Kitchen Essentials.

So, in case you’re confused by my lifestyle (which I would totally understand) my husband and I have been living in Cleveland for the past 4 months or so. During that time, we stored almost all of our stuff in Dallas since we assumed Cleveland would be temporary. “Almost all of our stuff” included pretty much every present we received at our wedding which means: kitchen gear! The only thing I brought with me (and immediately regretted not bringing more) was our Keurig coffee maker.  I actually ended up having to buy a couple things while in the Cleve like measuring spoons, bowls, whisker, etc. Kinda brutal.

We have it all back now though! It’s almost like opening the gifts all over again which is always fun.  Here are some items I’ve been missing over the past few months:

• Food Processor. 

I love my food processor. It can seriously be used for anything…how else will I be able to make butternut squash soup? Or latkes (picture above), or homemade almond butter? It truly is an amazing gadget. Another plus is it’s easy to clean which I am all about!

• Stand Mixer.

I did a fair amount of baking this summer so the stand mixer would have made my life slightly easier. But maybe that’s a bad thing…I probably needed the arm workout I get when mixing myself considering the um, slightly unhealthy treats I was making. I actually did want to make bread (like real bread…not treat bread) this summer but never got around to it. Now that I have my mixer back (and a bread-maker!) I have zero excuses.

• Good Knives

I never noticed I wasn’t using good knives until we received some as a wedding gift. They make a huge difference! Now, whenever I go anywhere and use dull knives, it sort of drives me crazy.

• Spoon Rest.

For some reason, I have to rest a spoon, spatula, whatever utensil I’m using on something. Usually, it’s a paper towel or napkin. That is until we received a couple of spoon rests last year from my sister in law who noticed how crazy I am. Why did I never buy those before? It’s not like they’re way out of our budget?  I love them they make everything feel so much neater and cleaner.

•  Good pans and baking sheets

Before we were married, I had no problem buying my pans from Walmart or Target. Spending a lot of money on pans was not something I was going to do. Especially in Target where, let’s face it, there are so many more cute things to be bought than pans. I actually did find a small, nonstick pan from Walmart that I carried everywhere with me. It is sort of nice to have a “beater” pan.

Anyway, the pans we got for our wedding are great! They aren’t too heavy (which is necessary for me) but they’re well made so they can take a beating (which is also necessary for me). We received some nice baking sheets too which are much thicker than my usual cheap sheets. They don’t get quite as deformed as the cheaper sheets, which is nice. Although it’s kind of amusing taking pans out of the oven that are completely misshaped.

Pumpkin spice cookies..I need to make these again!

• Slow Cooker

We’ve used the slow cooker for things like pulled pork, stews, and even apple cider. During the winter, we keep it out and fill it with apple juice and a couple cinnamon sticks so we have apple cider all the time!

It’s so easy and convenient to already have your dinner finished at the end of the day. Slow cookers are genius!

 

Those are just a few of my kitchen favorites. It feels so good to be reunited! I guess I should start making some delicious foods now…no excuses anymore! I definitely want to make pumpkin pancakes and maple hummus. Maple hummus sounds weird, but trust me, it’s amazing. I’m also planning on making protein ice cream with the food processor so I’ll post on that later!

 

What are your favorite kitchen gadgets, big or small?