(guest post)

The kitchen is the heart and soul of most houses – it is where you come to eat, connect and share time with your friends and family. This is exactly as it should be, yet it can also wear the room down – dozens of guests, screaming kids and hungry adults will age a room much faster than you would imagine. With a few simple touches, like new cookware or a splash of paint, you can make this room as pleasant as it should be.

Painting your kitchen is the best way to make it feel new again – by stripping off old layers you will be able to give it a nice bright appearance that will make all your conversations and meals more pleasant. Re-painting will also strip out some of the smells that the room has no doubt accumulated. Of course this is a bit of pain as you will have to cook around your paint job, so plan to do it at a time when life is slightly less hectic.

Your appliances and cookware also have an impact on the feel of the room – indeed, no one will notice a bit of dirt if their eyes are drawn to your collection of beautiful appliances, cutlery and dishes. Picking up a new set of non-stick pans, utensils or knives can make your room a bit more exciting – for you and your guests.

Finally, you can consider doing something drastic and ripping it all out. Kitchen conversions are expensive and a lot of work, yet there are the most effective way to spice up your entire home. Imagine replacing your worn down kitchen, with a beautiful environment replete with marble and perfectly designed cabinets – it will truly change the feel of your house.

Following is a paid guest post and a great store for my UK readers!

My weight loss goals this year include more healthy recipes and taking baby steps to going green, so having the chance to try this grill pan out made me more than happy.

Some facts you should know right away about this line that makes it special, is that it is 100% PFOA FREE!  A very important factor for people living green.  The line is dishwasher safe and can go in the oven up to 500′.  It’s of some of the highest quality you can find out there and the company, Scanpan has been around for over 50yrs and has a very good reputation.

Believe it or not, I have NEVER owned a grill pan.  *gasp*  We grill outside all the time but during the winter and on ugly days, it’s nice to be able to use the grill inside for some healthier eating.  Today we decided to do hamburgers and of course my husband took over because the one thing he cared about, was the grill marks!  Men!

The handle does get hot (because it’s oven safe obviously) but lucky for you, they provide you with a handle sleeve.  What I cared about though, was the cleanup.  Am I right??  You know how grill pans or anything with grooves can be a pain to clean right.  I was very pleased with the cleanup with this pan.  I had no trouble at all and the food had been there for about 3hrs so it had time to “stick”.

Everything cooked evenly, the grill marks turned out great, and cleanup was a breeze.  Definitely a great pan and if you care about living green, eating healthy, and high quality cookware, then this line is for you.  I cook nonstop for my family and for the ranch cowboys so I need cookware that will last.  It is slightly on the pricier side but you get what you pay for.  I’m all about quality and the Scanpan Professional line fits the bill.

Want to win one? Well lucky for you, I have a Scanpan Grill Pan to giveaway to one lucky reader! Valued at about $150.

TO ENTER:

Leave a comment on this post telling me what you would cook in your grill pan OR what steps you’re taking to eating healthier or live greener.

Additional ways to enter. You may do one or all but each one you do should be left in a separate comment.

• Blog it and tell me how bad you want this baby!
• Tweet it and include @ACowboysWife and the link to this giveaway.
• Stumble it and/or Facebook it.
• Subscribe by Email or by Reader!

This giveaway ends on March 30th (which happens to be my birthday) at 10pm CST,  or until comments are closed.  For more info on how I run my giveaways, read the “official rules“.

Just because I have time to cook all day, doesn’t mean I want to.  Or maybe we need a meal ASAP before we head out the door.  This has got to be one of the coolest pans ever!  Meet the Fissler Blue Point Pressure Pan Set.   You can grill, sear, saute, steam and pressure cook in this one pan.  Whew, that’s a mouthful! It’s no lightweight either!  Very heavy pan obviously built to last.  Fissler is some high quality, German Cookware that is making it’s way to the good ol’ USA with a punch!

This time around, I decided to use the pressure cooker feature.  I read in the manual that when you are releasing steam, it’s not hot.  It was right!  I was leery but I stuck my hand in front of the steam (but please don’t do this at home people) and it’s wasn’t hot at all.  Now that’s a SAFE pressure cooker for sure!

This is a 4.2 quart size skillet and I must say, my Beef Stew recipe was enough to feed 8 so I had no problems fitting it all into this pan whatsoever.  For those of you who don’t know this; pressure cookers not only cook faster, they keep your food’s flavors, minerals, and vitamins where they belong,…in the food! And with the basket for the steamer, you can also cook healthy.  So cool!

Okay, to the recipe!

30-Minute Beef Stew

INGREDIENTS:

• 1.5lbs stew meat
• carrots
• potatoes
• Tomato Sauce

DIRECTIONS:

Since my stew meat was thawed and in small pieces right out of the package, I threw all ingredients in together. Yep, ALL of them.  If you have round steak that you are cutting up or even using a little frozen, I recommend you cook the meat, carrots and sauce together first for about 20 minutes and then throw in the potatoes for the final cooking minutes.

I cooked mine for 30 minutes!  No shorter, no longer.  The thing about beef stew, is that it creates it’s own flavors and by using the pressure cooker, even more natural flavor was there.

That’s got to be the easiest meal ever!  The pressure cooker worked like a charm and the release valve worked perfectly and cleaning up was easy as pie.  I couldn’t ask for an easier recipe with a better pan! 

Do you pressure cook?  Would a pan like this fit into your cooking lifestyle and what feature would you use the most?  Steamer, fryer, searer, or pressure cooker?