Saturday, September 4, 2010

Putting my Pampered Chef loot to work

Bonnie dropped off my Pampered Chef order from her party today and I couldn't wait to use some of the tools and spices I got!

Here's what I ordered:
  • Grill pan for Dave - he said he needed something to lay on top of the grill grates when he cooks kabobs or chicken wings to make it easier to flip them without losing pieces in the fire
  • Garlic slicer - diced garlic is very pungent and can be overwhelming to me and this tool creates slices that have a more toned-down flavor
  • Salad chopper - these things are awesome!  They can slice a whole tomato, chicken breast, peppers, etc. into small enough pieces for fajitas, chicken salad, or salsa; if I had better knife skills I wouldn't need this but my hand tends to cramp up when I'm slicing stuff...
  • Corer - nuff said
  • Chipotle rub
  • Thai peanut sauce - this was a freebie with a purchase over a certain amount
  • 'Sweeten it up' set - this contains 3 sweet mix jars:  cinnamon, caramel, and mocha hazelnut; you can use them in coffee or baking projects for added sweet flavor; this is the item I used immediately and I found a new purpose for the muslin bag they came in
While I was at Bonnie's party, I was smelling all the sweet sprinkle mixes and the demonstrator, Rachel, told us some ways to use them.  I used one of those ideas tonight to make a sweet treat with some crescent rolls I had in the fridge.  I rolled out the dough without separating it into the individual rolls and pinched the seams to make it all one piece.  I melted some unsalted butter and brushed a thin layer on the dough, then sprinkled on the caramel mix.

I rolled up the dough and sliced it up into about 12 pieces, making little cinnamon rolls. 

I baked it on my stone using the directions on the crescent roll package and ended up with golden brown goodness:


While they were baking I put the 3 sprinkle mixes in the pantry with the rest of the spices and rubs and got to work repurposing the muslin bag the set came in.  In my baking cabinet I have some shoebox-sized totes containing various accessories like cupcake liners, cookie cutters, sugar sprinkles, and cake decorating tools.  The cake decorating one has gotten a little out of hand with the number of piping tips I've purchased, and it needed a good amount of organization.  Here's the before - blech:

And after...I put all the piping tips and pastry wheels in the bag and it looks much nicer!

4 comments:

  1. Great idea with the crescent rolls. I bet those tastes yummy!! :)

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  2. they were yummy - and all gone :) that didn't take long.

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  3. We bought a lot of the same things. I LOVE my salad chopper. Saw it at Sur la Table right after I got mine. It's great for cutting up cooked chicken breast for my salads for lunch!

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