Mise en place: A French term referring to having all the ingredients necessary for a dish prepared and ready to combine up to the point of cooking.

Mise en place keeps me sane with recipes with a lot of ingredients. It’s like Kitchen yoga for me. I find my zen with it. There’s something very calming about it.  The rituals of chopping the vegetables and measuring spices without the confines of the alloted times in a recipe for cooking is relaxing for me. In addition, when I go to actually make whatever I’m making, it’s a simple drop or pour in, so the cooking process is stress-free, as well. And with two children running around, you know I need less stress in my life. In fact, today, I have one child with croup who’s heading to the MD this afternoon and I’m on the tail end of a nasty headcold.

You’ll see I did my mise en place today (minus the beer, because my mother in law is picking it up at the store for me).  It’s been a very big part of my menu planning. I menu plan to save money, primarily, but also to save time. Your mise en place can be done the night before if you work during the day. I don’t think every recipe necessarily needs this ritual, but I don’t hesitate to use it. It’s an organizing tool. For example, if you have chopped onions in several recipes in a given week, chop them once. Measure them out, store them separately by recipe in the fridge, and use them as you need them. Don’t chop them every single time you need them. Makes no sense. (suitNtie complains about red onions. they are rather fragrant, to be fair, so consider yourself warned.)

One tool I really love when I’m working on my mise en place is my food chopper. Yes, I spent several years hand chopping onions and the like. If you like to waste time, knock yourself out. If you’re chopping a significant amount, you need one of these.  My recommendation: the Pampered Chef one. I’ve owned the Oxo and the darn thing fell apart. The Pampered Chef one is the best, really. I have other items that I use to help me save time but this is by far my mise en place workhorse.

But I digress. I’d like to know if you do mise en place in your kitchen. Or are you a throw it all together at the last minute kind of person? Or, like me, do you use it only for recipes with a lengthy list of ingredients?

SO cool. Love that they have a veggie option, too.

I’m thrilled to have found these in one of my magazines.  The site itself is actually pretty sweet- I will be paging through it soon- but the Herb Savor pods are just a great idea!  And I like that I can buy three of them at a discount, because what will I do with one? Generally, I use more than one herb at a time.   So, yay, innovation!

Maybe you can check this one out while you’re eating your leftover turkey sandwich. That’s what I’m doing right now. Yum.

Over the course of the past 30 (!) years of my life, I’ve begun to notice complaints from my mom. My mom is the “owner” of Nana Ollie’s pans now, but for some reason, she only has one left. She must have brought breads to someone’s house and they never gave the pan back- typical in big families! After a recent bout of complaining, I started doing what I do best- Googling.

And I came across a decent match and realized that it’s more likely that my Nana’s pans are called “Pullman” loaf pans.   I doubt that they will be as strong and durable as Nana Ollie’s industrial strength pans, but my mother will be thrilled. I’m giving her a few for Christmas as well as keeping a few for myself. I had been so confused when registering and bread loaf pans didn’t look how I expected them to. Now, I am searching for a breadmaker that has a longer baking pan. We go through bread so fast here, especially when I make it at home, that I wish the loaves were a more standard size in order that we’d get more than 8-10 slices out of them (or 2, when suitNtie cuts the slices, that man loves his Texas toast slices, oy).

Perhaps Santa will notice? We’ll see.

This is the first time since I got my own kitchen that I have a gas stove, and I am thrilled. I prefer cooking on gas.  That said, boy does it get messy.   suitNtie handles the after dinner cleanup (it’s our agreement), and sometimes he can’t catch it in time to keep the ceramic liner under the burner from getting  crud on it.  So it’s pretty sad looking right now.

I love these because not only are they nonstick, but you can PUT THEM IN YOUR DISHWASHER. SHUT UP. I love it.  So just in case you let it sit long enough that you can’t wipe it off anymore (I’m just saying) you can rely on your trusty dishwasher to clean it for you.

Plus, you can cut them to fit your stove. Lovely.  Ah yes, you WILL be mine.

I’ve used the hell out of it. Some of my favorite recipes that I had used prior to owning the cookbook, so I now have a permanent record of them that I can refer to, not worrying about the kids coloring on the paper and it disappearing, or losing it from the Gourmet website, etc. In addition, it’s got a lot of great recipes that I tried once I got the book (like Irish Soda Bread…made every St. Patty’s Day!)

And, for $11, even *I* can justify it. 

I have yet to get to the point where I am buying spices in bulk (because they last longer) and grinding them as I need them (because they taste more fresh).  I *really* want to.  I like that you can just use a coffee grinder for your spices (although you never want to use the same grinder for both) and I *really* like that they are inexpensive (read: $20).

Do you grind your spices at home or buy them already ground?

I agree. Le sigh.  Perhaps Santa will bring me one. For now, I simply sit and dream.