This DIY Brunch Is So "Bella"

When the weather is below freezing, I am always a fan of entertaining at home.

So, on New Year's Day, my fiancé and I invited my parents over for brunch, which gave me the opportunity to test run some cookware I'd been sent from Bella Housewares.

First up was the electric tea kettle, which provided everyone with a cup of tea within moments of arriving.

To be clear, I am a major tea fanatic. I have over two-dozen varieties in my cupboard, loose teas and bagged ones, herbal and fruit-infused, green and black.

Until this kettle came into my life, I was boiling water in a pot on the stove, or sighing as I used the hot water function on my Keurig — which was only warm in temperature and never gave out enough water — then transferred the mug into the microwave for an additional minute.

The design is so darn cute, I just leave it on my countertop, fill it with water (I use a large cup to do this so I don't have to move it) flip a switch, and in two minutes, have a full pitcher of boiled water to pour over tea.

Okay, enough about tea. It's time to talk pancakes.

I plugged in the griddle, which heated in seconds and is naturally non-stick, so requires no butter or oil. I got to work making the batter for lemon ricotta pancakes using a recipe I got from The Daily Meal website with a few amendments, including the addition of blueberries, substitution of all-purpose flour for cake flour, and the separating and whipping of egg whites before adding them into the batter.

The pancakes came out perfectly, were easy to flip, and all I had to do when I was done was wipe down the surface with a damp paper towel (once it cooled off). I garnished the plate with two scoops of ricotta, lemon zest, and loose blueberries.

I decided, since I had this whole tub of ricotta, to add a few scoops to the scrambled eggs I planned on making and serving with brioche and lox.

For this, I used the skillet.

I scrambled five eggs with kosher salt and black pepper and added some garlic powder, paprika, and onion salt from a grinder. Again, no butter needed here — the surface is naturally non-stick. When the eggs were about three-fourths of the way done cooking, I added a few tablespoons of ricotta and continued to fold it in.

Note: The eggs will remain light in color and fluffy once you add the cheese in, so just cook them for a minute or two more.

Next, I melted down a few tablespoons of butter and set that aside, cutting some challah into seven thick slices, which I then laid on the griddle. I coated one side with the melted butter for flavor, then flipped it and did the other side as well, toasting it until it was light brown.

I topped the challah with slices of lox, eggs, and capers, gave them a squeeze of fresh lemon, and again had very minimal cleanup.

Later on in the day, with the skillet still out on the counter, I decided to make myself a turkey and zucchini curry. I used sliced turkey, sliced zucchini, carrots, onions, and spinach, added some minced garlic, cumin, curry powder, salt, pepper, ginger, and cinnamon to the skillet, cooked everything for about seven minutes, then added a can of tomato sauce and covered it to simmer for another 10.

Meanwhile, I had a can of coconut milk, a cup of jasmine rice, and a cup of water simmering for 20 minutes in a pot on the stove to serve alongside it.

When I was done, the entire curry slipped right off of the pan with a spatula, and all I had to do was hold the skillet (unplug the chord first, guys!) over the sink and wipe it with a damp cloth — a thousand times easier than using the cast-iron skillet I'd gotten recently, which kept rusting every time it made contact with water.