Kitchen Item of the week: The Steamer Insert

My mom and I have a lot of discussions about cooking. I go to her for pretty much everything because she is without a doubt the most fantastic cook I've ever met. We trade recipes-correction, I drain her of all her recipes as she put it recently. We talk about kitchen gadgets and different ways to cook things...and she always has a list of helpful suggestions. I look forward to these talks.

A couple of years ago, we were having this conversation about kitchen gadgets and we started talking about Steamer Inserts. I didn't have one, so I was asking some questions and I must of said something like," Hmm, I need to get me one of those at some time." Well she was listening because that year for Christmas, I got a Steamer Insert in my stocking. As thrilled as I was...I was also filled with fear. How the heck did I use it? For whatever reason, this metal gadget scared me.

Finally, a couple months ago, I decided to just get over my stupidity and try the thing out. I had dinner over at my parents house and my mom made these amazing red potatoes with garlic powder and butter and I asked her how she cooked it and she said, she steamed them...so that was the catalyst that made me confront my fear. I decided to try it out with broccoli...I've always boiled my broccoli before and I've always hated doing it that way because it takes some time and it's easy to let them cook to long...which completely defeats the purpose of eating broccoli. It's a healthy veggie and if you cook it to long, it's mushy and not that beautiful vibrant color of green that I so love. So I tried it out, I put a little bit of water in the pot, put the steamer inside it, plunked the cut up broccoli inside, seasoned it, and then put the lid on. Within maybe 5 minutes, I had perfectly cooked broccoli! I was sooo excited that I got over that stupid little fear of an unknown utensil that I now use at least once a week.

I firmly believe that it is one of the best inventions that you can have at your disposal in the kitchen. What could be better than something that expands to fit pots and helps veggies not only keep their beautiful color, but their rich flavor as well.

There will be no cooking blog tonight or tomorrow morning as I will not be cooking dinner tonight: I'm having dinner at my in-laws as kind of a farewell to one of our friends who is moving across the country to be with his soon to be wife.