6" or 9" Cinnamon Granite Stone

Extra Stone

When placing an order for your Dining Stones, you may want to consider purchasing an additional single stone.  This extra stone will save you time.

The extra stone can be placed in the toaster oven or standard oven when you remove the stone you were planning to use.  If your meal runs long, you can then swap out for the hotter stone in the oven.

The 6″ stones are great for keeping coffee mugs warm.  Having one stone in the toaster oven while using the other will keep your coffee warm to the last drop, especially if the stones are swapped every 15-20 minutes.

6" Salt & Pepper Stone

Our stones typically remain hot between 30 – 45 minutes (depending on room temperature) after being removing from the toaster oven or standard oven.  However, if you want to keep that dish piping hot, swapping out for the hotter stone every 15 – 20 minutes will accomplish that.

To order an extra stone, simply click on the product page from our website and select the second page of products or “view all” at the top of the section.

Deb's Chili Recipe

Mmmmm…warm food!

The following two recipes will warm your family’s spirit on a cold winter evening.  The chili is my own recipe which I have perfected over the years.

Each winter I would try varying ingredients a little to fit my signature flavor profile of pablano, red, and yellow peppers.  This last winter my family said I made the best chili ever!  So I am sharing it with you, my blog visitors.

Chili

Pablano, red, and yellow peppers

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef (2 lbs if you prefer a lot of beef)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 pablano pepper, seeded and finely chopped (or green pepper)

1 red pepper, seeded and finely chopped

1 yellow pepper, seeded and finely chopped

Chili beans, red kidney beans, and black beans

1 can of chili beans

1 can of red kidney beans

1 can of black beans

1 can of diced tomatoes with green chilis

1 can of tomato paste

1 large can of tomato sauce

1 packet of Tex Mex chili seasoning (or 1/4 cup chili powder and 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper)

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

Cook ground beef over medium-high heat until the meat is crumbly, evenly browned, and no longer pink. Drain and discard any excess grease.

Cook onions and all three peppers in olive oil

Meanwhile, cook onions and all three peppers together in olive oil until they caramelize.  Stir the drained meat into the onion and pepper mixture along with the diced tomatoes with chilis, tomato paste, and tomato sauce then season with the Tex Mex packet or substitute with chili powder and cayenne pepper.

Place stones in toaster oven or standard oven

At this point, place your Dining Stones in the toaster oven, or standard oven, at 350 degrees.

Bring the chili mixture to a simmer over medium heat, and then reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer at least 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Lastly, gently fold in the 3 cans of drained beans and heat another 5 full minutes.

Chili on hot Dining Stone

Top the individual servings of chili with shredded cheese and accent with crackers.  Set your warm bowl of chili right on a hot Dining Stone at your table so you can take your time eating every bite.

Best New Dessert Recipe

Over the weekend, I invented a Twix candy shortcake, by adjusting a strawberry shortcake recipe which was a huge hit during the football game.  The original shortcake recipe came from a friend of mine who is a talented photographer and cook, Tina Starnes.  I think she will like my adjustment to her recipe.

Twix Candy Shortcake

After all, we are women and we like chocolate!

Twix Candy Shortcake

Ingredients

1 prepared angel food cake

10 – 12 Twix bars (depending on packaging; family pack has 11 bars)

Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup (low fat will reduce calories but not change the flavor)

Hershey's Chocolate Syrup

Custard ingredients:

8 oz cream cheese, softened (low fat will reduce calories but not change the flavor)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

12 oz. cool whip, softened (low fat will reduce calories but not change the flavor)

Directions

Carefully cut all Twix bars into chunks and set aside.  Blend together the softened cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk until smooth.  Fold in the entire contents of softened cool whip and chunks of Twix bars.  Pull the angel food cake apart into bite sized chunks and layer half in the bottom of a cake pan or casserole dish.  Pour half of the custard evenly over the top.  Drizzle chocolate syrup evenly over those layers.  Add the rest of the cake evenly, cover with the remaining custard.  Tapping into the artist within you, create an appealing design on top with chocolate syrup.

Zig Zag Design

(Example: continuous circles, zig zag lines, etc.)

Dessert Leftovers

Any remaining dessert can be frozen for later.  Simply thaw in the refrigerator for six hours and set out on the counter for another three hours before serving.

Best regards,

Deb Chance

Elwood enjoying a warm meal

Email From Happy Customer

This week I received a very nice email from Sherry in Georgia who had purchased two Dining Stones as gifts for her parents.  Her dad, Elwood, likes his food warm during the meal and usually it would get cold by the time he finished eating.  Sherry hoped that a Dining Stone would solve that problem.

Both Elwood and his wife Amy, now in their 90′s,  were happy to report that the heated stone radiates up through their plate all during the meal and even the last bite of food is toasty warm.

Elwood and Amy from Georgia

Thank you for sharing your story with us and allowing your photos to be posted on the blog.  It warms my heart (pardon the pun) to see happy customers enjoying their Dining Stones.

Best regards,

Deb Chance

Toaster Oven Demonstration on YouTube

Toaster oven instructions:

1. Place the stones on the toaster oven racks.  Depending on the size of your toaster oven, you may be able to place up to 4 stones inside.  Remember when stacking your stones to keep the smooth sides together.
2. Select the heat temperature of 350 degrees and start the heating process.
3. If you have a timer feature on your toaster oven, set it for a minimum of 20 minutes.  If your oven doesn’t offer that feature, simply use a standard kitchen timer.  Your stones can stay in the oven even longer if needed.
4. Continue with the preparation of your meal.
5. When the food is ready, remove your stones from the toaster oven and place in the wood tray.
6. Set the dinner plate on top of the hot stone to radiate the heat up through the plate all during the meal.

I consider myself a “foodie” and recently re-awakened my love for cooking.  I have always created my own recipes because I’m a rebel without a measuring cup – that is my definition of a foodie.  Like Rachael Ray, I just want to do it myself with a dash of this and a pinch of that.  When I didn’t have the time to cook, it always seemed like more work than I could give it.  I let those thoughts go a few months ago, and completely embraced cooking as often as the budget would allow.

An absolute “must have” item for a lot of the versions of my recipes is fresh peppers.  Red, yellow, and orange are my favorite.  I don’t particularly care for green peppers because their taste overpowers the other flavors in my dishes.  So I substitute it for either jalapenos or pablano peppers.  If you use these types of peppers in your recipes, take care when you work with them.  Be sure to get all the hot seeds out or your meal will be too spicy.  Also, don’t touch your skin while you are gutting the seeds because eventually your fingers will end up on your lips or in your eyes … such pain!  

Jalapeno and Pablano Peppers

I love the jalapenos and pablanos as a substitute because the green skins are mild in flavor.

I know what you are thinking!  For those of us living in the Midwest, what do we do in the winter when the gardens are frozen and pepper prices are out of range?  I have a solution!  When your favorite peppers go on sale, jump on it.  Buy as many as you can afford, because I am about to give you a fantastic foodie tip.  Clean them, cut them, and freeze them!

I start by rinsing them in my colander, then cut them in half and take out the seeds.  Next I cut them into pieces that are about one inch long and pat them dry with a paper towel.  After that, I put them in freezer bags, push all the air out of the bag, and flatten them so they stay on my freezer shelf.

While you are making these bags, keep one in the refrigerator for the recipes you plan to make that week.  Here is another tip on keeping them fresh in the crisper drawer.  Place a folded paper towel in the zipper bag with the peppers to soak up the excess moisture and it will keep them crispy!

Year round, in my freezer or my crisper drawer, you will find a bag of peppers.

Best regards,

Thanksgiving Feast

Testing a new recipe

A number of years ago, I tested out my own new recipe for Thanksgiving Turkey.  I’ve never been afraid of trying new things with food.  Oh sure, I’ve had some experiments taste like dirt or become burned beyond recognition.  But I felt that was part of my “mad scientist” formula for success.

This particular experiment with roasted turkey could not end with a disaster because I had committed to cooking it for a large group of international students attending Grinnell College here in Iowa.

At the time, we lived in Grinnell, and had started volunteering as a “host family” for international students at the college who were unable to return to their country over the term breaks.  This home cooked meal would be their first experience with Thanksgiving in America and it needed to be right.

Trying a new recipe

But I was determined to test the boundaries and try this new twist on the turkey flavor and technique.  I suppose I may have had a backup plan but want to believe that I was fearlessly facing a “do-or-die” venture.

I got it in my head that since a lot of turkey roasting recipes required a brine solution, why couldn’t I use soy sauce and achieve a similar result?

a

The Rebel Cook

Turkey Dinner

Also, being the rebellious cook that I tend to be, I wanted the turkey breast down in the soy sauce drippings to soak up the flavor and help it remain tender and moist.  I know there are a lot of “old school” cooks who just gasped while reading this part but go with me on this little adventure.

After thawing the turkey for a few days in the refrigerator, I brought it out for preparation.  I removed the neck and giblets from the body cavity and plopped the whole thing, breast down, in the deep roasting pan.  Then I poured a few cups of purified water into the bottom of the pan (about 1 inch) to help dilute the soy sauce.  Taking my bottle of Kikkoman,

Kikkoman Soy Sauce

I poured it slowly all over the bird and let it trickle down into the water.  I used at least half of the bottle.  Then popped the whole thing in a preheated oven at 325° and let it cook for two hours.  Using my kitchen timer, I would open the oven every 30 minutes, pull the rack out, and ladle the drippings over the bird.

Note: This bird is not breast down!

After the two hour mark, I scooped juice over it again and loosely covered with aluminum foil to keep the turkey from becoming too brown.  Then I cooked another hour, opening it up one more time after 30 minutes to wash the bird in the drippings for the last time.  A little over three hours from the beginning, my thermometer reading was at 180° and I knew it was time to take it out.  I let it sit for 15 minutes before handling it so everything would settle or “rest” as they say.

Cozy Cabin Cooking

Tender Turkey

You can’t believe how tender, moist, and flavorful those slices of turkey were and the drippings became an awesome gravy.  I used this recipe a couple more times after that, but since moving to southeast Iowa, haven’t had much opportunity, as we go to the hubby’s family’s home for Thanksgiving meal.  I suspect someday I will get to cook a turkey on Thanksgiving, maybe for my daughter’s family!

Had I invented Dining Stones at the time I created this recipe, it would have been great to heat the stone and use under my serving plate of warm turkey.  Here is a quote from a new customer:

a

“If I had known how wonderful Dining Stones were, and how much I would come to rely on them, I would have been your very first customer.  I am so thankful that I have them on hand for Thanksgiving.  As hostess, my meal usually ended up cold and unappetizing but not this year!”  – Terri P., Grinnell, Iowa

a

Best regards,

Elegant Dining Set Up

The Three “E’s”

This weekend was the very first trade show or “expo” for Dining Stones and it was filled with the three “E’s” … Enthusiasm, Excitement, and Exhaustion.  Enthusiastic about the opportunities to get the word out about my products and producing sales!  Excited about meeting my favorite celebrities, getting their autographs, and seeing every show from my prime booth location at the entrance of the Kitchen Theatre!  Then ultimately exhausted from the travel, set up and break down, and standing for two solid days!  But mostly enthusiastic about meeting so many amazing people who understood the concept of heating stones to keep their food warm during a meal.

Dining Stones Booth

The banner says it all – “Tired of dinner getting cold before you’ve finished eating?  www.DiningStones.com”

a

First Expo Experience

Since this was my first trade show, I really learned a lot.  There were things I had planned that turned into a success, and some things I need to improve for future events.  When the event program arrived the day before, I couldn’t believe the location of my booth … right at the entrance of the Kitchen Theatre!  On Friday morning, we arrived at the perfect time, just before the mad dash of other vendors pulling into the dock area.  I was able to back the loaded truck right into the dock bay, put everything on large flat carts, and roll them right to the empty booth.

Best Looking Booths

Amana Colonies

a

It didn’t take very long to set up the booth, so after changing into a business suit and touching up my make-up, there was enough time before the doors opened for me to walk around the building to check out other vendor’s booths.  I took photos of the vendors that I thought would really catch the attention of the attendees.  a

Tastefully Simple

a

a

a

a

Prime Booth Location

Entrance Marquee

a

Having the booth next to the Kitchen Theatre entrance seemed to create a lot more foot traffic in my direction, and allowed full view of the jumbo screen above the stage.  I could see all of the cooking demonstrations and of course the very funny presentations by Duff and Mary Alice!  The middle of the event program had the floor layout and vendor identification … turning to the next page, at the top was the Dining Stones ad!  I felt so lucky with the ad placement as well. a

Kitchen Theatre Entrance

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

Iowa Events Center’s Talented Catering Chefs

Dining Stones’ booth was also next to the entrance of the celebrity “meet & greet” area.

Ice Sculpture

Using Marble

Hockenbergs Food Service was the sponsor who provided the set up and food, and the talented catering chefs from the Iowa Events Center put together an amazing spread and ice sculpture.  I had the opportunity to meet them as they were setting up and at one point the entire staff dropped by my booth to check out my product since they use marble pieces for their catering set up.

Iowa Events Center Chefs

a

I had to snap these photos of them talking about Dining Stones.  By the end of the weekend, I had developed a connection and friendship with the head chef.  I hope to be in touch with him later for advice while I try to develop my catering and restaurant Dining Stones!  I believe he would have some insightful feedback.

a

Neighbor to My Left & Right

Frisian Farms Cheese

Frisian Farms Cheese

The neighboring booth to the right was Frisian Farms Cheese whose specialize in several amazing flavors of Gouda.  The two guys running that booth were a hoot to chat with during down time.  I spoke with them about potentially collaborating at another expo where I could feature their cheese on a cold Dining Stone!

Amana Colonies had two attractive booths set up to my left and the staff running it was some of the sweetest women you will ever meet. The colonies formed an alliance with other stores and sold all of their goodies together across the two booths.  What a great collaboration.

Big Daddy's Son

They were giving away lots of food and had people at their booth constantly.

All around us were entrepreneurs working their tails off and maintaining that friendly attitude.

One such person was behind us at the Big Daddy’s BBQ booth.  This photo was of Ike, Big Daddy’s son.

a

Great Crowd / Introducing Dining Stones

After the show

I noticed during the event that the banner at the back of our booth really drew a lot of attention to our space.  A number of people mentioned they had already visited my website having followed the link from the event’s website.  A few others stated they had actually made a point to visit my booth because of seeing the ad in the program or seeing the link on the event’s website.  That’s pretty exciting to hear!  I really felt that the event provided a great opportunity for me to get the word out about Dining Stones.

a

Andrew Zimmern

Andrew Zimmern / Travel ChannelRemember my great booth location?  What luck, Andrew Zimmern walks right by me!  So I snapped these photos while he addressed the crowd in the “meet and greet” area.  I felt bad that I haven’t had a chance to see his show yet because we just recently added the Travel Channel to our cable package but rest assured I will be watching his show now!  Go TiVo!

Andrew’s kitchen theatre cooking demonstrations were pretty impressive and exotic.  He has traveled all over the world and experienced odd and interesting cultural cuisine.  He appeared to be a genuinely kind and entertaining person.

Andrew Addresses Crowds

a

Another Stroke of Luck

Mary Alice Judges Cakes in Contest

On Saturday, Mary Alice from the Ace of Cakes show on The Food Network, walked right by my booth.  Of course I was “star struck” and didn’t pull out my camera until she was all the way out of range.  She arrived early to act as a judge for the cake decorating competition.  I stepped away from the booth long enough to snap these photos of her reviewing the entries.  Love you Mary Alice!!!

a

Duff & Mary Alice

Duff and Mary Alice / Ace of Cakes / Food NetworkBy now you get that I was in the prime spot to watch all the presentations and truly enjoyed the three that Duff and Mary Alice entertained us with throughout the afternoon and evening.  Oh sure, my priority was selling Dining Stones at my booth but how nice to be able to watch and listen to their humorous conversations with the audience between visitors at my booth.

Duff & Mary Alice on Stage

I attempted to get in line for Duff and Mary Alice autographs after the first two events but by the time the crowds died down at my booth to permit it, the line at the “meet and greet” was closed.  I was so disappointed and knew I only had one more shot at it after the last show.

Deb meets Duff & Mary Alice

I am a huge Ace of Cakes fan!  I’m just going to “out” myself on that one.  So getting the chance to see both Duff and Mary Alice brought the stalker fan out in me … but I’m not ashamed!  You need to know that Duff and Mary Alice are just as adorable and funny in person as they are on the Ace of Cakes show!  Their three presentations (which you remember I was able to see right from my booth!) were creative, entertaining, and engaging.  In addition, they treated everyone in the long “meet and greet” lines with enthusiasm, excitement, and didn’t show a sign of exhaustion!  Every person, every photograph, and every autograph was treated with 100% respect and adoration.  I love them more now than ever!  Here are the photos of the autographs!  Great job Charm City Cakes!

Autograph in Stone: Duff says, "MMM...warm food"

Duff signed my program too!!!

Kudos to:

Cyndi Lorenzen, Sales Manager, IOWA’S PREMIER WINE & FOOD EXPO (Exhibitor Expert)

Hy-Vee Hall (Exhibit location)

Rick Thomas, Pioneer Communications (Event Program)

a

Best regards,

Dining Stones

If you are planning to attend, please drop by for a visit.  This would be a great opportunity to begin your holiday shopping!

Special Guests

Celebrity Chefs scheduled to appear at the event include Andrew Zimmern, of The Travel Channel, and The Food Network’s Duff Goldman.  I am personally a big fan of Chef Goldman and watch his show, Ace of Cakes, every week.  It really is a funny show filled with very talented artists.

Expo Dates and Times

Friday, November 13th from Noon – 10:00 p.m.

Saturday, November 14th from 10:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Easier to grab heated stones, only $10

Dining Stones now offers a fun and more effective way to remove your hot stone from the oven.  Introducing The Oven Glove, a flame retardant glove made of Kevlar and Nomex by DuPont which withstands extreme heat up to 540° F.

Easier to Grab Stone from Oven

This oven glove is now being offered through the Dining Stones website for $10.00 each and dramatically extends the time you can handle hot objects in your hands.  The oven glove can be used with either the right or the left hand and is machine washable.

Left or Right Hand

Think Local

This new item to our products page, made by Fairfield Line, is just another way that Dining Stones reaches out into the community and “thinks locally.”  Fairfield Line is owned and operated by two amazing business women, sisters Nicole and Megan.  Gloves are their specialty and the real marketing genius comes from their Zero Gloves, a high end winter sports glove.

Another Way to Stay Warm

This local business is the proud sponsor of a team of snowboarding professionals: Jesse Csincsak, Steve Reeves, Colin Tucker, Rose Raevsky, Meg Pugh, Marc Moline, Jeff Meyer, and Shane Zwickel.  Their website, where you can purchase the Zero Gloves, is as stunning and as adventurous as the sport itself!

I recommend purchasing a pair of Zero Gloves as a Christmas gift for your snowboarding enthusiast to stay warm on the outside, just after you purchased a Dining Stone to keep them warm on the inside.

Best regards,