I am a cook, I love to cook and will admit, I am actually a bit of a show off. I am always looking for an excuse to cook.
Friends, family, adults, kids, literally no one is safe from being invited around to my house to eat.
I invited 10 of my close friends around for the weekend for some dinner and anyone who has ever held a dinner party will tell you that this is a large amount of people to cook for, and organising this is like a military operation. It takes careful planning, choosing the right dishes that will cook in a short amount of time, but that can be left alone so that you don’t ignore your guests. There really is a lot to consider.
Looking after your guests’ likes and dislikes, dietary requirements and ensuring they have a good time, is key to your dinner party’s success.
My kids were going to be out for the evening, my husband was running errands for last minute things that were required for the party. All of the preparation had been done, I was all set.
Then…disaster struck! My oven was not working. I wouldn’t mind, but it wasn’t a cheap one and it was only a year old. As it was under warranty, I phoned the engineer, in a bit of a panic, admittedly. He said he could come out but it wouldn’t be for two days. What would I do? My friends were coming from far and wide to have dinner with me. I had to do something.
I looked online to see what I could buy that would do the job in the interim. I looked at something called a toaster oven, I found a great site called www.ourtoasterovensite.com.
If I bought a large enough oven, it would be able to handle the joint of beef and roasted vegetables, I was planning to cook for the dinner.
I reserved and paid for it online and drove to the shop to collect it, I could do this.
I brought the oven home and read the manual, or scanned as I didn’t have a lot of time. This oven could do everything, it could bake, broil, roast, reheat, pizza, bagel, toast and keep things warm.
I had already prepped all of my food, so I just had to get started.
I used the roast setting for my beef on one shelf and put my potatoes and carrots for roasting on the bottom shelf, an hour and a half later. The smells were irresistible. The food cooked beautifully.
I think I dished up one of the best roast dinners I have ever cooked. My guests complimented me and none of them were any the wiser. My party was a complete success, all thanks to my new toaster oven.
Conclusion:
I cannot recommend a toaster oven enough. The one I bought was large and reasonably priced. You get so much for the money. You could opt for a really expensive one with more features, I did look at this but it looked very complicated. It may be ok for you, if you have time to read through the manual and experiment with heats and timings etc. My oven has been fixed but apart from the hob and cooking massive joints of meat, I hardly use it at all. My toaster oven is one of the best investments I have ever made and I cannot recommend it enough, you will not be disappointed.