Kitchen Remodel Week 3 and 4 – My Rival Roaster

I didn’t write about my kitchen last week because they didn’t do much. This week they’ve been moving right along. Cabinets are installed, flooring is set and I finished painting, except for the trim. I’m sure next week will be slow because they have to order and get the countertops.

I was going to document what I ate everyday of the remodel, but to be quite honest, the past few weeks has been mostly sandwiches. Those are quite boring to photograph. Plus, the last week was a week when I worked all night, so I was really too tired (they are quite loud) to even care if I ate.

Kitchen remodel = tons of sandwiches.

Leftover Chinese rice with some fresh steamed veggies. Yup, I ate Chinese takeout. I’m not ashamed.

Rival Roaster Oven

I do want to sing the praises of my Rival Roaster Oven. I bought this last year on sale at Wal-Mart (for $10), and I’ve only used it once since I bought it. I used it to keep stuff warm at Thanksgiving. I’ve always thought it was a useless and big, and mostly takes up space (it doesn’t even really have a place to live. It was above my washer and dryer). I decided to try it out during the kitchen remodel and this thing is great.

I already wrote about baking bread in it, which is pretty amazing. This week I made Hasselbeck potatoes in it. You can’t do that well in a microwave. They were perfectly crispy on the outside and done on the inside. It took about an hour, but that’s about the same for a regular oven. The ones I make in the oven seem to separate and fan out more, but they were still delicious.

I also made baked ziti. This one has Greek yogurt, some frozen mixed vegetables ad spinach baked in. It got all crispy on top too. It was great.

I had to cook the pasta to almost done in the microwave, but I don’t think fully microwaved ziti would taste as great as real baked ziti. I know I couldn’t do the enchiladas I had last week, bread or hasselbeck potatoes in a microwave. The other option would be the outdoor grill, but it’s been rainy and yucky.

If you’re having your kitchen redone, I highly recommend one of these things!