As a busy working mom I am always looking for ways to cut my meal preparation down. Even though I am a chef and I love to cook, after a long day of standing around in the kitchen the last thing I want to do for dinner is chop, mince, and zest.
These three kitchen helpers are things I love and use almost everyday and make my life easier.
Narrow Measuring Spoons: I love these because they fit into small spice jars easily. They stay nice looking after lots of uses and nest well. Trying to get a round spoon into a small jar is not something I need to be wasting my time on. before I got these, I seemed as if I tried all of my toddler spoons trying to get the spices freed from their jars, not anymore!
Safety Chopper: When my friend Michelle over at What's Cooking suggested this tool for our kids cooking classes I was sceptical. Well, never say never I love this tool! I distinctly remember saying, "Oh I have knife skills I will never use this in my kitchen." (eating words) Now I use it all the time, not just with my 5 year old but on my own for nuts, onions and so on. The kids do get a kick out of using it and it gives them confidence. I tell them to wind up and hit it with all their might, the silliness gets everyone laughing and having a good time.
Micro Grater: I use this for everything!!! This particular one has a long slender surface with small grater holes. Its ordinary purpose is for things like zest or grating Parmesan cheese but I like to use it for things like apples to make "applesauce," and finely grated carrots. The thing I love it for the most is grating frozen ginger. I keep chunks of ginger in the freezer for adding to tea and stir fries, it glides easily along the grater when frozen. I just take the frozen ginger and grate the desired amount right into the bowl or pot give it a bang and all the ginger I need is deposited!!
When someone in our house is sick they get ginger tea here is how I make it:
Spicy Feel Better Tea
1 mug hot tea temperature water
A few shaves of ginger root (frozen)
2 T honey
1 good squeeze lemon
1 pinch Cayenne pepper (for the grown ups)
Mix and drink.
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6 comments:
You know, I always wondered about that chopper. I saw a similar one on an infomercial once and thought it probably was too good to be true. But I just might try it out the next time I'm at Target. Thanks for the post!
I said something very similar recently! All my friends have the handy chopper and swore by it but me, I loved the ol knife way so I wouldn't give in. Finally I bought it a month ago and use it ALL the time! (as do my kids when being helpers)
Thanks for the comments! Yes, I love the chopper is very strong and durable.
That's a great tip about the frozen ginger. Do yo peel it before you freeze it?
Lisa, I do peel it.
Haha, that's the slap chop!!! It's good huh? I've totally been wondering about that!
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