Lbakermathews

I ordered this pre-order several months ago and completely forgot about it until it arrived in the mail. I'm about 300 pages in and while I'm not in love with most of the recipes I've come across, I didn't buy it for the recipes. I purchased this for the science. On that front, the book is pretty excellent. I'm sure the recipes are great too, but again that was not why I purchased the book. I think he did a great job with this book, and for less than $30 the book is a steal! I'll definitely be gifting one or two to friends this Christmas.

I purchased this just a few (3) months ago. My oven has a drain hole inside. I haven't made bread in it yet, but it was one of the selling points in my decision to buy this oven. I'm working on my starter now and expect to bake bread this week. I have read a lot of reviews from people who proof and bake in this and besides the obvious issue of loaf size, it appears to work well. So I'm hoping for the best. I'll be disappointed if my bread doesn't turn out well, but after having used this oven for the last few months, I've found that the benefit of having an oven that has a steam function goes far beyond just baking bread, This oven has brought many a left over meal back to life, even fried tortillas taste fresh out of the oil when reheated in this thing. Dumplings are perfect and so is rice. For me even without being able to bake bread, this oven beats out other counter top ovens.

I don't know how it happened, but I managed to get a copy of MCAH for $49. I tried to order it, but they sold out immediately. I guess when I clicked to buy they put me on the waitlist. Besides that if you're in the market for a Kitchen Aid Stand mixer today is the day to buy. Also the Anova circulator is $139! Hurry they just put it on sale, and it was already 20% sold when I noticed it, 5 minutes ago.

Ordered one from Costco today $249.99 plus tax. I've been eyeing one for awhile, but I couldn't justify buying it to my husband since we had a Cuisinart Exact Heat Convection oven which we both loved. Unfortunately, after 7/8 years of quality service our oven gave up the ghost and died two days ago. I cook almost everything in that oven, so it had to be replaced immediately. Our local BBB did not have the CSO in store, so I was forced to search online. It was $299 at BBB, WS, and Amazon. I would have gladly paid that, but I checked with Costco, which is where I purchased my previous oven, I'm so glad I did, saved $50. Now the question is, how do I manage cooking without my convection oven until the CSO arrives?

All the time, at least once a week. Some Sundays, after I grocery shop, I come home and cook enough proteins for the week. Then I only need to pull them out of the fridge to sear or reheat, which means most dinners come together in 10 minutes or less. Works great for me, I have a toddler running around. I don't have a lot of time to spend cooking during the week. All the meals taste great--restaurant quality even. My daughter is especially fond of sous vide chicken thighs--it's her favorite meal.

I have an excalibur and I use it all the time. I have a toddler, so I'm constantly making fruit leather for her. When I am not using it for fruit leather, I use it to make spices, like citrus powder, onion powder, scape/ garlic powder, sour salts..you name it. I have heard that people use it for making yogurt, but I used my circulator for that. And of course people use it to make jerky. It really has some great uses!

Whew..thank you Shalmanese and btbyrd. I'm glad to know that I don't have to take garlic out of my marinades, and that I can quick pickle with garlic

So I recently purchased a vacuum chamber sealer VP215. I love to do quick marinades and some of my marinades include the use of garlic, given that it's advised not to use raw garlic when using the vacuum chamber, I'm wondering how you guys work around this. Also I have a question about quick pickling. If I quick pickle in the vacuum chamber sealer and the recipe calls for a few cloves of garlic, is it okay to put those in? TIA

For a lot of people Whole Foods would require an entire weeks paycheck. For me not so much. I have shopped at Ralphs/Vons/Lucky's Market and Trader Joe's, with the exception of a few items, there really isn't much difference in price that I can see. But those few exceptions are really the exception. On average I pay between $18.99-28.99/lb for rib-eye steak, that is a lot for the average american family to pay, they probably spend much less than that at Ralphs or even Trader Joes. I only remember once being outraged at the cost of 3 heirloom tomatoes that I purchased at Whole Foods. I picked them up without looking at the price--because how much can tomatoes cost right? Well I got home looked at my receipt and just for three medium sized tomatoes I had spent $18.89! I couldn't believe it, and I shop there all the time! I think it is because of instances like that--that they have garnered the name Whole Pay Check. With that said, I have a set grocery budget. It's the same whether I shop at Ralphs or Whole Foods, I manage to get what I need within my budget to feed my family, no one is starving in my house.

Great article, although with the exception of a few things, it is a regurgitation of what is in the 6 set book. I'm interested to see what the first prototype of this futuristic oven will look like. I am guessing that it will not be on the market in the next year or so when I will be purchasing a new stove for my kitchen renovation. Even if it was, I doubt that I could afford it. But in another 10-15 years when I'm in the market for another upgrade, these should be extremely common---at least I'm hoping so.

I absolutely give my daughter ice-cream. Her favorite is lavender vanilla bean. I make it myself and put a ton of egg yolks--which are full of omega fats-- in it, and I use maple sugar to sweeten it. Fat is great for a young developing brain. Ice-cream isn't bad just because it's sweet, it's high in protein and good fats. This is coming from someone who feeds her child an all organic diet. I don't buy any processed foods, I make everything from marshmallows,and graham crackers, from scratch--without the refined sugars.

I have a two year old, so I feel your pain. But the truth is that she eats what I eat. I happen to be a health freak, so that's good, but we still have our struggles with her. For her the issue has always been--and still is in some instances--texture. I believe this to be true for most children, they experience food by texture first, then taste. The feel of food is something they are very much learning. Some children adapt to and gain a feel for those textures more quickly than others. I think the problem occurs when we as parents give up. I have friends who say "Jan only eats quesadilla's, chicken nuggets, and french fry's, she won't eat anything green." When they say that to me, I always think it's not so much the green as it is the texture of the green. I give my daughter sauteed spinach and mushrooms, and she almost always eats it all. But sauteed kale with mushrooms, wasn't her favorite. She loved the flavor, but the texture was not to her liking. I had to almost grate the kale for her to eat it and enjoy it. It's definitely been a process and it takes time, and learning on all sides. The first time I offered my daughter an apple she frowned and didn't like it. But I continued to offer it to her, in a variety of ways--juicing it with kale, which she loves and I do it daily. However, getting her to eat cubes of it was not so successful, she always chewed it up and spit out the pulp--until I started slicing it on a vegetable spiral slicer and called them apple strings. Now she loves apples, can't eat enough apple strings, requests them multiple times a day, and she swallows the pulp. My point in saying this is, had I given up and stopped offering her the apple, or had I not tried to find new ways to present her with it, then she would have probably not developed a love for apples. This doesn't just apply to apples, it applies to most things. Before I give up on a fruit or vegetable, because she has refused it more than once, I try to find other ways to present it to her with different textures. Thathas seemed to work for me. She definitely has a sophisticated palate for a 2 year old

i purchased the Vacmaster VP215 set to arrive on Monday--thanks for the input everyone.

Awesome! I'm so glad to read some great reviews about the CSO 300 I was looking at this last week and decided to add it to my list of things I want to purchase. Now I will.

Thank you horseflesh