"These are a few of my favorite things"

One reason I really enjoy cooking is that I am able to justify the purchase of gadgets.  My purpose in cooking is to sustain life, and if I buy instruments to meet this purpose than I am not wasting money.   at least this is what I tell myself.

These are some of my favorite gadgets to use in the kitchen. They make life so much easier when you are trying to prepare a meal, that when I am forced to cook without them I get absolutely frustrated.  Most of these items are under 20$, and one or two a bit extravagant.  However, in my kitchen they have become indispensable.  The pictures pasted below for the most part represent the actual brand or style that I own.

1. Hand Blender/immersible blender: you can use it to blend soups, make baby food, use it like a mini food processor, potato masher, smoothie maker, and if you buy the whipping attachment as a mixer/potato whipper.  This thing is awesome and weighs less than my food processor.

2. A really good chef's knife.  Spend the money and get one.  Every time I visit my parents and cook in their kitchen I dread using their knives.



3. A bench scraper.  I use it to move veggies from one place to another, and every once in a while when I bake.  Mine has the ruler on the side so if I am try to cut something to a specific size I can use it for that purpose as well.



4. Kitchen Shears...I HATE getting a HUGE cutting board dirty just to quickly chop something.  If I can cut it with the shears AWESOME.  This particular brand lets you take the shears apart and put them in the dishwasher!

5. Cooking Thermometer and timer with a magnet.  I am terrible at guessing the internal temperature of chicken, I can't keep track of time, and I do not want to constantly open an oven door to check the internal temperature of my chicken.  This thing does it all.


6. Tongs.  It's like being able to use your bare hand when handling really yucky or really hot stuff.  AMAZING!  I prefer them with a rubber tip so that I do not scratch my pans.


7. The largest, non-stickiest, sauté pan known to man with a lid.

8. Oil Spray bottle.  Why do people spend money and buy Pam, when they can use these bottles filled with their own higher quality oils?



9. A vegetable peeler.  I actually went to a person's house on thanksgiving to help them cook, and they did not have one!  And of course they put me in charge of making mashed potatoes!

10. A digital food scale.  This is super useful if you buy items in bulk and want to portion it out before storing.


11. Electric Water Kettle.  I boil water for bottles, tea, for my oatmeal in the mornings, to sanitize the sink and toys the uses for this thing are endless.  And it boils water in under a minute.

12. Japanese style rice cooker.  This is truly an extravagance for some people, but if you like rice and grains it's worth every penny.  I make white/brown rice, quinoa, polenta, and oatmeal in this thing.



13. A wire cooling rack.  It's not just for cooling, but cooking too!  I make steaks and bacon in the oven in lieu of heating a grill or using a lame grill pan.




14. A pressure cooker.  Some people swear by their slow cookers (and I own one), but I LOVE my pressure cooker.  I can make a huge batch of black beans in under an hour without soaking over night.  I also use it to make ribs, pulled chicken/beef ("ropa vieja"), pot roast, etc. in very short amounts of time.


15. Silicone ice cube trays.  We used to use it to make espresso cubes to put in ice coffee.  Now we use it to make individual portions of baby food.  Either it is super easy to pop out whatever you have frozen inside.

16. Silicone spatulas. Awesome for cooking and stirring and of course baking.