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All in One Kitchen Gadget (Tool) Set on Amazon

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We’re not naming any names here, but someone got off track with their “Daily Gift Ideas for Foodies.” Wayyyyy off track.

Darn you, summer. what with zinnias, reading Agatha Christie on the deck, an herb garden that refuses to tend itself, baseball games to watch, grilling…

Seriously, how does anything ever actually get done between spring and autumn?

When I saw this cool multi-purpose Kitchen Tool Set this morning, I knew exactly how to jump back on track. This is such an ingenious space-saving little marvel.

 

 

 

I love everything about this set…

  • ….the bright colors go perfectly with all of my bright Rachael Ray and Pioneer Woman dishes, kitchen gadgets, etc.
  • …it stores everything in one place!
  • ….who doesn’t need an extra funnel?
  • …love the egg tools.

If I had to pick one thing I love the most, though, it’d definitely be the fact that everything stores within itself. Searching through drawers isn’t a heckuva lot of fun, so I’m pretty wild about it’s all-for-one-and-one-for-all attitude.

Comes with a funnel, juicer, grater, egg cracker, shredder, can opener, egg separator and measuring cup. The funnel and measuring cup fit together to make a bottle-shaped container that keeps everything in place.

See Kitchen Tool Set for more information.  At less that $10, this would make a perfect gift idea for several foodies and cooks in your life.

Below are more kitchen tools and gadgets on Amazon – including one that’s pretty similar to the one above.


Like Unique and Whimsical Kitchen Gadgets?

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Monkey Unicycle Pizza Cutter

This guy feels like he was custom-made for me.  I mean, I love whimsical/unexpected things… I love animals… and I collect pizza cutters.

See? My name’s all over it.

I collect a lot of different kitchen items – antique kitchen gadgets, coffee/tea mugs, Rachael Ray everything, cookbooks, pigs, roosters, salt and pepper shakers, and pizza cutters. The pizza cutters one is a little off the beaten path, but that’s what makes me so drawn to it.

What fun is a beaten path?

The cutie above is the Fred & Friends Pizza Peddler and, although it doesn’t say so, I think his middle name might just be FUN.

  • This pizza wheel comes one to a package.
  • The pizza wheel features a silicone handle with a stainless steel cutting wheel.
  • Cut slices of pizza easily with this unique and fun pizza wheel.
  • The monkey pedals as the pizza wheel turns.
  • The pizza wheel measures 9 inches tall x 2.5 inches wide x 3 inches deep.

Fred & Friends actually make one thing after another after another after another that are fun, unexpected, and deliciously whimsical for the kitchen and home. See Fred & Friends on Amazon – you WILL fall in love with everything they make.


Back to Basics with Kitchen Tools: “I Can’t Cook Without It”

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Abundant Chef Ceramic Knife Set
I am a self-confessed addict when it comes to all things cooking and dining. Cookbooks, kitchen gadgets, plates, glasses, casserole dishes, everything with the name Rachael Ray on it, pizza cutters, pans…..

I collect them all and would never consider parting with any. However, if we’re being honest, you don’t need to have multiple collections to be a great cook. In fact, you can crank out some pretty amazing meals with just a few basic kitchen items.

BlueStar Cooking is challenging chefs and passionate foodies to share their favorite “can’t cook without it” tools.  I always love a good challenge, so I sat down to mull over my options.

I approached it like this: My daughters are comparatively new cooks, so I asked myself, “What six things would you arm each of them with – IF you could only choose six?”  I took the liberty (that is just so me) to exclude a great set of pans, measuring cups and spoons, a refrigerator and a stove.

This is so much tougher than you’d think – especially for a gadget/tool junkie like myself – but below is what I’ve come up with.

Rachael Ray 3 Tiered Salt Box and Bench Scrape

My Can’t Cook Without It Kitchen Tools

These are the top six things I believe will make you a better cook.

  1. A Cast Iron Skillet. Whether it’s cheeseburgers, cornbread, or fried potatoes, cast iron skillets simply cannot be beat. I have a huge, traditional iron skillet as well as a cast iron “grill pan” and swear by them. Cast Iron Skillets come with seasoning directions and care instructions. Some, these days, even come pre-seasoned – to which my grandmother would’ve said, “Well… I reckon!” Cast Iron Skillets are will make you a better cook and will make your hamburgers legendary. I’d wrestle a grizzly bear over my iron skillet and grill pan – I mean, seriously, what would he do with them anyway?
  2. An Epic Knife Collection. You don’t have to spend an outrageous fortune but you do need to own a variety of really good knives. My personal “go to” knives are the Wolfgang Puck Bistro Elite 10-piece Colored Nonstick Cutlery Set (outstanding, outstanding, outstanding) and the Abundant Chef Ceramic Knives, I recommend both the Wolfgang knives (or a comparable set) and the ceramic knives because each have their own set of benefits and attributes.  Sharp, well made knives are a great necessity. Although I own a food processor, blenders, and several chopping gadgets, my favorite way to prepare food is with an appropriate knife and my wooden cutting board. It’s relaxing, I am in total control the size, and I kinda dig the noise it makes. Chop, chop, chop….
  3. Rachael Ray “Turners.” There is a particular set of Rachael Ray Spatulas that make my culinary world go round.  I’m not sure what it is about them, but they are everything that is right in this world.
  4. Digital Meat Thermometer. This is a deal breaker. It’s one of the smartest investments you’ll make because it makes cooking easier AND healthier. Don’t go prodding around in the meat, trying to guess whether or not it “looks done,” buy a meat thermometer and take the guessing out of it.
  5. A Great Set of Cookbooks. You could argue that cookbooks aren’t really tools.. but, my list, my rules {insert maniacal, evil laughter}. Okay, power trips and kidding aside, cookbooks are a huge necessity. I have collected cookbooks for ages and frequently buy them for my daughters. Find chefs, cooks, and authors you blow you away and buy every word they have to say. A few of my personal faves are: Rachael Ray, Michael Symon, and every single gluten free cookbook I can get my mitts on. Read my Cookbook Reviews for more of my faves. Write in the margins of your cookbooks – for example, if you’d like to add more black pepper next time or cut back a little on the red pepper – leave notes for yourself and your meals will get better each time you make them.
  6. Rachael Ray Bench Scrape and 3-Tier Salt Box. They’re pictured above and I’d be completely lost without either one. (notice how I combined two in one to make it under my self-imposed “six?” I am master of taking advantage of my own rules – never play Monopoly with me). The Rachael Ray Bench Scrape makes transferring chopped food to the plate or skillet a cinch and the Salt Box allows you to keep your Kosher Salt, Sea Salt, and Himalayan Salt always nearby. Trust me, it’s just too cool for its own good.

I am astounded that I narrowed it down to 6. I’m going to quit right now, because if I don’t, I will end up listing each tool and gadget I have and love dearly. Like my pot holders, oven mitts, garbage bowl, candy thermometer, Pyrex measuring cups….

See?

I’d like to thank BlueStar Cooking for this fun challenge. Check out their website – I know you’ll be as blown away as I am. I saw an Indoor Charbroiler (pictured below) that I need in my life, the sooner/the better.   This guy is just gorgeous.  He has moved to the top of my “must haves.”

Indoor Charbroiler

Best Kitchen Gadget Series: The Microplane Zester

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Day One of a New Series: Best Kitchen Gadgets!

One of the first “tips of the trade” I have for people who are either beginning to cook or are looking to become better cooks is this: Surround yourself with kitchen tools and gadgets that don’t just make your life easier, but funner.

When you think about improving in a particular area – whether it’s cooking, golfing, fishing, writing… – making something ‘funner” or more enjoyable might not come to mind at all, let alone first. However, I’ve found that having more fun in life is one of the KEYS. Yeah, all caps, you know I mean business when my keyboard yells.

I find that certain kitchen gadgets, tools, pans, and whatnot simply make my time in the kitchen more enjoyable – and, guess what, if you’re enjoying yourself, you’re going to stay in the moment and do a better job.

The Rachael Ray Garbage Bowl is one example that comes to mind. It simply makes life funner and, in my opinion, you can never have too much of that.

Another kitchen tool I’d never want to be without is my Microplane Zester. The one pictured above is the Martha Stewart Collection Microplane Zester.

The microplane zester makes life easier AND more enjoyable in the kitchen. Using this zester when adding garlic to soups, casseroles, meat, stew, etc is actually better than chopping because it incorporates the garlic more evenly into the food – and you don’t have to worry about random chunks of garlic overpowering the other flavors. It’s also a heckuva lot easier than standing there dicing and dicing forever.

I also use mine for grating lemons, limes, and oranges and I recently used it on an onion I added to ground beef patties. Delicious!


iPad or Tablet Stand: Read Recipes or Watch Cooking Videos With Less Haggling

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iPad and Tablet Stand

Follow Your Recipes or Videos as You Make Magic Happen

I’m not sure where this Prepara IPrep Tablet Stand and Stylus has been all my life, but I’m tickled strawberry icing pink that I’ve found it now.

Everyone has their favorite “go to” hobby or pastime, right? The activity that, while engaged, makes the individual smile inside and outside. Mine is cooking and baking… basically anything involved in creating food and or drinks (tea, tea, and more tea) in the kitchen puts me in a state of bliss.

While I love creating my own recipes, I also very much love cooking recipes created by other passionate cooks. If the recipe I’m trying at the time happens to be in one of the cookbooks in my cookbook collection or in an issue of one of my favorite cooking magazines, all is well. I’ve become an expert at book placement.

However, as is often the case, if the recipe is one I found, say on Food Network’s website or Epicurious.com, I need my iPad to sit up sort of like a book. A trick she has not quite mastered.

While browsing Amazon (another “go to” blissful pastime!) yesterday, I came across the Prepara IPrep Tablet Stand and Stylus pictured above and simply said, “Well, there you go.”

I say that very often while browsing Amazon if we’re being honest.

Prepara IPrep Tablet Stand and Stylus Description:

Kindles, iPad and Tablets are ideal companions in the kitchen: they make it easy to follow a recipe online, watch a cooking show, plan a meal or view images of finished dishes. The challenge is keeping your tablet safe and clean while you slice, dice, mix, measure and stir. The iPrep was designed to securely bring your tablet into the kitchen and fits all popular tablets: iPad, iPad Mini, Kindle, Kindle Fire, Microsoft Surface, Samsung Galaxy and more. Prepara’s iPrep is an adjustable stand that will hold your tablet upright in portrait or landscape position, for easy viewing. The base is weighted for stability and the back is adjustable (simply press the hinge release button) and offers four usable viewing angles. The back features a non-slip rubber grip to hold the tablet in place. An integrated stylus pen fits neatly into the base and is ideal for keeping the screen clean from messy hands. When not in use, the iPrep folds flat and for convenient storage.

Features:

  • Fits all popular tablets: Kindle, Kindle Fire, iPad, iPad Mini, Surface and Galaxy
  • The iPrep is an easy and secure way to use your tablet in the kitchen
  • Integrated stylus pen stores in the base for convenient access, use the stylus to keep screens clean from messy hands
  • Four adjustable angles to position the tablet for ideal viewing
  • Non-slip rubber grip: tablets can be used vertically or horizontally

Not only Would this tablet stand be ideal for following recipes, it’d be possibly even more helpful when following along with a cooking video – following along as Rachael Ray, Alton Brown, or the Pioneer Woman whip up something wonderful has never been easier.

See Prepara IPrep Tablet Stand and Stylus for more information. This would make a great Christmas gift idea for any foodie – after, of course, you buy one for yourself.

Hey, you have to try it out first, right?! Well, there you go.

Great Gift Idea for Cooks and Foodies: Flexible Cutting Mats

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Colorful Kitchen Cutting Mats with Food Icons
I love it when smart meets pretty and that’s exactly what you see here. These bright, beautiful Colorful Cutting Mats with Food Icons are available on Amazon for just a little over $12.00. They’re a great gift idea for the cooks and foodies in your life but, if you’re like me, you’ll want to grab a set for your own kitchen first.

Don’t think of it as selfish… think of it as testing them out. 😉

  • Set of 4 cutting mats in assorted bright colors and food icons
  • Use separate mats for raw foods to avoid cross-contamination
  • Flexible material allows for rolling up to transfer foods from mat to pan
  • Includes Micro ban protection with built-in defense properties that inhibit the growth of stain- and odor-causing bacteria
  • Mats measure 11-1/2 by 15 Inch
  • Also available as a set of 8

These beautiful kitchen cutting mats take the worry out of food preparation if there’s a vegetarian in your family – especially if (like the beautiful vegetarian in our family) they happen to get, “like, reallllly grossed out” at the thought of their food even touching “meatiness.”

Click through the image or link above for more information. More from CounterArt below. So much prettiness!


Rachael Ray Bench Scrape or Food Mover….

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Bench Scrape or Food Mover
 

I’m completely drawn to colorful things in life – the more color, the better. That’s probably half of the reason I collect all things Rachael Ray in the kitchen – everything is available in the brightest, most beautiful and downright “happy” colors.

Some collectors choose the same color for each of their Rachael Ray kitchen tools, gadgets, dishes, bakeware, pans, or cookware. I basically go with whatever color I’m “feeling” at the time. If it’s during baseball season, I’m drawn to red (because the only thing I’m thinking during these months is St. Louis Cardinals baseball). If it’s college basketball season, I lean toward blue (UK Wildcats, of course).

The rest of the time, I’m liable to choose orange, agave blue, purple, or green, entirely based on my mood at the time.  My oldest daughter’s kitchen scheme is ideal for the Agave Blue collection, so I’ve been grabbing her this and that in this beautiful color.

Naturally the beauty is only half of the reason I love Rachael Ray’s line of kitchen gadgets and dishes. The other reason is they’re completely fun to use, dependable, and save time and effort.

One of my favorite Rachael Ray kitchen tools is shown here, the Bench Scrape Shovel – not that I ever actually call it that. I’ve always just called it my “mover” – on 30 Minute Meals, Rachael Ray always refers to it as her “food mover.”

Appropriate enough.

While mine is, obviously, red (must have bought it in the summer) – the bench scrape is also available in orange, blue, purple, and agave blue…. which reminds me, I need to order one for Emily.

 Details:

  • Bench scrape shovel for collecting and transporting ingredients from the cutting board to a pot on the stovetop
  • Shovel face crafted in durable, nonporous stainless steel; soft taper at shovel’s edge for scooping ease
  • Secure and comfy ribbed rubber covers shovel handle; safe for use in the dishwasher
  • Measures 6-1/2 by 6-1/4 inches with a 1-1/5-inch high handle; weighs 8 ounces

This is one of those things that, each time I use it, I wonder, “How did I ever get along without you???”  Then I remember – with hands that smelled more like onions and garlic and multiple trips back and forth to the stove.

It’s a really cool, fun, and useful kitchen tool and I love it.  What’s more, it’s less than $7 on Amazon. With Mother’s Day around the corner, you might want to grab a couple.

See Bench Scrape Shovel for more information.

Abundant Chef Discount Code for Get Cooking Readers

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Abundant Chef Ceramic Knife Set

If you read my review of the Abundant Chef Ceramic Knife Set, you know how much I love these gorgeous ceramic knives. Thanks to Abundant Chef, readers of Get Cooking now have a chance to fall in love with their own set of ceramic knives and save money while doing it!

Simply use the code joibuttermilk when checking out to save 30% off your order.

Mega Post of Rachael Ray Dishes, Bakeware, and More

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Rachael Ray Ramekins Set
I’ll admit to a couple of full-blown obsessions in my life:

  • cats
  • polar bears
  • squirrels
  • okay, all animals
  • baseball
  • chai tea lattes
  • coffee
  • chocolate
  • sweet potatoes

Also making the list is Rachael Ray dishes, bakeware, pans, kitchen gadgets… all things Rachael Ray.  I’ve noticed that I’ve begun projecting my obsession onto others.  Not only am I forever telling you about Rachael Ray products you “simply must have…” I’ve started factoring them into my gift-giving.   “Oooh, I should give her a Rachael Ray platter…” “I want to give them a Rachael Ray set of dishes…”

Sigh. I mean well.

It’s just that when you KNOW something is exceptional, you want everyone else to experience it, too.  Trust your girl on this one, if Rachael Ray’s name is on the front of the box, your kitchen will be all the better for it.

Rachael Ray 10
Rachael Ray’s line of beauties come in a gorgeous array of colors. They’ve even added a few colors recently – including a light blue that’s perfect for my oldest daughter’s kitchen. As a matter of fact, yes, I’m trying to snag a billion and one things for her.

Personally, I tend to favor the reds, purples, and deep blues in our kitchen, but I’d certainly never say, “No” to the orange, green, pumpkin, or light blue.

They’re all welcome.

If your kitchen and world of cooking is anything similar to mine – it’s the essence of busyness. At times my kitchen seems like an episode of Iron Chef America. Other times it’s closer to a carnival – but it’s always an aromatic cluster of making, baking, and cleaning it all up.

Rachael Ray Cucina 12 Piece Cookware Set
With all of that going on, dishes and bakeware get chipped, cracked, and sometimes downright shattered.

For whatever reasons (I suspect unicorns may be involved), Rachael Ray dishes and bakeware hold up to whatever my kitchen throws at them.

Is it any reason I’m so obsessed. The fewer things I have to actually replace, the better.

Not only is every item in my Rachael Ray collection sturdy, it performs to absolute perfection. Seriously, I’ve never had a single issue.

Finally, can I just go all girly here and say that one of my favorite things about collecting Rachael Ray dishes, cookware, and bakeware is the colorful prettiness? They’re simply brighter and more beautiful than the rest and, yes…. sometimes looks truly do matter.

Rachael Ray Rise Serving Bowl
As we come to the end of one year and the start of another, I’d love to suggest one thing: Begin your own collection of Rachael Ray merch. Either find the one or two colors that “speak” to you, or go full spectrum and grab every available color. Whichever way you go, you’ll soon be singing the same praises I am.

To everyone who’ll listen…

Rachael Ray Lazy Tongs - Purple
Click through any of the Rachael Ray products in the post above for more information and to find similar items in every conceivable color.

You can also find countless Rachael Ray products on Amazon:

Rachael Ray Round Platter - Red

If you shake a leg (and take advantage of a speedy shipping option), you could even order Rachael Ray products from Amazon and have them in time for Christmas – whether it’s for gift giving or your own table!

Kitchen Gadget of the Day: Egg Slicer

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Egg Slicer

This morning isn’t unlike any other morning… I have eggs on the brain.  If we’re being honest, it’s not strictly a morning situation.  I love eggs and could eat them all day long.

If you’re a egg lover, too, you’ll definitely want to add this perfect little kitchen gadget to your collection. This is the Egg Slicer – Perfect Heavy Duty Hard Boiled Egg Slicer & Cutter and it’ll quickly become on of your favorite kitchen toys. It also makes an eggsellent  (sorry.. I really am) gift idea for the foodies in your life.

A Few Ways to Wax Brilliant With an Egg Slicer:

  • Sliced eggs are perfect for tossed salads. Beautiful and delicious makes a potent combination.
  • They’re a cool way to add the unexpected to any sandwich – especially BLTs.
  • Speaking of sandwiches – here’s a cool little take on egg salad sandwiches: Slice your hard-boiled eggs, spread a  little mayo on your bread or wrap, then add whatever combination of co-stars you’re in the mood for (jalapenos, bacon, onion, tomatoes, lettuce…).
  • My favorite thing to do with my egg slicer? Slice my hard-boiled eggs, arrange them on a plate, salt and pepper them but good, add either a little crushed red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper (or drops of hot sauce) and greedily eat every last slice.

Click through the link above or the picture for a closer look. This one’s a winner – and it’s less than $10 on Amazon.