It may be a little know fact, but I love kitchen stuff. It doesn't really matter what it is, or if I can use it. Put me in a kitchen store and I drool. I could spend hours, heck, I could spend days in Kitchen Kaboodle, Bed Bath and Beyond, Crate and Barrel...even the kitchen aisles in Target whisper my name. I just love kitchen stuff. I ask for it for my birthday. I ask for it for Christmas. Matthew doesn't get it....but he humors my obsessions. He just knows better than to take me near any of those stores when we are out shopping. There are so many gadgets out there, so many tools to use, so many things that you didn't even know you needed...until you see them. Here, I highlight a few of my most wanted for you.
1) A Pizza peel. I have a pizza stone, but I haven't used it yet because I have no way to slide the freshly constructed pizza onto the hot stone in the oven. A pizza peel would solve all my problems, and allow me to make really good pizza. Which is also a "need".
2) Kitchen Aid utensils are always something that are needed. I have a lot of the OXO brand, which are spendy (which means they are good, right?) like the Kitchen Aid brand. But a few of them are not living up to the high standards that I have for utensils, and I would love to replace the whole shebang with these guys. Look how purdy they are!
3) If you have nice utensils, you also need some Fancy Spatulas. Again you will notice the Kitchen Aid brand. Now, I have never actually owned a Kitchen Aid utensil, so these may be poor performers. Its highly unlikely though, they look a heck of a lot better than the ones I have now. And looks are half of what makes kitchen stuff so fun.
4) You might think my next item would also be made by Kitchen Aid. You would be WRONG! These pretty little whisks are made by Le Creuset, which is even fancier than Kitchen Aid. You can tell that by the hard to pronounce name. It wasn't the name that caught my eye on these ones, but the assortment of colors, and the ergonomic shape. Don't they just beg to be whirling around a bowl of soon to be scrambled eggs?
5) Okay, lets get serious here for a minute. These Liquid Measuring Cups are essential. These alone can save you from backaches and muscle strain. Why you ask? How could a measly measuring cup save me from tossing down the Tylenol? Well, with these little cups, you can see how much you have poured from the top. No more stooping down to gauge how many cups you are at. Plus, look at the super size one! Everyone needs a measuring cup that can hold 4 big cups of liquid!
6) If you bake a lot, you know that a good many recipes call for 3/4 of a cup of something. But do most measuring sets have a 3/4 cup? Oh NO they do not. They have a 1/4. They have a 1/3, a 1/2 and a whole cup, but no 3/4 cup. Stuck to a lifetime of dirting two measuring cups? Not me, and not with this set! These are Measuring cups with a 3/4 cup! Someone at OXO should get a hefty raise. I NEED these.
7) Here is a little gadget that I didn't know existed, and could certainly come in handy. Its a Cookbook Holder! This would probably save my recipes from getting all grimy and dirty, like they do now because the only place for them to sit is among the chaos that is me measuring, mixing and pouring. Look how professional it looks too!
8) If you ever go to make bread, chances are that your recipe will say to mix your dough with a wooden spoon. That's all fine and dandy, except that I have an unfortunate problem with wood. Not all wood...just unfinished wood products. Think wood that feels like popsicle sticks. That rough scratchy wood feel. Now imagine if the mere thought of that scratchy wood feel gave you goosebumps, made you clench your teeth and darn near shudder with dread. That is how I feel when I touch anything that is made out of unfinished wood. A strange phobia to be sure, but I like to think its a little endearing. Now, some wooden spoons trick you and they will feel oh so soft in the store, but once you wash those bad boys....they are merely scratchy popsicle sticks in disguise. So imagine my delight when on a recent trip to Crate and Barrel I found a Bamboo wood spoon! Oh, it was so soft, creamy almost, and most certainly did not give me the heeby geebies like regular wood does. I took it home, washed it, held my breath, and was head over heels when I realized it was still soft and smooth. Therefore, I now also need all of these Bamboo Utensils.
9) Everyone knows that you cant mix yummy treats in just any old bowl. You need Mixing Bowls like these ones. Now, I am especially needy of these kinds of bowls because the ones I have now are more...spread out. I don't know how else to describe it. The walls are not high like the walls on these ones...so when you are whipping something up at high speed, you have a very high risk of a portion of your mixture flying out the top. Not so with these pretty little things. And darn it, they just look good.
10) I though this little Scraper might come in handy. Its the kind of thing I figure that you never know you need until you have it, and then once you do...you don't know how you ever lived without it. Okay, it might not be quite that profound, but it does look handy for scraping up the dough bits left from kneading bread on the counter.
11) Now you might classify most of the above as "wants" instead of "needs" but this next item I really do most certainly need. Its a Cookie Scoop and mine just broke last night, mid batch. I nearly cried. These are so so much better than the primitive way we scooped dough when I was a kid. Back then it was two spoons, one to scoop the dough with, one to scrape it off with. Oh how times have changed. With this handy little doodad, you just scoop, squeeze and plop. As an added bonus, your cookies have a nice round appearance in the moments before you bake them and they melt into fat little blobs.
12) I have a subscription to Cooking Light Magazine (and nearly every other cooking magazine I can find) and they are very progressive in their recipes. So progressive that they measure their flour by how much it weighs, rather than how much fits into a cup. I "need" to be progressive too. I need a Kitchen Scale like this one. I can picture now how impressive and progressive I would appear with this on my counter top!
13) I don't really need this, but I have a recipe for Popovers that looks delightful, but I cant make it because I don't have a Popover Pan. Seems like something everyone should have though, so I am putting it on my list.
Now, the Pièce de résistance! These are things that you never ever thought you would need in the kitchen. Probably because you never ever would.
1) Onion Goggles. Look, they even come in fashion colors!
2) I would never need this because pickles are nasty and I wouldn't ever want to eat one. But even for those less evolved than myself...doesn't a fork work just fine? Who needs a Pickle Picker*? I do like the name though. Say that 5 times fast!
3) This just seems to make more work for yourself. Why not just throw the garbage into the garbage can, instead of into the Garbage Bowl and then into the garbage can? I know Rachel Ray made this, so I almost bought into it just because but.....no. I just don't get it.
4) The Muffin top muffin pan makes muffins that are "Baked up just like the top of the muffin without wasting a bite". Because you know...once you eat the top of the muffin, you are apparently supposed to throw the rest away? Feed it to the birds? Step on it? Or somehow find a way to "waste" it. This one makes me go Hmmmmmmm.
Well, that's it! I hope you have enjoyed my kitchen gadget journey. Now you can be better prepared to start your own list of kitchen tools that you "need". Your husband can thank me later ;)
*Oh my gosh. The pickle picker is sold out! There are people out there who love this idea enough to pay $2.99 PLUS shipping. What is this world coming to?
1) A Pizza peel. I have a pizza stone, but I haven't used it yet because I have no way to slide the freshly constructed pizza onto the hot stone in the oven. A pizza peel would solve all my problems, and allow me to make really good pizza. Which is also a "need".
2) Kitchen Aid utensils are always something that are needed. I have a lot of the OXO brand, which are spendy (which means they are good, right?) like the Kitchen Aid brand. But a few of them are not living up to the high standards that I have for utensils, and I would love to replace the whole shebang with these guys. Look how purdy they are!
3) If you have nice utensils, you also need some Fancy Spatulas. Again you will notice the Kitchen Aid brand. Now, I have never actually owned a Kitchen Aid utensil, so these may be poor performers. Its highly unlikely though, they look a heck of a lot better than the ones I have now. And looks are half of what makes kitchen stuff so fun.
4) You might think my next item would also be made by Kitchen Aid. You would be WRONG! These pretty little whisks are made by Le Creuset, which is even fancier than Kitchen Aid. You can tell that by the hard to pronounce name. It wasn't the name that caught my eye on these ones, but the assortment of colors, and the ergonomic shape. Don't they just beg to be whirling around a bowl of soon to be scrambled eggs?
5) Okay, lets get serious here for a minute. These Liquid Measuring Cups are essential. These alone can save you from backaches and muscle strain. Why you ask? How could a measly measuring cup save me from tossing down the Tylenol? Well, with these little cups, you can see how much you have poured from the top. No more stooping down to gauge how many cups you are at. Plus, look at the super size one! Everyone needs a measuring cup that can hold 4 big cups of liquid!
6) If you bake a lot, you know that a good many recipes call for 3/4 of a cup of something. But do most measuring sets have a 3/4 cup? Oh NO they do not. They have a 1/4. They have a 1/3, a 1/2 and a whole cup, but no 3/4 cup. Stuck to a lifetime of dirting two measuring cups? Not me, and not with this set! These are Measuring cups with a 3/4 cup! Someone at OXO should get a hefty raise. I NEED these.
7) Here is a little gadget that I didn't know existed, and could certainly come in handy. Its a Cookbook Holder! This would probably save my recipes from getting all grimy and dirty, like they do now because the only place for them to sit is among the chaos that is me measuring, mixing and pouring. Look how professional it looks too!
8) If you ever go to make bread, chances are that your recipe will say to mix your dough with a wooden spoon. That's all fine and dandy, except that I have an unfortunate problem with wood. Not all wood...just unfinished wood products. Think wood that feels like popsicle sticks. That rough scratchy wood feel. Now imagine if the mere thought of that scratchy wood feel gave you goosebumps, made you clench your teeth and darn near shudder with dread. That is how I feel when I touch anything that is made out of unfinished wood. A strange phobia to be sure, but I like to think its a little endearing. Now, some wooden spoons trick you and they will feel oh so soft in the store, but once you wash those bad boys....they are merely scratchy popsicle sticks in disguise. So imagine my delight when on a recent trip to Crate and Barrel I found a Bamboo wood spoon! Oh, it was so soft, creamy almost, and most certainly did not give me the heeby geebies like regular wood does. I took it home, washed it, held my breath, and was head over heels when I realized it was still soft and smooth. Therefore, I now also need all of these Bamboo Utensils.
9) Everyone knows that you cant mix yummy treats in just any old bowl. You need Mixing Bowls like these ones. Now, I am especially needy of these kinds of bowls because the ones I have now are more...spread out. I don't know how else to describe it. The walls are not high like the walls on these ones...so when you are whipping something up at high speed, you have a very high risk of a portion of your mixture flying out the top. Not so with these pretty little things. And darn it, they just look good.
10) I though this little Scraper might come in handy. Its the kind of thing I figure that you never know you need until you have it, and then once you do...you don't know how you ever lived without it. Okay, it might not be quite that profound, but it does look handy for scraping up the dough bits left from kneading bread on the counter.
11) Now you might classify most of the above as "wants" instead of "needs" but this next item I really do most certainly need. Its a Cookie Scoop and mine just broke last night, mid batch. I nearly cried. These are so so much better than the primitive way we scooped dough when I was a kid. Back then it was two spoons, one to scoop the dough with, one to scrape it off with. Oh how times have changed. With this handy little doodad, you just scoop, squeeze and plop. As an added bonus, your cookies have a nice round appearance in the moments before you bake them and they melt into fat little blobs.
12) I have a subscription to Cooking Light Magazine (and nearly every other cooking magazine I can find) and they are very progressive in their recipes. So progressive that they measure their flour by how much it weighs, rather than how much fits into a cup. I "need" to be progressive too. I need a Kitchen Scale like this one. I can picture now how impressive and progressive I would appear with this on my counter top!
13) I don't really need this, but I have a recipe for Popovers that looks delightful, but I cant make it because I don't have a Popover Pan. Seems like something everyone should have though, so I am putting it on my list.
Now, the Pièce de résistance! These are things that you never ever thought you would need in the kitchen. Probably because you never ever would.
1) Onion Goggles. Look, they even come in fashion colors!
2) I would never need this because pickles are nasty and I wouldn't ever want to eat one. But even for those less evolved than myself...doesn't a fork work just fine? Who needs a Pickle Picker*? I do like the name though. Say that 5 times fast!
3) This just seems to make more work for yourself. Why not just throw the garbage into the garbage can, instead of into the Garbage Bowl and then into the garbage can? I know Rachel Ray made this, so I almost bought into it just because but.....no. I just don't get it.
4) The Muffin top muffin pan makes muffins that are "Baked up just like the top of the muffin without wasting a bite". Because you know...once you eat the top of the muffin, you are apparently supposed to throw the rest away? Feed it to the birds? Step on it? Or somehow find a way to "waste" it. This one makes me go Hmmmmmmm.
Well, that's it! I hope you have enjoyed my kitchen gadget journey. Now you can be better prepared to start your own list of kitchen tools that you "need". Your husband can thank me later ;)
*Oh my gosh. The pickle picker is sold out! There are people out there who love this idea enough to pay $2.99 PLUS shipping. What is this world coming to?