Gadgets

I really like kitchen gadgets.  Of all the gadgets I've bought - some are handy and some have been a waste of money !!

Here are some kitchen gadgets that I REALLY like and are REALLY handy.

Small Gadgets/Appliances:

I LOVE making the burgers on the Cuisinart 5-in-1 Griddler.  I think the burgers have a MUCH better flavor cooked on the grill than when cooked in the oven.



 
My favorite food processor is the   KitchenAid  7-Cup Food Processor. 

My bread machine is the Sunbeam 2-Pound Programmable Breadmaker.  

I really like the Rival 6-cup Rice Cooker w/Steamer.   It makes cooking rice SOOO easy.  I just put all the ingredients in the cooker - rice, water or broth, spices, and veggies (peppers, onions, garlic, tomatoes...).  So my rice dish is complete with spices and veggies when the rice is cooked.  The 6 cup isn't a big rice cooker, but it is plenty for 2 people.  

I REALLY like the  Conair Cuisinart Smart Stick to puree soups.  It is SO quick and easy.  I can puree the soup right in the crockpot or stockpot on the stove.

The KRUPS Spice and Coffee Grinder  works GREAT for grinding up seeds.  I have used it with cardamon seeds and whole cloves and it works GREAT.

I have a  Nesco-American Harvest Gardenmaster Dehydrator
which I ABSOLUTELY LOVE.   I LOVE dried bananas - they taste SOOOOO much better than store bought.  I have also started drying sweet potato chips as healthy snacks for our dogs.

I have a CucinaPro 1443 Flatbread and Tortilla Maker so I can make my own torillas without all the added oil.

Of course I LOVE my  Vitamix Blender.  It is SOOO powerful and GREAT for making smoothies !!!!






The other blender that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE is the 
Ninja Master Prep Professional Blender 

Baking Stuff:

I like using the silicone bakeware for bread and muffins.  The bread comes out so easily and I don't need to grease the pans. I also use these for my veggie loafs.   My favorites are:

Casabella Silicone Bread Loaf Pan  , Casabella Silicone 6-Cup Standard Muffin Pan ,  Casabella Silicone 6-Cup Large Muffin Pan,  Casabella Jumbo Muffin Cup . 

The Casabella Silicone Bread Loaf Pan  is a little smaller than my SiliconeZone Bread Loaf Pan. 

I usually make my bars in one of my silicone pans - either my Casabella 9x9 Square Cake Pan or my 9x13 Cake Pan.

I use the World Cuisine Nonstick Pastry Mat to roll out my pizza dough.  It is nice and big so I have plenty of room to roll the dough out.

I JUST bought the Wilton Donut Pan. I can't wait to try making vegan donuts !!!!

To keep baked goods from sticking to the pan (which makes cleanup faster !!!!), try one of the following:

• Silpat Non-Stick Baking Mat 
• Regular Parchment Paper
• Re-usable Parchment Paper

Misc:

My Norpro Big Mouth Chopper, Slicer is REALLY handy.   It saves SOOO much time for chopping veggies. Not sure why it is called Big Mouth - the mouth really isn't all that big.  In fact it is smaller than the first chopper I had.  However, it is VERY easy to use and chops the veggies with ease.  The first chopper was VERY hard to use - the pressure needed to chop the veggies was RIDICULOUS.  The Norpro doesn't take much pressure at all.

I like the  Kitchen Aid  Multi Slicer for making french fries.  I know it got a lot of bad reviews - but I think it works great for making french fries from white potatoes.  It is too hard to use on a sweet potato.

The  Epicurean Pizza Peel works GREAT for getting a homemade pizza from the counter to the oven.  The hardest part of making a pizza was getting the pizza from the counter into the oven without making a BIG mess.  My paddle wasn't big enough to hold the pizza and I could never get the pizza off the paddle without tearing it.  This pizza peel is AMAZING.  It is REALLY big - so I can actually make the pizza right on the peel, then it slides right off the peel onto the stone in the oven - the dough does not stick at all.   

The  OXO Large Scoop is GREAT for scooping out batter into the muffin pan.  It is MUCH neater than when I used a spoon to scoop the batter into the pan - I no longer get batter all over the muffin pan !!!

I've started using the  Farberware Cookie Scoop for forming the snack balls, instead of using my hands.  It is not as messy and the balls are a more uniform size.