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Friday, April 24, 2009

Foodie Friday - My 6 Favorite Kitchen Tools

Today I want to show you some of my favorite kitchen tools... things I would be utterly lost without in my cooking and baking endeavors.

Unfortunately, amidst the uproar over Mom bloggers with their reviews and the FTC wanting to step in, I feel I must disclose that this is not a review post. I am not sponsored by any of the products I will mention.

Okay?

Okay.

These are just my opinions and I have not been compensated in any way.

Got it?

Good.





Where would I be without my Kitchen Aid stand mixer? I'd be a lot bulkier in my arms and shoulders... I'd also be thinner as I wouldn't bake as much. This guy has served me well for about 10 years. And the color? I can't say enough about the color. We'll just suffice it to say that I like me some cobalt blue in my kitchen.



I don't remember when I discovered using parchment paper for baking, but my cookie baking life has not ever been the same. No more scraping the cookies off the sheet. No more spraying the sheets with non-stick spray, no more burnt cookie bottoms. Just perfect cookies that easily come off the paper. I could not live without this stuff. Seriously.


My batter bowls. I have the large and small ones from Pampered Chef. They are so versatile. I remember when I bought them I thought, "I won't use these." And I didn't very much until I started making brownies. I have learned since that time that they are infinitely useful and have now employed the large one in my sourdough bread making process. I love my heat proof batter bowls!


If you look at any number of recipes on Way More Homemade - The Recipes, you will notice that I list "spatula or spoonula" quite often in the "You will also need" section. In fact, I could probably quit listing it and just tell you now to assume that I am using it because I think these guys might be in the dishwasher close to every time it is run. The spoonulas I use are, again Pampered Chef, and I love how sturdy they are and since they are silicone, they are heat resistant, which is great for cooking scrambled eggs.


Yes, even though this bad boy did me wrong on Valentine's Day this year, he is still one of my faves. I've had these knives at least 10 or 11 years and they are wonderful. They are the classic Henckels with the rivets in the handles. I love the look and feel of a good sturdy knife and these fit the bill. They are nicely weighted and fit my hands well also.


I actually got complemented on my tongs the other day. {blush} These came from Williams-Sonoma a few years ago. My man actually went back to get me some more and couldn't find them anywhere. These are great because they expand by pushing in the little dots that you see there close to the hinge. I use them for everything from serving salad to turning meat on the grill.


And I used most of these tools the other day to make this...





You can get the recipe for these Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies and others on my recipe blog, Way More Homemade - The Recipes.


Stay tuned and next week, I plan to show you some new items I'd like to add or use to replace some older toys in my kitchen.


Until then... make it way more homemade... cuz it's better that way!

8 Comments:

Auntie E said...

Have all those item in my kitchen. Love that kitchen aid mixer,looks just like mine,same color.. I think I have all the attachments,then they come out with more. Want the Ice cream maker attachment!! Oh I found something Last year that I will never be with out. A silicone baking mat. I have not used parchment paper for cookies since. Do you use one?

Pam said...

I love my mixer too. Although mine is a hand me down that was my mom's and cream colored. But it was free and that's a price point I can't argue with! LOL

Love love love Pampered Chef and I love their spatulas and spoonulas.

I keep looking for a nice set of tongs and have yet to find any I like. You'd laugh at my tongs. They are very small and disposable from a catered bbq I went to. She was throwing them out and I asked her if I could have them. Recycling I guess! They work for my needs most of the time though. And again... free! :)

Donna @ Way More Homemade said...

Auntie E ~ I have wanted some silpat baking mats for the longest time. But to try out the concept without the silpat price tag, I recently purchased some Kitchen Aid silicone baking mats that I found at Tuesday Morning. I love them for kneading bread dough. The ones I got don't fit into my cookie sheets that well and so they wrinkle up a bit leaving me with odd shaped cookies. So I'm still having to make myself try to use them. Change is difficult for me. ;) But I definitely see the potential.

Anonymous said...

I agree--my big 5, which I posted over at my place a couple of weeks ago were whisk, bowl/s, wooden spoon, cast iron skillet and silicone spatula.

I do use my tongs, parchment and chef knife all the time, so maybe I should amend my list:)

Susie Buetow said...

I totally agree with your top 5! Rock on sistah!

Jenny said...

Hi. I'm just here visiting your site, and I have to say, I like it a lot. You have some great stuff to check out. I have a small blog that has been around for about 2 years. It's not big, I delete posts every now and then. But I invite you to come check out my site. I would love to have you over. :D

Anonymous said...

Ummm yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes.... those are my faves too... especially the batter bowls! Love. Them.

My mixer doesn't see much action though. :(

Jeannie said...

Thanks for stopping by. I just got a Kitchenaide mixer yesterday for my birthday. Also got the ice cream maker and slicer attachments. I'm dying to mix smething now.