Small Shopping Spree!!

I won a coupon to the CSN Stores a couple weeks ago so had lots of fun looking around trying to decide what to buy. There were several things I really wanted at their cookware store, but couldn't afford to get all of them naturally, so I finally settled on the two items above.

I had had a nice red enamel strainer, but somehow it got chipped, and since I used it for cheese sometimes I didn't want it harboring strange bacteria that would effect the cheese, so needed to get a new one. As much as I loved my red enameled one, I didn't want that to happen again (cause I was really careful with it and it still got chipped) so I decided to look for a stainless steel one.

I wanted a good sized one, so went with the Fox run 13.25 inch stainless steel colander. I'm pretty happy with it, it's nice and shinny on the outside (brushed metal on the inside which isn't as pretty...but it's ok) and is a good size for working with my cheese when I do hard cheese. I think it's actually deeper than the other one I had, which is really nice.

I also got a Jaccard meat tenderizer. I've been looking around for ideas on how to cook grass fed beef, and saw one of these mentioned. We have an old tenderizer that works really good which we use with the deer, but it chews up the meat quite a lot, so I didn't want to do that with all of the beef..as it changes the flavor to my way of thinking sometimes when it's done like that. The Jaccard has little stainless steel posts that punch through the meat, yet doesn't chew it up to much.

I've used it a couple times now and think it does help tenderize the meat, I'm going to continue trying different ways of cooking it too, as I've read that grass fed beef will turn out better if cooked at lower temps and less cooking times. We like our beef DONE, so we will see about that last one. LOL Anyway, if you are cooking with grass fed beef, try one of these tenderizers...they just might make the meat a little better for you too. :)

The nice thing about the Jaccard is it's really easy to clean, if you get it cleaned before the meat dries on it. I just run it under hot water right after I'm done using it, and the force of the water washes anything stuck to it away. After that you can set it aside, and wash it in soapy water when you do the rest of your dishes. :)

All in all I'm happy with my purchases and the speed with which I received my items, and so thrilled to have been able to go do a little extra shopping for free...well ok for cheaper, as I did throw a little of my own money in to get both of them. LOL Thanks CSN Stores for the coupon!! :)