I do a lot of cooking between trying to make my family’s diet healthy and the small fact that we have nine people in our family. Here we are at the kitchen table. We usually add a chair at the end next to John for our oldest daughter, but we wanted the table to look nice in the picture!
I’ve always loved kitchen gadgets, even back in the day where the only work I did in the kitchen was scooping out Breyer’s ice cream with a fancy ice cream scoop or using my kitchen shears to open a package of Oreos. Now you don’t even need to slice open the packages because they have those pull-tabs on them. Nothing like making it even easier to eat junk. . .
Anyway, I digress.
I thought it would be fun for us to share some of our favorite kitchen tools. I’ve got bunches that I use, but I picked four that I use at least once a week, if not more.
First, my set of good knives and my Kitchen Aid mixer. Believe it or not, the mixer you see in the background is my “small,” every day mixer because I have a Bosch that I use for heavy duty jobs.
Next, is my trusty digital meat thermometer. It has a probe that you put it the meat and the display unit sits on the counter. I like to be very precise when cooking chicken and make certain it is completely done. That’s probably because I spent four days in the hospital years ago after getting Ecoli. 
Third is my fabulous silicone rolling mat that I use for breads, pizza crusts, biscuits, rolls, granola bars, and anything else I can think of. I always wanted one and when I saw this one at the William Sonoma outlet I snatched it up and never looked back. Nothing sticks to it and you don’t have to add any flour. Win. (And in case you were wondering, those are just four of the six pizza crusts I make every Friday night.)
Last but not least are my veggie scrubbing gloves. I’ve tried the brushes, paper towels, little plastic sponge things, and a variety of other tools people recommended, but these are the best. I can really scrub potatoes, carrots, peppers, brussel sprouts, and any other fruit or vegetable and feel like I’m getting into the crevices. Love.
So, care to share?
What are some of your favorite kitchen tools? What can’t you do without? Diane
I only varsities of knives in my kitchen and some wipe clothes. It always go for more cleanliness in the kitchen which makes it adorable.
George Foreman Grill, hands down.
I am obsessed with my main kitchen knife I bought from France like 3 years ago and i really cant imagine my self cooking without it.
I am a minimalist in the kitchen. Like the Marines I get it done with less
I have one ceramic knife and a wooden cutting board that I use to prepare almost everything.
Yeah, I have lots of other stuff, but it’s all for show, lol
Chop sticks are my favorite utensil, but I don’t think that’s what you asked. Everyone would benefit from using them. It’s a Zen thing, like meditation. If you don’t use them, you can’t ever understand.
What a fun post!
For my weight loss journey, I love my Cuisinart kitchen scale and I use it all the time. I also have a Pampered Chef two-burner griddle I use often and consider it a good investment. My mini santuko knife and tomato knife from PC are two things I can’t imagine living without either.
I’m going to look up your pizza recipe because I think that would be fun for my family to start doing. We love pizza and I know it would be cheaper and better to make them at home.
What a lovely family! You guys must have your own pew at church:)
I love my KitchenAid food processor and use it every day. It does so many things so well! We also use the George Foreman a lot during the winter. I also have a silicone rolling mat that I treasure. My daughter and I have been using it for our holiday cookie session for years!
Oh, I LOVE those gloves! I need to get me a pair!
My biggest love is my Vitamix blender. What an investment, but one I use at least once a day, sometimes a lot more. It’s been essential in making the addition of more greens in my diet happen.
I also can’t live without my wooden spoons. Old school and irreplaceable.
My knives, food processor, blender and garlic press! I would be lost without these!
The most useful kitchen tools I’ve been using during my healthy-eating journey are my food scale (for measuring portions & being exact in recipes), my immersion blender (making single-portion smoothies), and my favorite chef knife (makes quick work of all those veggies I’m eating).
Fun post, made more fun by the pictures.
food processor (kale and spinach)
disposable food handler’s gloves (chicken)
small skillet (egg white omelet)
Kleen Kanteens (how the whole family drinks water)
I went from a one-cup coffee system back to my old coffee machine, for the 12 oz. of decaf I have each morning. Just couldn’t get the brand decaf I wanted in the cups, so back to being old fashioned.
I MUST have my Cuisinart Kitchen Scale now. Cheese and nuts are so calorie dense, I really don’t trust eye-ball weighing them. I think it’s made a big difference for me.
And my old old old Mr. Coffee Ice Tea pot! I bought a newer one, but it doesn’t work as well. I make fresh tropical tea constantly (decaf of course.)
Those are mostly appliances not utensils, but I love my one tablespoon measurer for salad dressings, too.
Food processor, juicer, Vitamix, digital thermometer, digital scale, sharp knives…and so on
While it’s not in the kitchen I love my outdoor grill. I probably grill 4 out of 7 days. I have a couple of those silcone baking mats and love them as well. Easy to clean!
My microwave steamer. Chop up a head of cauliflower and in ten minutes, you have 95% of a meal.
Oh, I should also say my crock pot. Cut up some veg, throw in a bit of meat and broth, and you can eat for three days with near-zero effort and zero cleanup if you use the plastic liners.
I love my apple slicer/corer. I can slice up an apple just with one push. I use it for pears, too.
Love those veggie scrubbing gloves!
That’s a gorgeous family photo
I love my salad spinner, a mat to dry vegetables and fruit, the rubbermaid produce keeper and the silpat baking mat.
I also love the sharp knives and big wood chopping block. And the mini chopper. Plus the crock pot.
I forgot to mention my steamer, and my salad spinner. I use both almost every day.
I can’t live without a decent chef’s knife. Really I don’t actually need anything else.
Aren’t you worried with those veg glove things that they get full of bacteria? That’s why I didn’t buy them and now I feel like I should. What is your solution to cleaning them?
The ones I’ve seen are dishwasher safe … You just toss them in the top.
These are dishwasher safe on the top rack. Plus, I’m a germ-a-phobe and replace them pretty frequently. One of my favorite books is “Keeping Food Fresh” which is a great resource on food safety. My goal is to never make anyone in my family or anyone who eats in my kitchen overweight or sick from contaminated foods.
Love the gloves too! I need my knives, cuisinart food processor, foreman grill. I guess I’m a minimalist too.
I love Kitchen Aid , decent chef’s knife, juicer and Vitamix. I love my kitchen tools which help me to make good foods that never make me overweight and lose more weight.
thank you very much
Used constantly are my wooden cutting boards, chef’s knife, cleaver (which I use with two hands to do a quick chop-chop-chop to finely dice produce), misto (to spray my olive oil), wooden spatula (to spread the thin layer of olive oil in my cast-iron pan, and my two coffee grinders (one for coffee beans, the other for seeds, nuts, spices). I’m not big on appliances or specialty items. Still using the pans which were wedding gifts to my mother in 1948. I wish whoever gave her the pans knew how much and how long they’ve been used and loved!
Wow…..pans from the 1940′s!! They certainly don’t make them like they used to…..everything is so throw away these days, nothing is built to last.
I must say that I also favour some hand tools over their motorized counterparts, preferring my whisk and wooden spoon over an electric mixer in all but the toughest mixing tasks.
My v slicer is another favourite hand tool, essential for slicing onions, potatoes and tomatoes.
I have to say my magic bullet. It really doeseverything that the TV ad says. My kids use it to make smoothies, frozen or unfrozen. They love it too!
It is hard to pick out anything else that stands out….like others have said, fave knives, the crockpot, my super dooper rolling pin, my bread machine and yoghurt maker….and the list goes on.
The veggie gloves sound great! I’ll have to look for some!
I love my blender; I have a green smoothie for breakfast every morning so it gets a lot of use. I also love my lemon juicer as a use a lot of lemon juice.
Those gloves look awesome – I’ve got to get me a pair of those! As for me, my George Foreman grill gets used at least twice a week if not more. And anything that makes using olive oil easier (a staple for so much of my cooking). I’ve recently purchased a decanter (I think that’s what they’re called) so I can pour olive oil in a skillet or on a slice of bread without putting too much on. I also have a basting brush that will help me coat food with a bit of oil before cooking (I was previously using my fingers for this and/or a paper towel – it wasn’t pretty!).
Easy – the bread machine. I use it all the time to make FRESH whole wheat bread and pizza crust. Beats the store bought stuff! I even occassionally make corn bread with it, although I try to have that not so often because I try to stay away from corn (Monsanto has virtually destroyed the crop with its bt corn which is everywhere now).