Must-Haves in Your Kitchen

A quality living experience can be had regardless of the home you occupy.  Be it a room with a kitchen, apartment in a low/middle-income high-rise, or a mansion on 15 acres.   
 
They all have a kitchen.   
 
And what’s in that kitchen sets the tone for your enjoyment and satisfaction before, during and after you dine. 

Here are some must-haves when you’re preparing a meal.   

All can add zest and sophistication, whatever you’re fixin’. 
 

1. Balsamic Vinegar 
    
   I’ll reflect a bit with my experience, then interject from another source.  I find myself regularly reaching for this ingredient, and sometimes not finding it because I had run out.   
    
   Balsamic Vinegar adds a great kick to any sub, sandwich or plated meal, as it is appropriate to garnish with.  There is something about the zest that is a kick to what you are eating, but goes down easy. 
    
   According to WebMD ©, it can also have health benefits including diabetes management and eliminating bacteria. https://www.webmd.com/diet/health-benefits-balsamic-vinegar#1 
    
   © 2005 – 2021 WebMD LLC. All rights reserved.WebMD does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. 
    

2. Pure Virgin Olive Oil 
    
   There’s an aspect to pure olive oil that can’t be explained.   
    
   That lack of explanation can be found when you choose to use regular oil, generic brand oil, or other plant oil in your foods.  Do a test with any of those just mentioned, and then prepare it with pure olive oil and your food; you’re going to notice a difference, your food will taste its very best, and, it will make even hamburg meat have the sophistication of filet mignon.
   

3. Cinnamon sticks 
    
   Powdered cinnamon just can’t deliver the same jump in that coffee, bread or desert like grated cinnamon as a dash from a stick, or a whole stick added to ingredients. Cinnamon from a stick is the natural flavoring your taste buds desire.  It is the aroma that’s recognizable, and the taste that’s true familiarity occurs when it’s a grate of flavoring pulled from a stick, and not a powder. 
    
    

4. Organic lemon juice 
    
   This may not be an ingredient you’d think of, but it is one that can make the plainest chicken come to life (figuratively speaking) when frying it in a pan.  It can turn tonic water into a refreshing cool drink on a hot, summer day.  And a sauce delivers that tang that no other ingredient can. 
    
   Keep a bottle handy in the side door of your refrigerator.  
    
   Note:  Lemon juice has applications that are non-food related, too.