking at hand, your knives should be at their best. So the gourmet retailer is offering free sharpening on the first knife for any knives sharpened at the stores (find the nearest Sur La Table store.)

This freebie applies to any shape, style or size of knife, except ceramic knives (which require special equipment), damaged knives and scissors.

All other knives can be sharpened for $5 apiece.

KNIFE SKILLS CLASS

If you want to learn how to better use your knives better, Sur La Table offers a basic knife skills class. You’ll practice the fundamental cuts for vegetables—mince, dice, brunoise, batonnet and julienne—plus some advanced techniques.

You’ll also learn how to select a knife that best fits your needs, and share tips for keeping all your cutlery sharp and well maintained at home.

SHARPENING KNIVES AT HOME

Use a sharpening stone. Most experts agree that a sharpening stone is the best method for home use: It provides the sharpest edge and removes the least amount of steel from the blade. You need some basic instruction, so if you have a friend who uses a sharpening stone, ask for a lesson.

Get a knife sharpener. Choose a manual knife sharpener as an easy home alternative. An electric knife sharpener may take less effort, but it also takes years off the life of your knife by removing a larger amount of steel from the blade. It also does not provide a great edge—it’s an OK edge.

Use a sharpening steel or honing steel. This steel rod, which is used religiously by professional chefs, is typically included with a set of good knives. With use, tiny metal fibers on the blade bend down, dulling the surface. The sharpening steel straightens those fibers to maintaining a sharp edge for daily use (and you can use it daily). You’ll still need those professional sharpenings, but not as frequently.
  
In this video, chef Jeffrey A. Wright shows how to use both the sharpening steel and the manual knife sharpener.

Finally, you can:

Seek out a professional. If you’re not near a Sur La Table, ask at your local hardware store or search online or in the Yellow Pages.

Some 40 years ago, the first electric food processors—Robot Coupe (pronounced robo coop) and Cuisinart—became available to American consumers.

Designed in Europe for professional kitchens, these handy helpers made food preparation faster and more pleasant for home cooks, spawning an era of more adventurous cooking.

Before the food processor, people used electric blenders, hand-cranked grinders and food mills.

Our mother relied on her Foley food mill to rice potatoes (for the silkiest mashed potatoes), make spaetzle and purées: her splendid applesauce, tomato sauce, soups and vegetable and fruit purées. A food mill can also be used to make baby food.

The old-fashioned food mill maintains a few advantages over a food processor or blender:

A food mill removes the skins and seeds; food processors and blenders do not. Food processor available at SurLaTable.com.

 
The device rests upon a bowl or pot; the food is added and the handle cranks the ingredients into a smooth or textured purée, based on the grinding disc selected.

To make superior, seedless cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving, pick up a food mill like the one in the photo from Sur La Table, or this one from OXO.

Would you like a kitchen herb garden, but lack the necessary windowsill space?

Pick up a Living Wall planter from WoollyPocket.com. It’s available in seven colors.

All it needs is a wall space that’s 13 inches x 18 inches.

Fresh basil, dill, parsley and other favorites will soon be yours for the snipping!

Plant herbs on your wall. Photo courtesy Wooly Pocket.

One of our friends won’t buy any appliance or gadget that has a single use. As a result, she has no bread maker, no fondue pot, no waffle iron.

We emailed her this article from Caifornia-based writer Katie Waldek. She has figured out how to make those single-purpose appliance into multi-purpose ones:

Bread Maker. Think outside the loaf to other dough-based foods: bagels, pasta dough, pizza dough, pretzels and tortillas. You can also use your bread maker to make jams and chutneys: Many models even have that setting built in, says Waldek.

Electric Fondue Pot. An electric fondue pots can easily double as a deep fryer, says Waldek. You can control the temperature without needing a thermometer. If you’re making a big dinner and run out of burner space on the stovetop, you can use it to heat soup, boil water, etc.

This Aroma rice cooker also functions as a slow cooker. Photo courtesy Aromma.

Pasta Maker. Use it to roll out fondant, phyllo dough, pie crusts and wonton wrappers.

Rice Maker. Use it to make other grains and pulses, from amaranth, beans and lentils to quinoa. Cook oatmeal and other hot cereals, polenta and soups. Your rice maker also works as a steamer for dumplings, fish and seafood, meats, potstickers, tamales and vegetables. The Aroma ARC-1000 Professional Series 20-Cup Sensor Logic Rice Cooker is also designed to double as a slow cooker (great idea!).

Waffle Iron.W Use it to make French toast, hash browns, latkes, falafel, panini and quesadillas. On the highest setting, it can make a pizza.
 
If you have additional ideas, let us know!

Cooking at home more often as an economy move is enjoyable: It’s doing the dishes afterward that are a chore.

So treat yourself to a more fragrant and alluring dishwashing liquid.

In the past, Caldrea (debuted 2000) and Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day (founded afterwards with lower price points by the same entrepreneur) were the luxury brands for people who wanted to pay more for more fragrant, non-harsh cleaning products. Sold outside of supermarket distribution, you had to go to gift stores or specialty shops to find them.

The more affordable Method, also founded in 2000, followed a different distribution model to supermarkets and big box stores.

And now a venerable national brand has come to the rescue: Palmolive Fresh Infusions Dish Liquid. This egalitarian brand brings the scent of luxury for the same price as other name brands on the shelf.

Make washing dishes more pleasant with charming scents from Palmolive Liquid Infusions. Photo courtesy Colgate-Palmolive Company.

The concept with specialty lines is to offer scents reminiscent of foods.

Great With Grease

The new kid on the block, Palmolive Fresh Infusions, is an excellent grease cutter. We don’t cook meat often because we have to wash greasy pans multiple times. Palmolive Fresh Infusions did an equal or much better job than different national brands we had at home. And with a more charming aroma.

Combining marks for cleaning power and scent, we have to call it a better dish liquid.

So pick up one (or all) of the fragrances the next time you shop. Tie a ribbon around a set of three for a house gift. You can find coupons all over the Internet.