Kitchen Gadgets

It’s 5 of our favorite kitchen gadgets you didn’t know you needed until now!  If you haven’t already read it, it’s worth checking out my “About the Author” page to read the background on my blog.  In quick summary….  last year, I lost my job, had some time of my hands and always wanted to try blogging.  After much thought on the subject, I decided I want to tell readers about some of my family’s favorite things in each post.

Everything in my reviews is something I have purchased myself and have now come to love, or at least like enough to recommend it to others.  You’ll see links to sites like Amazon, which are called affiliate links.  This means that I will receive a small commission on purchases at no cost to my readers.  The hope is that over time, I will build enough traffic to make some income from this blog.  And if not, you’ll just end up knowing way too much information about my family and hopefully find a few products that you love too!  Don’t forget to read all the way to the bottom to read my family’s input is on this post!

I’ve gone through my (way too many) previous purchases list on Amazon.com and I see that the kitchen gadget category has many products that I love.  I’ll start with 5 products per post from each category and see how this goes…  If I come to your house someday and find these gadgets in your kitchen, then I know this blog was worthwhile!

Here are the 5 products I’m reviewing:

If you see something you like, feel free to click on it and go buy it right now, I recommend these products.  If you want to find out if I am even a little entertaining, please continue reading my comments on each product below!

BEST SPATULA EVER

Who knew that finding the best spatula would take so many years of effort?  We have gone through so many spatulas and either my husband or I find something wrong with them.  They were too hard or too flimsy.  They wrecked dozens of fried eggs that were meant to be sunny-side-up and ended up with the yolk “killed”.  I assure you, this had nothing to do with me, the most unskilled egg-flipper on the planet.  Also, who knew that my husband and I would both be soooo picky with spatulas?  Well, we finally came up with this winner.  It’s the OXO Good Grips Large Silicone Flexible Turner (small).  It has a thin flat metal spatula on the inside, and is covered with a thin silicone on the outside.  Make sure you pick the small one, it’s just the right size for most jobs.  We also bought the large one, but find it’s good only for larger things like my daughter used for our pancake “breakfast for dinner” tonight!

BEST EGG SKILLET EVER

Update:  I used this pan to cook some chicken on high heat and it warped, making it not very useful as an egg cooker!  I plan to buy it again but will make sure to keep the heat on medium or lower!

Original post:  Ok, so go back to the spatula review above and you will see my admission of being a pretty poor egg-flipper for most of my life.  I’ve finally figured it out with the use of the spatula above, this egg pa
n and a little extra patience.  I actually Googled my egg-flipping problem and realized that I was trying to flip too early.

This pan is extremely slippery and you can cook with very little oil.  When it’s time to flip, you can actually just move the pan back and forth and the egg will slide around.  I use this for other cooking as well, but am highlighting the eggs as an example of its’ use.  It’s lightweight and easy to clean as well!  By the way, I never put it in the dishwasher, hoping that this will help prolong the quality of the cooking surface. It’s called the Bialetti 07264 Aeternum Easy Saute Pan, 10-inch, Blue.

LOVE MY FAT SEPARATOR FOR GREAT GRAVY

It may seem like you could chalk this one up to one of those kitchen gadgets you really don’t NEED to have, plus it looks a little odd.  I’d maybe agree with all of that, but I’ve used mine for years and really love it.  Here’s the gist…. you finish slow cooking your crock-pot meat (roast, chicken, pork or whatever) and now you’re left with that yummy pre-gravy liquid broth goodness.  Then you spend a ton of time trying to remove the fat off the top with a spoon.  I’ve been known to use paper towels to try and sop some of the last bits of fat.  With this product, you just pour your broth through the strainer on top and let it sit for a minute or two.  The plug stays in at this point to keep fat from entering the spout.  The fat then rises to the top and you can pour the broth off into the pan you’ll use to make your gravy.  The liquid pours from off the bottom of the container and the fat on top is left behind when you’re done.  It’s easy peasy good (great!) gravy with the OXO SoftWorks Fat Separator!

HERB SCISSORS with 5 Shears

Where have you been all my life?  All that tedious chopping of green onions is finally over!  Nice thin ribbons of basil that don’t take forever to chop up.  Cilantro gets cut up quickly so I can be done with it before I gag.  This is also a measure of my true love for my husband.  I still prep his cilantro for him and always have, but at least now it’s much quicker!  It’s the Culinary Multipurpose 5-blade Herb Scissors Stainless Steel Blades . HELPFUL HINT:  DID YOU KNOW THAT YOU CAN REGROW YOUR CUT GREEN ONIONS?  Click the link at the bottom of this post to find out how.

FAVE MEASURING SPOONS

They’re magnetic, so they stack up nicely cradled and nested together and that’s all you need to know!  Many traditional measuring spoon sets are held together on a ring, so when you get one dirty, you have to clean all of them (or at least for me, throw the whole set in the dishwasher).  With this, you just pull out the spoon you want to use.  Plus, there’s the added bonus that they have flat bottoms so when you lay them down, they don’t tip over.  You can pre-measure into the spoons and let them sit until you need them, which is great for having kids help when you cook.  Each spoon has two sides with the same measurement, but one side is oval and the other is round.  The oval side is nice to use when measuring spices or anything removed from a smaller container. Prepworks by Progressive Magnetic Measuring Spoons, Stainless Steel – Set of 5 

Check out these other Kitchen and Housewares Best Sellers on Amazon!

ROOT FAMILY INPUT ON POST

This is their response to the question (stated like a Minnesotan), “whaddaya think about my post”?

Husband:  your collage with the 5 favorite things looks great, but it bugs me that the numbers aren’t in some kind of order.  It’s my OCD.

Older Daughter:  It’s called a turner, not a spatula.

Younger Daughter:  (with enthusiasm) I really like it!  It looks really good!

Here’s that post on regrowing green onions

How to Regrow Green Onions

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