Healthy Choices

I usually post recipes, amazing monthly specials, or tips about product use. Today I want to highlight my last Demarle Host family. Jenn and Trey Bonner are health coaches with TSFL, a physician-endorsed weight loss program that promotes lifestyle change along with a diet regimen. After losing an amazing 187/110 pounds on a journey that started almost two years ago, Jenn and her husband Trey now dub themselves "Half the couple." They are passionate about helping others take the same path they chose toward a healthy lifestyle.

Because Jenn and Trey have come to focus on making healthy eating choices, they avoid junk foods, shop for fresh veggies, and were eager to hear about non-stick Demarle products that do not interact with food during the cooking process. We used my Demarle products to prepare a salmon dinner at their house. They were amazed at the flavor of food prepared in Kosher-certified pans and the easy clean up afterward. The vibrant green broccoli prepared in the microwave with no water added was also a big hit.

Photo Credit: L Wallace

When Jenn unmolded the mandarin orange cake from the Sunflower mold, she said, "That doesn't look real!"  I laughed and asked her what she meant. "It looks like food that's been sprayed for filming a commercial," she said. The carmelized sugar sheen of baked goods in Demarle's "chef's secret" is almost too good to be true. 

Trey fell in love with the DD stainless that has no brads on the interior cooking surface to catch food and harbor germs.

This weekend, Jenn hosted her own Demarle Party and invited others who are on the quest for health to discover the Demarle Difference.

Six-year-old Ava insisted on helping fill the square savarin tray with turkey meatloaf. This is exactly what Demarle does best—

bring families back to the kitchen for easy, healthy meals.

Trey ordered his DD stainless with the May Stainless Extravaganza Special offering a 58% discount on the combined sets. Jenn is excited about getting the knives that are included with the sets.

Their hostess rewards will get them started with an array of Demarle Flexipans®, Flexitrays®, and Silpats®.

The day after the party, Jenn emailed me to say:

Kristi,

I am getting ready to cook lunch and my first thought was “I can’t wait to get my Demarle products!”

Trey and Jenn will be hosting another party soon for those who could not come to this one.

It is a thrill to walk alongside these champions of healthy living with the value that Demarle at Home brings to families.

Salmon Bake

I often use my Demarle Flexipat® to bake meat entrees and roast veggie side dishes at the same time. Fish, chicken, pork chops, even ground meats can be cooked alongside a favorite selection of veggies. This week I chose to do Salmon with lemon and dill and a veggie mix with Herbs de Provence.

 

 

Nothing could be simpler. Toss the veggies in 1/8 C. oil (I prefer grape seed oil) and about 1 T. of spice. Rub the meat with a bit of oil and whatever spices fit the bill, and bake both at 375° for 15-20 minutes. The salmon should flake apart.

And the clean-up is a breeze. I do not miss cleaning the grill pan. 

Both reheat well as leftovers, too.

Fruit Pizza

The birthday girl requested a fruit pizza with strawberries, kiwi, pineapple, and mandarin oranges:

The basic recipe is found on page 55 of our Desserts cookbook. I made the glaze with the juice from the canned mandarin and pineapple.

Fruit Pizza

Crust:

Sugar cookie dough of choice: prepackaged, mix, or homemade.

Preheat oven to 350°

Place Flexipat on medium PBS
Prepare cookie dough per instructions and press into Flexipat

Bake per recipe or package instructions

Allow to cool completely

Topping:

1 pkg cream cheese

5 oz vanilla yogurt

½ t vanilla

2 t lemon zest (juice the lemon for glaze)

Assorted fruit of choice

Blend all but fruit in mixing bowl until smooth.

Spread mixture over cookie crust.

Cut up fruit and decorate top of pizza.

Glaze:

½ C white sugar

1 T cornstarch

Pinch of salt

¾ C fruit juice

2 T lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a small DD saucepan. 

Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook 1-2 minutes until thickened.

Remove from heat and allow to cool, but not set up.

Spoon over fruit.

Chill pizza for 2 hours.

Cut into servings with plastic cake server.

Enjoy!

What's Not to Like?

Demarle's line of unique, flexible, nonstick bake ware is made with a patented process using woven glass coated with food-grade silicone. Combined with the Demarle perforated baking sheet, it cooks evenly, quickly, and beautifully. No one has duplicated the process, though you may have used some products that have tried to do so. 

You may not own Demarle, but you've eaten food prepared in it. Subway bakes bread in Demarle trays. Cheesecake Factory uses the large round mold to make their cheesecakes. Demarle comes with the kit in culinary schools and is used in Five-Star restaurants everywhere.

Top 10 reasons that I am sold on Demarle:

1.      People who own it, LOVE IT! When I ask my new customers how they like their Demarle, the response is an enthusiastic "I LOVE IT!"

2.      It is truly the "chef's secret." For over 40 years, chefs around the world have been baking with it. Only recently has it been available in the USA for use in our family kitchens. 

3.      It is the healthiest way to cook that I know:

·         The food-grade silicone is completely inert. No chemicals leach into your food. That cannot be said for coated nonstick cooking pans or bake ware, plastic storage containers that are reheated in the microwave, and packages that hold microwave popcorn. Annual Kosher certification verifies that claim.

·         The nonstick properties eliminate calories (keep reading).

4.      It is completely nonstick. Cooking and clean-up are a breeze.

·         Never use oil, spray, or flour again to coat your pans! Can you imagine never having to work to clean up a Bundt pan?

·         Baked-on spills come off easily so your Demarle continues to look brand new.

·         Never soak another pan— for an hour or a day. Quick clean-up in warm, soapy water. Casseroles, lasagna, and cheese/egg dishes come out of the pans with ease.

·         Never fill up your dish drainer with Flexipans^® or Flexitrays^® to dry for hours because water doesn't stick to them, either. Simply shake them dry.

·         The Roupat^® allows you to roll out pastry without using flour.

5.      Originally designed for bakeries in France, it makes you look like a pro.

·   The nonstick properties and even cooking caramelizes the sugar in baked goods, creating a coating on cakes that is to die for. You no longer need to cover up a cake with frosting to make it look appetizing. Save calories, too!

6.      It has unrivaled versatility.

·         Use the same pan to bake a roast, make microwave popcorn, bake a cheesecake, bake a cake, and bake lasagna or a casserole. Clean out your cupboards!

·         It tolerates -40° to 480° for use in the freezer, oven, or microwave.

7.      Proportional sizes create portion control and unique storage options.

·         Prepare desserts and dishes in the Flexitrays^® to create pre-measured portions.

·         Freeze leftovers (see hockey puck soup) in individual portions for later use.

8.      It is completely guaranteed as long as you follow the guidelines for care.

·         30-day money-back guarantee

·         2-year warranty on Silpats^®

·         Life-time guarantee on Flexipans^® and Flexitrays^®

9.      Care guidelines are easy to follow.

·         Demarle flexiproducts cannot be used with direct heat sources such as a stove-top burner or grill and cannot touch the sides of the oven.

·         You cannot use a knife or metal to cut or serve food because it can pierce the silicone. Food easily slides off the Silpats^® or Flexipats^® or unmolds from the Flexitrays and molds.

·         You cannot stack heavy items on top of Demarle bakeware because it can cause creases that break the woven glass structure. You can, however, roll them up and store them in ⅓ the space of rigid bakeware.

·         Flexi-products are not dishwasher safe. They wash up quickly in hot, soapy water and shake dry.

10.  The ease of cooking with Demarle lets you enjoy cooking, even if you hate to cook.

·         My customers who hate to cook find the ease of cooking and cleanup makes their time in the kitchen more enjoyable.

·         Those who love to cook spend even more time creating healthy meals and beautiful baked goods for their family and friends.  

You have to see Demarle products to believe them.  

Schedule a no-obligation demonstration with me!

Buddy's Birthday Cake

Buddy requested a red velvet cake for his birthday.

Baked in the flower mold and frosted with cream cheese frosting:

Topped with chocolate ganache:

YUM!

Any red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting recipe will work.

This is the chocolate ganache recipe I use for my cooking workshops:

1. Heat ½ C. heavy whipping cream in DD stainless on medium heat until it is steaming.
2. Remove from heat and add 1 C. semisweet chocolate chips.
   Be sure chips are covered by cream.
3. Let sit for about 5 minutes. 
4. Stir well with whisk or heat resistant spatula until uniform consistency.
5. Let it cool until it is quite thick before putting on cake.

Comfort Food

Sometimes the only thing that will satisfy your appetite is a favorite comfort food.  The other day I was craving my mom's original "TV" dinner, a creation made long before Swanson appeared in the stores: a hamburger patty topped with a slice of onion and a cut up potato and carrot, seasoned with salt & pepper, wrapped up in foil, and baked in the oven. 

I no longer use foil because Al³⁺isn't good for you, and my Demarle Flexipat cooks faster and more evenly.

Here's what it looked like:

  

Have you tried fixing your favorite comfort food in Demarle?

Breakfast Ideas using Demarle

Chocolate Brownie Eggs

With Easter approaching, you may be planning an Easter Brunch. Special occasions provide an opportunity to prepare special dishes or food that is a treat. The parties I'm doing this month feature our egg-shape tray to make cakes and chocolate eggs.  Call me to schedule your cooking demonstration!


Recently, I experimented with preparing bacon and hash browns using the Flexipat® and Silpat® (no pics, sorry). Not surprisingly, the results were great!

If you set the temperature at 375°, you can also prepare both of these side-dishes (first bacon, and then hash browns) on the bottom rack of  the oven while you cook the chile relleno crust-less quiche.

Oven Bacon

Preparing bacon in the oven with your Flexipat® not only eliminates the need to stand over the stove and turn the bacon strips, it does not smell up the whole house.

• Preheat oven to 400°
• Place the Flexipat® on the medium PBS
• Cut bacon strips in half
• Position bacon strips on the Flexipat®; some overlap is OK
• Bake for 15-20 min, depending on desired crispness
• Remove from oven and use the polyamide spatula to take bacon off  Flexipat®
• Placing bacon on paper towels removes excess grease
• Serve and enjoy!

Clean-up: Use paper towels to absorb the bacon grease in the Flexipat® prior to washing.  I am always amazed that I can cook something at a high temperature in the oven with this bake-ware and not have stuck-on food. As always, clean up any spills on your PBS immediately, and it will continue to look brand new.

Oven Hashbrowns

This quick and simple idea using prepackaged frozen hash browns makes hash browns that are crisp without frying.  I used the large Silpat® and PBS.

• Thaw frozen hash browns in refrigerator overnight
• Preheat oven to 400°
• Place Silpat® on the appropriate size PBS
• Toss hashbrowns in Demarle Stainless Steel mixing bowl with enough oil to coat them
  I used grape seed oil because it has a high smoking point and I like the nutty flavor
• Season with sea salt
• Spread hash browns on Silpat®, either in individual portions or as one mass. Do not pile too high.
• Bake for 10-15 min
  
• Remove from oven and use the polyamide spatula to remove to serving dish
• Serve and enjoy!