Running Mania

La wrote:Oval is good for roasts (chicken, beef, pork) because of their shape, and best used in the oven. Round is better if you want to start cooking on the stove, then finish it off in the oven (will heat more evenly than oval, for obvious reasons).

that makes sense! thanks!

ok since this is the kitchen gadget thread:

I have a Tassimo and I want to switch to something more environmentally friendly. The Tassimo doesn't have the option of reusable pods like the Keurig does, but I don't want to pay Keurig price for a new machine.

I was looking at the Hamilton Beach flexbrew... you can use pods or loose grounds. Has anyone tried this? Or do you have other suggestions for a simple machine that will make single cups without all the plastic waste?

Thx! :)

ultraslacker wrote:ok since this is the kitchen gadget thread:

I have a Tassimo and I want to switch to something more environmentally friendly. The Tassimo doesn't have the option of reusable pods like the Keurig does, but I don't want to pay Keurig price for a new machine.

I was looking at the Hamilton Beach flexbrew... you can use pods or loose grounds. Has anyone tried this? Or do you have other suggestions for a simple machine that will make single cups without all the plastic waste?

Thx!

for single cups when i want to grind my own beans, i use this coffee maker:



it's slower than my keurig, but gets the job done with no waste.

Dee, that is cute, but my cups are still twice as tall.

Before I started getting free coffee at work, I used to bring my own in a thermos (the 500mL size - tall and skinny). I'd use a 1-cup Mellita cone and boil the kettle. Like that little one-cupper above, it takes longer than Keurig/Tassimo, but you get exactly the coffee you want, at the strength you want it, with very little waste (if you use the gold cone filter, you don't even have paper filters to dispose of, and your coffee will taste better since the oils don't get trapped by the paper filter).

La wrote:Before I started getting free coffee at work, I used to bring my own in a thermos (the 500mL size - tall and skinny). I'd use a 1-cup Mellita cone and boil the kettle. Like that little one-cupper above, it takes longer than Keurig/Tassimo, but you get exactly the coffee you want, at the strength you want it, with very little waste (if you use the gold cone filter, you don't even have paper filters to dispose of, and your coffee will taste better since the oils don't get trapped by the paper filter).

+1

I used to do this at work; now we only use it while camping.

It works very well!

awesome! I'll check it out.

I guess sometimes low-tech is the way to go. :)

Spirit wrote:Dee, that is cute, but my cups are still twice as tall.

they have ones that are bigger (16 ounces). this one is equivalent in size to the keurig (well, at least my keurig, which is the wee one). but i hear you.

I grabbed the Melitta one at Walmart for $7. Came with a few paper filters, which is good because they didn't have the reusable ones that size (will have to look for those).

I'm still finishing off a package of Tassimo discs but then I will try this. It will be an experiment... I'm not enough of a coffee person to know how to make it "good". :P

ultraslacker wrote:I grabbed the Melitta one at Walmart for $7. Came with a few paper filters, which is good because they didn't have the reusable ones that size (will have to look for those).

I'm still finishing off a package of Tassimo discs but then I will try this. It will be an experiment... I'm not enough of a coffee person to know how to make it "good".

What you might find is that the little one-cupper cone filter might not be big enough to make a decent size mug/thermos of coffee. You might want to upgrade to the 6-cup cone, which uses #2 filters. That's the size I have and it's perfect.

Just experiment a bit with how much coffee you need to use to get the desired strength.

One other option you might want to look into (that's even more high-tech, but people who are coffee aficionados really love) is the Aeoropress. It's a fancier version of the traditional French press (e.g., like a Bodum).

Mine is 1 cup but uses #2 filters. I just need to find a reusable one.

I don't need anything fancy and am not a connoisseur so hopefully this will do the trick.


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Just experiment with how much coffee to use to make the strength you want. It's more of an art than a science. And the water should be right off the boil and poured very slowly.

We have the same size and it works great.

ultraslacker wrote:Mine is 1 cup but uses #2 filters. I just need to find a reusable one.

OK, that's the one I have. There's also a smaller one that uses #1 filters. I thought that's what you had when you said "one cupper."

You could try Canadian Tire for the reusable gold-plated filter. That's where I got mine.

ok, crappy tire is on my path today so I'll check there.

We have one similar to this (they don't make our model anymore):

http://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/hamilton-be ... 0187077698

It gives us flexibility. We can brew a whole pot, or brew a mug only.

I also found this when I was looking for the above link:

http://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/black-decke ... 0087479395

Yeah that first one would be overkill for me (and take up too much counter space). I never need a whole pot, just one or two cups.

just grabbed a butterball indoor electric turkey fryer. regular $138, on clearance for $30. i've never been intrigued by deep-fried turkey, mostly because of all the scary videos of fire safety, but for $30 and with much less risk (because there's no open flame), i figure it's worth a try.

deerdree wrote:just grabbed a butterball indoor electric turkey fryer. regular $138, on clearance for $30. i've never been intrigued by deep-fried turkey, mostly because of all the scary videos of fire safety, but for $30 and with much less risk (because there's no open flame), i figure it's worth a try.

where do you store all these kitchen appliances? i barely have room for the basic ones! a turkey fryer must be huge!

scrumhalfgirl wrote:

deerdree wrote:just grabbed a butterball indoor electric turkey fryer. regular $138, on clearance for $30. i've never been intrigued by deep-fried turkey, mostly because of all the scary videos of fire safety, but for $30 and with much less risk (because there's no open flame), i figure it's worth a try.

where do you store all these kitchen appliances? i barely have room for the basic ones! a turkey fryer must be huge!

the ones that i don't use often get stacked in their boxes in a laundry room closet (there's a big empty space where the hot water tank used to be). this one is pretty big - it will possibly end up in the garage.

Where did the hot water tank go?

Samantha wrote:Where did the hot water tank go?

tankless.

Oooh really?

just made my first cup of coffee with the Mellita thing. I also had picked up a Black and Decker grinder and bought Kicking Horse beans (that was the clear winner in my facebook poll!). I had my mom taste test the first cup since she is much more of a coffee person than I am, and she said it was almost a perfect cup of coffee! We also tried running a second cup through the same grounds but it came out weak.

I haven't located a reusable filter yet so we're on paper ones for now.

Fresh bread in 28 minutes

I am not big on gadgets mostly cause of storage but...I bought my Bunn Velocity coffee maker about 2 months ago and love it. It is super low tech and works on the same principal as most commercial coffee makers. It has no timer but it literally takes 3 mins for a pot of hot coffee. I usually make6-8 cups and take it to work with me.

Also bought a Ninja blender. I make smoothies almost daily and use the dough bowl for making cookies and my granola bars. Love it and much cheaper than the Vitamix.