I was recently asked by a friend:
What kitchen gadgets and appliances do you like the most? Do you have a wishlist of kitchen things you want add?Things I have and love:
Kitchen Aid Mixer - Michael bought it for me....it was a really good deal on Amazon and I use it all the time. Christmas time especially it gets a work out because I make lots of Christmas goodies as gifts. But it does get used quite a bit throughout the the year.
Bread Machine - I was always scared of making bread. Then I got a bread machine from my Mom & Dad for Christmas one year. I just find recipes online and throw them in on the dough cycle mostly, then shape them when they are done mixing/raising, and bake. I use it make dough for just white, whole wheat, rye, light oat bread and then rolls, breadsticks, french bread, sweet breads, pizza/calzone dough and such. It is great too because I can walk away after I get everything in and do lots of other things while it mixes, kneads and goes through first rising. It saves so much time!
Silicon Pastry Brushes - I know this will sound like a strange one but I use them for brushing egg whites on bread to give them that nice shiny/crunchy outside, use them for bbq sauce on chicken, sauce on a meatloaf, frosting cookies or cinnamon rolls. Everything I use with them they just brush on so easily and mess free. The brushes go into the dishwasher. It is not like the straw old brushes that break off if you don't keep them conditioned. Anyway I got the set I have the dollar store once and now look for them every time I am there to give for gifts because they regularly go for 8 to 17 dollars for a 2 pack - in kitchen gadget sections of departments stores and I got a 2 pack from Dollar Tree for well a dollar.
Glass Pitcher - Not really a kitchen tool but something I use it all the time and really like a lot. I have it on the table for dinner with water in it. I always have water glasses along with wine glasses we always seem to go through lots of water. And even more so when entertaining. So I don't have to get up and down from the table having that pitcher of water on the table always is a nice thing.
Cloth napkins - Not really a kitchen. I have several sets that go with our dinnerware and they are so great just to throw into the washer and dryer. Nice that saving on paper. They just look nicer too even when setting down to a just some leftovers still feels like a nice meal.
Flexible Cutting Mats - I just get mine at wal-mart but I love those things....they come with usually 3 colors (mine are green, blue, clear) I don't like to cut raw or ready-to-eat foods all on one cutting board even though it is thoroughly washed between. So with these mats I can use the blue strictly for raw foods and the green for ready to eat foods like veggies.
I would like to have:
Pizza stone - just every time I have seen those used on cooking shows I think it makes the crust look so much better.
Knives - I want a good set of knives. Right now there is just such of odd knives in the drawer. But never seem to have the one for the job I am doing at the moment.
Kitchen aid mixer attachments - the pasta attachment I think would be great. Because we like pasta and just heard lots of good things about it.
Glass storage containers - we do leftovers. Michael likes them and I have plastic sets and they get so icky, so have to throw them out and thinking of all that plastic in the landfill doesn't make me feel good. So I would really like to switch to a glass set with lids.
*The other day I was making croutons and getting quite a mound of them so knew I wouldn't use all the bread I had in the freezer. Often when we have steak sandwiches or brats there is always one or 2 buns left so I put them in the freezer. Also when we eat french bread we often don't finish it before I feel it is getting a little to stale or hard so I stick in the freezer to use for croutons or bread crumbs well this time I pulled out several brat buns and several ends of french bread and decided to make french bread pizzas out of them for lunches. I cut them all in half and then put some tomato sauce on them with seasons. Sprinkled it with Parmesan cheese and topped them pizza toppings and then cheese. I wrapped them in plastic wrap and put them in ziplocks into the freezer. We pulled a couple out for lunch on Thursday and I put them on a pizza pan straight from the freezer to the preheated oven and they tasted very good.
