Good morning!

How are ya today? I woke up this morning forgetting that it’s not actually hump day because we’ve got a long weekend coming up, and this instantly put me in an awesome mood before my workout. It’ll be here before we know it! Over to my usual Wednesday topic, here’s what went down in this week’s Try Something New Tuesday adventures.

1. Recipe of the Week. Since it’s very nearly Easter, there have been a ton of egg-based creations coming out of my kitchen. There were a few contenders for today’s featured recipe, but after much debate, I’ve decided to pick my Smoked Salmon and Asparagus Frittata that I made on the weekend.

There was a time in my early teens when I was of the opinion that smoked salmon was just the same as slimy raw fish and thus was absolutely disgusting. This was also a time when I was naive to the world of sushi, one of my absolute favourite meals today! But just over a year ago (it was Try Something New Tuesday 35 to be precise) I discovered my love for smoked salmon and just cannot get enough, especially when it’s paired with eggs.

Oooh, and asparagus too! Oh how I’ve missed thee over the winter!

It’s the perfect springtime trio…

…and I think you should make it for yourself.

So friends, run to the kitchen. Grab your cast iron skillet and switch on that oven. The wonderfully tasty and nutritious combo of ingredients (with a little help from a few others) will become one of the tastiest spring frittatas you’ve ever cooked. In fact, maybe it even deserves as spot on your Easter menu. *nudge nudge!* ;)

2. New low-tech, high-colour kitchen gadgets: Hampton Tomodachi Knives. Say hello to my latest impulse buy:

On the weekend my roommate and I made a trip to Costco to stock up on “essentials”. For me, this includes organic frozen veggies, cleaning supplies, Greek yogurt, egg whites, and the industrial-sized container of cinnamon that I manage to somehow demolish every couple of months. I’m usually pretty good about staying out of the aisles I know I don’t need to browse, but sometimes they stick things right along the entryway and they’re very difficult to resist. Hence, my new knives.

The package claimed they were super sharp and dishwasher safe, and most appealing of all to me – they were SUPER colourful! I already love spending time in my kitchen, but add colourful knives and I’m like a little kid in the ball pit and Chuck-E-Cheese. You’ll have to pull me out by the leg. (Careful, I’ve got a sharp knife.)

So how did I break them in? Well, I haven’t even managed to use them all yet but yesterday’s lunch was a great big beautiful salad.

In the mix:

  • mixed greens
  • red bell pepper
  • sliced carrots
  • cucumber
  • sliced radish
  • red onion
  • cherry tomatoes
  • edamame
  • chickpeas
  • alfalfa sprouts
  • pumpkin seeds
  • a simple homemade vinaigrette combo – white balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil

For almost all of the veggies that needed cutting, I used the 8.9cm paring knife. It’s a little small for slicing into a whole onion, but this thing has a mighty blade on it! It cut through my carrot like butter!

The 12.7cm tomato knife has special pickers on the end for seeding tomatoes, and even though I didn’t need to remove the seeds from my cherry tomatoes, I used it anyway just for fun. Again, super sharp!

As I said, I haven’t christened all of them but I’m eager to go and buy a nice big crusty baguette so I can use the pink serrated bread knife. Oooooh and which one to choose for watermelon season!?!??! :D

3. A grapple. A whattle? This is something that I’ve spotted at the grocery store several times and always wondered about. It’s one of those hybrid pieces of produce that I’m not sure anyone ever buys – except for me I suppose – because it just sets us up for tastebud confusion.

A grapple is supposedly a cross between a grape and an apple. According to the manufacturing company, it’s pronounced “grape-L”. The packaging claims that although it looks just like an apple, the flesh tastes like a grape. They say…

Grāpple® brand apples begin either as Washington Extra Fancy Gala or Fuji Apples, depending upon the season. These “premium apples” are the ones that take on the grape flavor best. This Patented Process is complex and the ingredient mix primarily includes concentrated grape flavor and pure water (USPP #7,824,723). All ingredients are USDA and FDA approved and the process has been licensed by the Washington State Department of Agriculture.

There is nothing but flavor being infused into the apple. A relaxing bathing process prepares our apples for you or your kids. The apple takes on no additional sugars or calories. They are not genetically altered in any way.

Grapples have about 80-95 calories each, and contain the same fiber content, vitamins, and minerals that apples do. Are you intrigued? I am. I’d also like to know if fermenting grapples would produce a cider/wine hybrid. Now that would make a fun Try Something New Tuesday!

To test this out, I figured I’d try it on its own, in the raw, with no other competing flavours. After all, I was already setting myself up for supreme tastebud confusion. I chopped it up (with my new lime-green paring knife, to be precise) and enjoyed it as my mid-morning snack at work yesterday. Texture wise and visually, it was an apple. It smelled very, very grapey but the taste was an equal mix of the two. How weird!! As baffled as I was, the grapple was still very fun to eat. Now that I think about it, I should have given these out to friends for April Fools Day!

So tell me:

  • Have you tried a grapple before? What did you think of it?
  • What was your most recent impulse buy? Do you use it as much as you thought you would? I have no doubts that my knives will get significant use, especially with the quantity of fruit and veg that I go through each week!
  • Anything new tried in your neck of the woods this Tuesday?
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