Over the past few years, I’ve been spending more and more time in my kitchen. The more cooking and baking I do, the more little gadgets I find myself acquiring. I thought I’d share with you a few of the kitchen gadgets that have made my cooking and baking life soo much easier.
1. Kitchen Aid – I love my kitchen aid. (This isn’t really a gadget, more of a small appliance, but it’s just too important not to mention!) I got this as a wedding present and it’s one of my most prized possessions. I use it nearly every day. I know these are on the expensive side, so if you aren’t lucky enough to already own one, and don’t have a wedding coming up so you can register for one, start saving those pennies! Believe me, if you’re going to be doing a lot of baking (and by that I mean any), you need this!
2. Garlic Press – For years I bought minced garlic in a jar (gahh – I know! Forgive me!). No comparison to freshly minced garlic. I am no professional dicer like my mother is, so it takes me forever to try to mince with a knife, so I never wanted to do that. The key to a garlic press is to buy a good one. Yes, there are bad garlic presses. Marla told me to get one from Ikea, (it’s only $4!!), and it changed my dinner life forever. I’m sure there are lots of good ones out there, but for a cheap good one, check out Ikea.
*Tip – To get finely minced garlic, squeeze the garlic press slightly until just a bit of garlic comes out. Scrape that off with the backside of a knife. Squeeze slightly again, scrape again. Repeat. Got it? Easy-peasy, right? Learned that handy tip from my big sister! ☺ Thanks Marla!
3. Digital Thermometer – while I don’t use this regularly, the times that I do, I’m so thankful that I have it. And I’m especially thankful that it’s a digital one. My brother made fun of me for using my old-fashioned mercury one. Once I got a digital one, I realized why. While I love a good old-fashioned item, in this case, get with the times and go digital, you’ll be glad you did.
4. Digital Kitchen Scale – I went for years and years without one of these and I don’t know why. They aren’t that expensive – I bought a cheap-o one from Amazon, and it does the job just fine. And it’s been so useful having it. No more trying to figure out how many cups 7.64oz of chopped chocolate is! And, it’s been really handy for weighing my mail packages so now I can print my shipping labels online…hooray for one less errand to run!
5. Offset Spatula – this is a total game changer when it comes to frosting. Seriously. You can get a very nice looking cake just using this one simple kitchen tool. So this is great to have if you only make one or two cakes a year and don’t want to invest in a lot of fancy-schmancy baking tools. And it’s super handy for other things besides frosting a cake. Lately I’ve been singing its praises when I have a super sticky dough to smooth out in a baking pan.
6. Strainer-Sifter – I have a few different sizes and styles of these. My little one seems to be the one I use most often. I use it to strain my salted caramel sauce (mine fits perfectly over the top of a canning jar) and it’s great for dusting powdered sugar on desserts. The longer I have this, the more uses I find for it. (Mine is actually one I picked up at the thrift store for a buck).
What’s in your kitchen that you just can’t live without??
Check back later this afternoon for Marla’s kitchen tour!!
Happy Friday! Manda
