Recipe- Easy Potsticker Soup

Celebrate Chinese New Year with this delicious Asian soup that is as healthy and easy to make as it is tasty!

Ingredients:

1/2 pound Chinese or napa cabbage, thinly sliced

2 celery ribs, thinly sliced

2 medium carrots, cut into matchsticks

1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions

2 to 3 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons minced fresh gingerroot or 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

6 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 package (16 ounces) frozen chicken potstickers

Directions: In a 4-quart slow cooker, combine the first nine ingredients. Stir in chicken broth. Cook, covered, on low until vegetables are tender (5-6 hours). Add potstickers; cook, covered, on high until heated through (15-20 minutes). Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition Facts: Serving size (1 1/3 cups): 198 calories, 6g fat (2g saturated fat), 28 mg cholesterol, 1302 mg sodium, 23g carbohydrate (5g sugars, 2g fiber), 13g protein

Conventional or Convection Oven, What is the Difference?

What is the difference between convection and conventional ovens? This is a very common question; it’s also a very good question.

A conventional oven is a very basic piece of kitchen equipment; inside there is an exposed heating element mounted to the top and bottom of the cavity. The heating element heats the cavity to a desired temperature. However, the temperature is often uneven throughout the cavity which can cause uneven baking with cakes and breads, and dry roasts and poultry. Not to mention that the heating element on the bottom makes it more difficult to clean.

In a convection oven the heating elements are normally hidden behind the oven cavity floor and ceiling, leaving them smooth and easy to clean. Again, the elements heat the cavity to a desired temperature. But with convection there is the added benefit of a fan mounted in the rear of the oven that circulates the air inside the cavity. This makes the internal temperatures very consistent throughout. There is also the option of European/True convection which places a heating element behind the convection fan to help maintain very precise temperatures and cook at quicker speeds.

Those are the most basic differences in how the two types of ovens work. Now let’s talk about why they work.

When you put something on the oven, let’s say, a turkey. You take the turkey out of the refrigerator then you season it. When it goes into the oven it is still very cold which works like a blanket of cold that the stagnant heat of a conventional oven struggles to overcome. With a convection oven that blanket of cold is stripped away by the movement of hot air within the cavity of the oven. Because of this effect the cooking time and temperature can be reduced which means that turkey will be much more moist. Convection ovens also allow you to bake multiple sheets of cookies at the same time. That’s because there is air movement that prevents stratifying of air temperatures between the oven racks and preventing the top rack from over-cooking.

The Self-Clean Feature May be the Reason Behind Your Next Service Call

Should I try the oven’s self-clean or use a little elbow grease?

It’s a terrible irony but using the self-clean feature on your range may significantly shorten its life span. Simply put, the electronics in today’s ranges often can’t handle the high temps reached (upwards of 1,000 degrees) during the cleaning cycle and the motherboard burns out or a fuse blows.

Most ranges today utilize hidden bake elements which compound the issue by trapping heat and limiting circulation. Using the self-clean feature does not guarantee mayhem will ensue but it increases the likelihood. It could happen the first time the feature is used, the tenth time, or it may never happen at all. However, that the self-clean feature is leading to more service calls on ranges cannot be denied.

Though consumers are not willing to purchase manual clean ovens, this isn’t exactly a catch 22. For example, you can still clean your self-breaking using LG’s “Easy Clean” feature, which takes advantage of LG’s new oven cavity enamel to help lift drops of cheese or light splatter using water for a 20 minute cycle, which loosens soils before hand-cleaning.

KitchenAid’s “Steam Clean” feature also removes light food spills and saves time and energy compared to a traditional self-clean feature. Similarly, 10 ounces of water is added to the base of the oven for a 20 minute cleaning cycle before it’s advised that a sponge be used to wipe the interior clean.

The “Easy” and steam cleans of the world are effective, but do require a little more of that elbow grease than simply wiping out ash, but it’s not much more. The real trick is not letting food spills build up in the first place. It’s funny – how many of us bought a self-cleaning range and have yet to use that feature anyway? Guilty.