Janelle Maiocco

Hi.

Welcome to my blog. I live in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle on an Urban Farm (w/ five laying hens and a huge garden). I am a trained chef (w/ a certificate in food preservation), taught at a cooking school & like to share 'kitchen hacks' - culinary tips that save time, money & maximize flavor. If that isn't enough, I also run a food+tech startup called Barn2Door.com - a platform to help everyone easily find & buy food directly from farmers, fishers & ranchers (from CSA's to urban farm eggs to 1/2 a grass-fed cow).

Kitchen Scissors

Kitchen Scissors

scissors
scissors

You know they are my kids: they cut pizza with a scissors. I was my mother's daughter for doing the same. My near obsession with 'scissors in the kitchen' means the scissors in the house end up in the drawer with spatulas instead of the drawer with pencils and glue.

I adore scissors in the kitchen; I find them terribly efficient and easy to use. When I cannot get the sausage in the skillet or the tomatoes in a simmering sauce small enough, I cut them with a scissors right in the pan. Shears are quite handy for cutting fat off of chicken breasts.

Scissors cut all my herbs; I think there is less bruising than if you use a knife. So I stack basil, parsley and sage, then slice in skinny strips on top of bruschetta or into a quiche. I cut rosemary right off the stem. AND the kids love it; once they are big enough to handle scissors, they can cut sausage and tomatoes, basil and sage, pizza and quesadillas, puff pastry into triangles or stems off green beans.

What is your favorite kitchen tool? How do you use it? Today I wielded my scissors to cut up dried apricots to go into break pudding. So often I find scissors easier to use than knives. Try it---you might like it!

blue cheese dressing. aka blue cheese dipping sauce.

jars & bottles

jars & bottles