Have you ever spent hours and hours cooking something deliciously marvelous on the stove only to turn your back for ONE SECOND and find it’s burned? Stuck to the bottom of the pot burned? Two-day-soak burned?

Yep. That’s happened to me, too. Notice the past tense. HAPPENED. Never will again because I’ve got a Pauli Cookware stockpot.

“What,” you say. “a pot that keeps you from burning your food?” (I’m blaming the pot… did you catch that?)

Yes… that’s EXACTLY what I’m saying.

I met Paul Scioscio, the inventor of Pauli Cookware, at the Housewares Show earlier this year. I honestly didn’t believe what he told me: I could leave a pot on the stove for hours and never have to stir or worry that its contents would burn. He sent me one and I tried it out…

Now I believe.

Pauli Cookware has a patented 7-layer commercial grade stainless steel and aluminum bottom that wraps around a hermetically sealed oil chamber. The oil heats up and distributes the heat evenly, so your food cooks without burning.

Here’s a demo:

Because of the way the pot is made, you can’t cook on high heat… that means no frying or sautéing. I thought this might be an issue when searing meat for a stew, but the bottom of the pot still gets hot enough to deliver a nice brown color.

You have to wash the Pauli pot by hand, but I don’t put my cookware in the dishwasher anyway (you shouldn’t either!). Pauli Cookware comes in 3 generous sizes: 7 quarts, 11 quarts and 16 quarts. It works on all cooktops, including induction.

I’m always looking for help in the kitchen, and for ways to avoid “operator error”… like burning something. In that regard, my Pauli Pot’s got my back!

If you’d like to order your own Pauli Pot, click on the link on my sidebar! Tell them Mama sent you! I’ll have some really fabulous recipes using my Pauli Pot over the next few months.

If your tablet has become your sous chef, here’s the perfect way to keep it clean, off the counter and in perfect view: Upper Desk’s Portable Cabinet Mount. 

There are a lot of products out there that will hold your smart device while you work in the kitchen. The problem is that most of them take up valuable kitchen counter real estate.

This cabinet mount securely installs to a cabinet or shelf in seconds and can be used with tablets and other smart devices (like your phone). It’s got an easy latch system that requires no tools or permanent hardware, so it won’t leave marks or holes. Very portable.

But the best part is that the mount has a 180° rotating arm that you can swivel and position to see it best. It also has angled settings to reduce glare. Here’s a demo:

Upper Desk’s Portable Cabinet Mount works in either landscape or portrait mode and is compatible with protective cases. And, it’s not just for kitchens… you can use it anywhere you want to view your smart device hands-free. Great for step-by-step tutorials!

I met Roderick Phillips, the mount’s inventor, at the recent International Home and Housewares Show in Chicago and he asked me to give his product a try. Mr. Phillips came up with the device while tinkering in his garage. It’s such a great product, it was selected as a finalist in the Home Organization + Storage category at the 3rd International Housewares Association (IHA) Innovation Awards. Way to go Mr. Phillips!

I love it when people have dreams and work to make them real. It’s sweet.

The week isn’t nearly over, but there’s a lot of interesting food news out there!

Sriracha hot sauce is one of my passions, as you know from a post I wrote  earlier this year. Now, for all of you who share my passion, there’s A Sriracha documentary available online. Here’s a preview:

When my kids were little I used to swaddle them tightly so they looked like burritos. I’d call them my little burrito babies. Well, now there’s an official burrito baby blanket that looks exactly like a tortilla. Want one for Christmas? Order it here.

Fast food workers nationwide protested a few days ago over low wages. They’re asking for $15 an hour. Fast food owners say that’s too much, and it would force them to use robots and automation. That reminded me of this video:

Are you following “TipsforJesus” on Instagram? Apparently there’s a mystery good Samaritan going around the country (and Mexico!) leaving outrageous tips for the wait staff. Who are the mysterious tippers? Valley Wag says former PayPal VP Jack Selby is one of them.

I’d love to have enough money to be that generous… wouldn’t you?

Finally, if you are a visual learner, here’s the perfect cookbook for you, Picture Cook: See. Make. Eat. Fully illustrated with step-by-step instructions on how to make your favorite comfort food recipes. Have a peek:

Please don’t hate on the new test tube burger.

This could be the answer to feeding billions of people around the world. But… it’s going to be a hard sell.

I’m sure you know that scientists just served up the first in-vitro burger, made from harvesting stem cells from cows.

The petri-dish burger got so-so reviews for taste, but here’s the upside that I’m not sure anyone is focused on: the burger offers real hope that laboratory-made food may help feed the hungry. It also has the potential to reduce the amount of water, land and energy used to raise real live livestock.

Now, admittedly there are few kinks they’re going to have to work out, mainly the $330,000 price tag (that’s just a tad more than the usual “dollar” menu items at McDonalds). Also, most of us are trying to get away from genetically engineered food, rather than embrace it.

What do you think? Would you eat lab-made meat?

I’m not sure I would, but I know that it’s getting harder and harder to produce food in the traditional way.

And there are a lot of hungry people around the world…

Here’s a creepy video that shows you how it is done: