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Good Kitchen Utensils Make A Big Difference

Merri Lou Dobler Staff writer

Most of us get by with inexpensive kitchen utensils. We groan when the grater rusts, the tongs break, the vegetable peeler continually slips or the scoop won’t cut through hard ice cream. But still we get the cheaper substitutes, telling ourselves that these will do just fine.

Somewhere in the back of our minds, however, is the nagging thought that good-quality tools will make some kitchen chores a pleasure, and perhaps save valuable time.

Enter Elaine Moreen, a “kitchen consultant” for The Pampered Chef, a nationwide home-party sales company.

She likes to use the example of husbands who have a shop in the garage. They tell their wives that if they have the proper tools they can do anything.

Well, you can do anything in the kitchen with the right tools, too, says Moreen, a Coeur d’Alene resident who sells The Pampered Chef products as a hobby.

About a dozen of us gathered recently for a demonstration at a neighbor’s house and watched Moreen prepare two delicious recipes using The Pampered Chef’s utensils and stoneware. (Be forewarned if you attend a show, however; you’ll be sold immediately on these wonderful products and may spend a little more than your checkbook allows.) We sampled the food that Moreen prepared - Three-Cheese Garden Pizza and Apple Crumble Dessert - checked out the tools and placed our orders. Pizza and dough roller, garlic press, apple wedger, hand-finished, unglazed stoneware - ah, the pleasures of the kitchen.

And me? I couldn’t resist purchasing a few things, including that all-important vegetable peeler.

Three-Cheese Garden Pizza

From “Season’s Best Recipe Collection (Fall/Winter ‘97),” (The Pampered Chef).

1 (10-ounce) package refrigerated pizza crust (or dough from your bread machine if you choose)

1 clove garlic

1 cup (4 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese

1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese

1 cup mushrooms

1 medium tomato

1 medium zucchini

1 small onion

1 ounce (1/4 cup) fresh Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Roll pizza crust into a 14-inch circle and bake for 7 minutes. Remove from oven. Press garlic over partially baked crust. Sprinkle evenly with shredded mozzarella and Cheddar cheeses.

Slice mushrooms, tomato, zucchini and onion and spread evenly over crust. Grate Parmesan cheese over vegetables. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning. Bake 15-18 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted.

Yield: 4 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 390 calories, 14.8 grams fat (34 percent fat calories), 40 grams carbohydrate, 27 grams protein, 39 milligrams cholesterol, 664 milligrams sodium.

, DataTimes MEMO: The goal of Five and Fifteen is to find recipes where you can do the shopping in five minutes and the cooking in 15. Merri Lou Dobler, a registered dietitian and Spokane resident, welcomes ideas from readers. Write to Five and Fifteen, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210.

The following fields overflowed: SUPCAT = COLUMN, RECIPE - Five and Fifteen

The goal of Five and Fifteen is to find recipes where you can do the shopping in five minutes and the cooking in 15. Merri Lou Dobler, a registered dietitian and Spokane resident, welcomes ideas from readers. Write to Five and Fifteen, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210.

The following fields overflowed: SUPCAT = COLUMN, RECIPE - Five and Fifteen