March 2013 Showcasing In My Kitchen

Last month, Sophie commented on how expensive all the new things in my kitchen must be! Some are gifts, and others are purchases and some are homemade and cost very little. No matter what, I love spending money on my kitchen, and I cannot wait for the one in the main house to be complete so that I can buy more 🙂 Everything in my kitchen gets used, so nothing goes to waste. This is what was new in my kitchen at the start of March 2013.

in my kitchen ….

is a microwave chip maker. I got this as I need to crisp some plums for a recipe and fructose has too low a burning point to do them the traditional way. I have used this for plums, apples, butternut, carrots and beetroot so far.

In My Kitchen March 2013 Chip Maker
Chip Maker

in my kitchen ….

is creamed honey from a friend of mine. She keeps bees close to where we live and I sell her honey when it is available.

In My Kitchen March 2013 Cinnamon And Vanilla Creamed Honey
Cinnamon And Vanilla Creamed Honey

in my kitchen ….

are some sugar hearts which I made by mixing a little bit of water and food colouring into some white sugar. You have to add the water a drop at a time as you want the consistency of damp sand. Once the sugar is moist add the food colouring a little at a time. Compress the sugar into a silicone mould and allow to dry before carefully tipping out. I got this from the November 2012 IDEAS magazine.

In My Kitchen March 2013 Sugar Hearts
Sugar Hearts

in my kitchen ….

is a vesconite chopping board that one of Dave’s suppliers sent him as a gift. There is also a BBQ plank which does not work as advertised!

Vesconite Chopping Board and Wooden BBQ Plank
Vesconite Chopping Board and Wooden BBQ Plank

 in my kitchen ….

is a ganache made out of reduced fat coconut milk and sugar free chocolate. I got the recipe here – I used 150g of chocolate and 95mls of coconut milk. After melting the chocolate in a double boiler, I whisked in the coconut milk. Dave does not like coconut but he didn’t even taste it in this ganache!

Coconut Milk Chocolate Ganache
Coconut Milk Chocolate Ganache

 in my kitchen ….

is a bottle of wine that I was given as a gift after our stay at Spier.

Creative Block 2
Creative Block 2

in my kitchen ….

are two bottles of champagne that Dave and I bottled this past weekend at Weltevrede.

Champagne Bottled By Dave and Me
Champagne Bottled By Dave and Me

the most exciting thing in my kitchen ….

is Cordelia! I have wanted to make sourdough bread for a long time now, and Celia kindly sent me some of Priscilla! The dried starter arrived safely in my post box last Friday and this weekend she will be started. I bought this jar to keep her in 🙂

The Lovely Cordelia
The Lovely Cordelia

I am submitting this March 2013 post to IMK hosted by Celia of Fig Jam And Lime CordialI meant to take a photo of my fridge but forgot! Next month I promise to try and remember 🙂

What I blogged:

Lavender and Lime Signature

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39 thoughts on “March 2013 Showcasing In My Kitchen

  1. Beautiful hearts, Tandy. I’ve never heard of a microwave chip maker….interesting. I’ll look out for one. That champagne looks really special. Happy weekend to you. 🙂

  2. OK, now I need to make those little hearts! The coconut ganache is on the list for this weekend; I’ll need to make a cheesecake to pour it over.
    As a big fan of champagne your bottles look like a celebration waiting to happen. How can one not smile when looking at that?

  3. Tandy, what a great idea to colour the sugar for those hearts! And I’m so glad Cordelia arrived – I hope she brings you lots of baking joy! The coconut milk ganache is a great idea, thank you! x

  4. Lovely new things in your kitchen this month! I love your coconut chocolate ganache!! MMMMMMMM!

    Your bottles of cahmpagne look great too! That sourdough starter is a winner too! I read Celia’s post about it! That cinnamon & creamed vanilla honey sound so tasty too! And she is local near you? Lucky one, you!

    1. The hives are about 10km from us and my friend does all the harvesting herself. They don’t get fed sugar water so the honey is good for me 🙂

  5. What a fun little tour you’ve given us! I especially like the name of that wine and the idea of a microwave crisper.

  6. I love that chip maker- it is cool to look at and useful too!
    And Welcome to Cordelia- I have her sibling Thing Two bubbling away on my countertop!

  7. I always enjoy these IMK posts! I love the microwave chip maker and the scourdough starter!

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