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.
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!
ReplyDeleteI 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)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments! Yes, I love the chopper is very strong and durable.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great tip about the frozen ginger. Do yo peel it before you freeze it?
ReplyDeleteLisa, I do peel it.
ReplyDeleteHaha, that's the slap chop!!! It's good huh? I've totally been wondering about that!
ReplyDelete