My Favorite Gadgets

Gadgets, gadgets, gadgets. I love gadgets!

Here are some of my favorites:

1. The Microplane Zester. I love this for zesting, for grating fresh nutmeg and for grating ginger.



2. Silicone Brushes. No more stray hair and no more melting my brush as I spread oil in my pan! They don't have quite as delicate a touch as a regular pastry brush, but I love 'em.

3. It's a thing of beauty.... my KitchenAid Stand Mixer. No more tired arms from stirring cookie dough. Making bread or pizza dough is so much easier with the dough hook. Love it!

4. Economical and fun....my FoodSaver. I use this to freeze meat when it's on sale and to re-package cheeses. It keeps things so much fresher than using a baggy.

5. Summertime fun with the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker. I have made yummy ice cream and sorbet in this machine. I'll have to post some recipes some time.....yum.

6. Nothing sticks to Silpats. I use them all the time for baking cookies, but I'd like to get the larger Rollpat for making pie or bread dough. Worth every penny!

7. A kitchen scale can take the guesswork out of figuring out how many apples out of a 5-pound bag will equal 3 pounds. Just today I needed to know how much would 3 ounces of chocolate chips from a 32-ounce bag be? No problem! I just got out my Soehnle Vera Kitchen Scale and weighed the chips. Easy!



8. I didn't think I'd use the Cuisinart Hand Blender that my mom got me one Christmas, but I was wrong. No more trying to pour hot soup or marinara sauce into a blender to puree - not only is that easier and safer, but it also creates less mess. Although the cordless kind seems easier, I chose the corded since I don't seem to have much luck with rechargeable appliances - the batteries seem to die on me.

9. It's apple season...how could I forget this gadget? The Apple Peeler, Corer, Slicer! My son's second grade teacher made apple pies with the kids one day while I was in helping in the classroom. She had one of these gadgets and I helped the kids get all the apples peeled, cored and sliced. I was hooked and immediately went to get one of my own. Not only does is it a snap to whip up an apple pie or any other goodies that require a lot of apples, but it's a great tool for the kids to safely prepare their own apples for snacking.




10. My magnetic knife rack. We don't have a lot of counter space and even if we did, I hate knife blocks - they aren't generally attractive, gather dust and are hard to keep clean Drawer space is also at a premium, so my wall-mounted magnetic knife rack solves all of those problems.



This next tool is not really a cooking tool, but it IS a handy kitchen gadget. The Bagel Biter. It's a quick and safe way to slice bagels. Quick and safe is very nice when you're slicing through 18 bagels at a time (our bagel source is not nearby, so I have to stock up).

I'll keep adding as I think of more.............