Black Friday Kitchen Deals

Even though Black Friday is almost done with , home chefs can still cash in on the day's deals. This is the time to replace those iffy smaller appliances along with buying new pans and tins.The deals are amazing  right now. so take advantage of them. This is the time to invest in good quality kitchen ware at bargain basement prices.

One of the best places to get good bargains is Sur La Table both on line and at their many stores. They offer free shipping for $59.00 and over orders.They have a Sansaire Sous Vide Immersion Circulator for $149.00 , fifty dollars less than the usual price.Sur La Table has a great bargain on the Staub Cocotte cookware, $99.00 for a set of four cast iron Dutch ovens. Pick these up if you're planning to make a lot of chili or stewed chicken for the holidays. The store also has good bargains on carving knives sets, .along with special offers on chef's knives.  Williams-Sonoma isn't normally known for lowering their prices but they now are offering some good sales items. They're offering their name brand Thermo clad stainless steel fry pan set for half price at $150.Their Calaphon eleven piece elite non stick cookware set usually goes for a whopping $1,000 and it's on sale for $599.00 This will last a long time and the suggestion is buy it.Another boon is that all of their copper cookware is being sold for 20  percent off. Again this is a good buy because of the quality  and workmanship put in them. Williams -Sonoma also have good deals on all sorts of knives as well as cutting boards and wood containers.

The big box stores such as Target and K-Mart can offer even better bargains.If you need fancy dinnerware then head over to the bull's eye store. Target has excellent prices on Corelleware Strawberry Street, Gorham Willow Creek and Threshold. The best part is that there is a huge variety of colors and patterns so you're not limited. They're also having a sale on toaster ovens as well along with Calaphon  cookware starting at $99.00. Even if there's no sale , Target Red card holders (the store credit card) always receives 5% off all purchases. For even lesser prices try K-Mart. They are offering a BOGO - buy one get one free on all their kitchen utensils and gadgets. Scarf up their balloon whisks and choppers for yourself and your favorite home chef.K-Mart has the amazingly low price of $15 for mandolins.These are usually quadruple or quintuple the price so get them while they're hot.It's great for slicing potatoes for scalloped potatoes and home made potato chips.It can also be used for shredding and grating other veggies like cabbage and carrots. Eighteen dollars will get homes chefs an entirely new twelve piece utensil set with a decorative tub. to store them. This has everything from  a pasta fork to tongs to various blending paddles to a spatula. They will get anyone through the busiest baking and cooking season of the year with ease.

Black Friday is a home chef's dream. It's time to stock up on what you and what you want to create the perfect holiday kitchen. Get out the credit card and shop, shop, shop!

So, Do We Go Vegan?

There is a new report out claiming that red and processed meats cause cancer. This is no big news , it's been known for at least thirty or more years. What is controversial is that the World Health Organization or WHO now equates them with asbestos and tobacco. Yet are they that bad?Or is this an over exaggeration?

To be honest we do need meat, We need it for our bodies to produce amino acids . We also need it  for Vitamin B12 and protein. Vitamin B12 or iron can be found in lobster but that comes with a warning of its' own - its' chock full of cholesterol. If do still redmeat or bacon, then cut down on it. Try to limit it to maybe once a week  the cut down to twice a month and then maybe once a month. I know this is easier said than done. Most of us rely on our supermarket's deli or Subway for lunches . What can be done is looking to fresh cut meats , such as chicken or roast beef. Also subbing in soy meats helps along with switching to veggies. This can be done slowly. Start by adding more tomatoes and spinach. Cheese slices are also good and get familiar with the different types out there.Another idea is looking at vegan web sites and cookbooks . These are chock full of delicious recipes that can help transitioning over to a more meat free diet.

Other meats have come under fire as well, namely hot dogs, burgers and sausages. Again these are going  to be hard to get rid of or at least decrease.Look , Wendy's and McDonald's are a huge part of the American diet. Fast food is just easier  to deal with , especially after a long work day or busy weekend. Luckily we can cut down on the amount of burgers and dogs we consume.Wendy's offers a wide array of salads plus baked potatoes  to wean you off those Baconators. Morningstar Farms offers a variety  of veggie burgers and  hot dogs that can stand in for the real thing. To be honest we need to look to Germany who gave us the first two along with a huge variety of sausages and wursts. For some reason, Germans don't have the high cancer stats that we have and yet our diets are relatively similar. It could be portion control (they're not gluttonous by any means) or how the meats are processed. There could be less nitrates and chemicals in the meat.It could also be that they're not as heavily into the carcinogenic  barbecuing as we Yanks are. Maybe if we stop all this excessive grilling we can keep that extra chilidog or Sloppy Joe in our diets.

So what do we do? Eat well, eat for our bodies and not our taste buds.Try more plant based foods, nix all that barbecue - and like with alcohol and sweets - just cut back. It 's the start of a healthier way of eating.