Knives are an Important Kitchen Tool.
I forgot about knives! All these years I’ve been working with food to heal my kids and foster kids, my focus has been on the food! With a great blender, ice cream maker, non-aluminum pans, etc…I felt all was good. I’ve never chosen to spend the money on knives because the choice for best was either a Japanese or German knives and I couldn’t get an understanding for such high prices for a knife. Therefore, I stuck with my orange, red, and blue ones which work pretty good.
But now these knives were about 40% less cost and this sweet man, Mark Birchie wanted to support my effort with foster kids and engrave Real Food Recovery and Mandy on the knives. (Guess I don’t have to worry about theft, lol!)
When I found Mark, he was selling Rhineland Cutlery knives at the best price I’d seen. He said the steel is forged in Solingen, Germany and the handles are put on in China which keeps the costs down. [Yes, I asked why the knives were less expensive.]
Discovery Day
Mark has a booth at a Farmer’s Market and he graciously loaned me the knives to try out for a week. What a smart move on his part! Everything cut like butter. Literally, everything. So for all you smart chefs in the kitchen, I’m finally on board. I had no idea why it was such a big deal to have a “good knife” until now. As a traditionally certified chef through the course Simply Being Well, I now feel official. When you can cut an onion fast and get it in the pan before it’s stinging fumes reach the eyes, it’s the real deal!
My first dish made with my new knives is a squash casserole. I love squash but it’s generally GMO which really messes with the health of a body! So when our CSA Little Pond Farm put these organic yellow squash beauties in our weekly bag, we whip up something special! I felt like Rachel Ray cutting up my squash so quickly.
Here is an estimate of the recipe whipped together:
Ingredients
- 4-5 squash
- 1 onion
- goat cheese, 1/2 cup or so
- 2 eggs
Instructions
- Heat oven on 350ºF.
- Chop and sauté vegetables
- Grease a 9 x 13 glass pan
- Mix eggs
- Add cheese
- Fold in veggies
- Put into the greased pan
- Cook for 30 minutes
- Enjoy!
https://www.realfoodrecovery.org/knives-change-real-food-recovery/
Recommendations
If you are like me and teetering on buying a couple of really good knives, do it! You will never look back. Seek out a great value, or contact the sweet man I used, Mark Birchie. His information will be included below. There is no benefit to me, other than joining me to support people who are truly kind and knowledgeable. For those that may want to join me supporting foster kids, you can buy my cookbook or donate to buy real food and build gardens for foster kids (little blue button on the right side of the page). Find other recipes in here, like this recent yummy treat.
For you local folks, when you visit the Saturday Morning Market in St. Petersburg from October to May, I certainly recommend getting your knife sharpened by a professional, Mark Birchie at m&msharpening. He actually uses a whetstone to sharpen certain knives. It’s pretty cool to watch. He ships all over the country & internationally as well. His sharpening service is $1./inch for Western, $2./inch for Asian knives like Shun.
Keep sharp, have fun, and eat real!
Mandy
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