Cool Products
I am a gadget guy. I love new ‘toys’ to the point where they get in the way of my progress sometimes… I figured I would make a list here of my favorite kitchen gadgets.
[amazon template=iframe image&asin=B00AZZFGXG](affiliate link)
My daughter got me this last Christmas and I LOVE it! It’s a little cumbersome to use but that is mainly because I have nowhere to clamp the suction cup down on… My favorite is spiral zucchini instead of pasta or sometimes just as a veggy dish.. cook in a non-stick pan with a little garlic and salt… awesome!!
[amazon template=iframe image&asin=B00004SAG6](affiliate link)
This is such a time saver… literally I can have cut pineapple rings in under 60 seconds.. is it wasteful? Yes… is it fun? YES!! Nothing simpler than this.. cut off the top. Center the device. Start twisting. When you hit the bottom, pull. Remove top handle and slide the spiralized pineapple off. Cut one slit down the stack of pineapple and you now have individual rings that look like they are from a can.
[amazon template=iframe image&asin=B003BEDQL2](affiliate link)
I never said they would all be healthy gadgets 😉 I spent $15 on an ice cream scoop and here is why… I was so tired of having the cheap ones break as I was trying to get very hard ice cream out of the carton. So I splurged and got his and will never be without one again. It’s heavy and built well… it hold heat well so if you drop it in a bowl of hot water if really cuts through the ice cream. Feel like Batman and get a real ice cream scoop and you will thank me.
[amazon template=iframe image&asin=B00X1JA19W](affiliate link)
These are not the exact ones I have… Mine were handmade for us, but these look very similar. Basically you can take a bowl and place it in one of these and put it in the micro wave… when its done cooking you can reach in a take it out and not get burned.. I use it a lot for reheating bowls of soup and it really works great!
[amazon template=iframe image&asin=B00RERZYPS](affiliate link)
Originally I bought these for when I was going to an Axworthy family pot luck last year… I was bringing an ice chest full of corn-on-the cob (another post to follow about that) and I needed a way for people to eat it in an outdoor picnic setting… so I came up with these and Wooden Candy Apple Skewer Sticks which worked like a charm, but then I realized how convenient they are in the kitchen. I am not going to win any environmental awards for this but I do wash less dishes so that saves water and electricity, right? These are great for little portions of snack stuff and you don’t dirty a plate!
[amazon template=iframe image&asin=B0037XA1OM](affiliate link)
Great for parties! Makes your drink mixing much easier and you feel cool using them… they go great with…
[amazon template=iframe image&asin=B0036X4YOG](affiliate link)
Mix your drinks accurately so you get consistent flavors. Doesn’t have to be this exact one but have a jigger in your kitchen/bar inventory.
[amazon template=iframe image&asin=B00395FHRO](affiliate link)
I got tired opening a box of chicken or beef stock and not using it all.. then throwing it out a week or month later… so now I can freeze the remainder and put blocks of stock for later use.
br clear=”all”>
Not going to apologize for the obscure 80’s song reference in the title of the post.. if you don’t know it, get it [amazon text=HERE&asin=B012JLZKCA] (Full Disclosure: that is an affiliate link so I earn $$ if you click and buy)
[amazon template=iframe image&asin=B00FLYWNYQ] I bought the electric pressure cooker to the left (again an affiliate link) a few weeks ago. I had been wanting a pressure cooker for some time but never pulled the trigger. But one day, Amazon in it’s infinite wisdom sent me a daily deal on this one… I got it for $99 which is a great price. When it arrived it was a lot sturdier than I expected, I mean it looks like a big rice cooker… but it’s really well built… a quick cleaning and reading of the instructions and I ran it through a test of just water to see if it worked and to finish the cleaning out…
The first thing we tried was a whole chicken with a lemon sauce… and the first attempt was.. a failure.. I think we didn’t have enough liquid in the cooker.. the chicken wasn’t cooked through.. we finished it off in the oven and fixed the sauce a bit.. after that it was good… but I was anxious to try again.
Since then we have been very successful… we have cooked, beef stew, loaded potato soup, green beans with smoked beef neck meat and pork necks that we made into pork and gravy… all of those went off without a hitch. I have been gathering many recipes and will continue to try them out.
It’s easy to use and seems to work well so I give it an A!
Awhile back I posted about Waterever, an electronic water bottle that helps track your water intake..
Well a few of weeks ago I was contacted by Nadya at Hidrate.me asking if I could give them some input on their forthcoming water monitoring bottle… I was shocked that they found me and happy to offer my input..
I talked to Nadya Nguyen, Co-founder at Hidrate. She was very nice and we talked for a bit. I offered my limited advice, limited since I have not seen the product in person, only on their website… Truth be told, I was hoping she would offer me a prototype to test, but that didn’t happen 😉
Apparently they did listen.. one of my suggestions was that the price of $50 was too high… I just can’t see shelling out that kind of money unless the bottle did something like keep my water ice cold (even then it may bee too high)… Then I got an email that the are offering an ‘early supporter’ price… so right now, you can pre-order yours for $37.00! Just go HERE (special is over) and order… (I ordered a black one)
They also have a kickstarter coming up on June 1st… so watch their twitter or facebook for info
UPDATE:
The hugely successful KickStarter is HERE… right now you an order one for $45
Waterever… I like it… very high tech but way too expensive… if I am paying $50 for a water bottle it better keep the water ice cold even on the Sun! But it is cool.. and look how happy she is with it at the very end of the video… awkward 😉
Here is you link to buy it: Waterever