Mrs. T's Favorite Kitchen Tools

We are not hosting Thanksgiving this year, so we have decided to have a few days of intensive declutting over Thanksgiving break. I have been mentally reviewing what we use regularly and what we no longer need. I also recently heard from someone who is cooking gluten-free for the first time and is finding out that it takes a long time to make things from scratch! She asked what tools I have found helpful so she could add them to her Christmas wish list. As I considered what is in my kitchen and what tools I use the most, I realized that nearly all my favorites were given to me as gifts!

Below you will see "Mrs. T.'s Favorite Kitchen Appliances and Tools."  Most of the items are listed as Amazon links, and I do need to clarify that I am an Amazon affiliate and receive a small percentage of the sales from Amazon links on this blog. If you would like to order these products from the links that would be, well...just groovy! However, my main intention in this post is really and truly to tell you what things I find helpful in my daily cooking! Now, on to the post...

* The Kitchen Aid Mixer:  I received one of these for my 40th birthday as a joint gift from everyone who knows me. Well, that is a small exaggeration, but many people pitched in to give me something I never in a hundred years would have been able to own otherwise, and I was deeply touched.  It has made all our baking so much easier. It not only mixes while I putter around the kitchen, it can knead dough while I attend to other duties ( love that!). It has a wide assortment of attachment you can add on if you desire, such as a meat grinder. Mine is red, which adds a cheery look to my kitchen counter!




*The Cuisinart Waffle Maker: This was a Christmas gift and is in operation almost every weekend.  It is great for making gluten free waffles for the freezer.  It has a timer and lets you know when waffles are done, and you are able to select the setting that determines how brown you want the waffles. It is very easy to clean, which is important when you are using appliances for both gluten free and regular purposes.




* High Quality Cookie Sheets: You guessed it, also a gift!  Heavy and easy to clean, these are in use almost every day at our house! If you are doing lots of baking I highly recommend good quality pans like these that cook evenly and are easy to clean!


*Good Cook Silicone Spatulas:  My mom bought some of these years ago and split the set with me. I love having more than one and am a big fan of "color coding" when cooking so I don't stir a gluten -free dish with a  spatula used to stir a non-GF dish.  I also have a very small spatula  that is handy for stirring and scraping out small containers.



*Smart Pot Crock Pot:  Um, yup. Also entered our kitchen as a Christmas gift! This is probably my biggest time saver. I can pop dinner in the crock pot in the morning while listening to someone read, and then just leave it alone, knowing it will automatically switch to the warm setting when the cooking time is done. Love it!



*Kitchen Aid Blender: My dear husband gave this to me for Mother's Day many, many years ago. It was an older model on sale at Tuesday Morning ( a close -out store). It has probably made three million smoothies over the years. I was quite alarmed last year when it suddenly stopped working.  Well, I am a Kitchen Aid fan for life.... we called them, they told us what part we needed, and for a mere ten dollars we were able  restore our blender to perfect working order! I am so thankful that someone still makes appliances that can be repaired instead of needing to be replaced!


*Joie Measure Mate:  I picked up one of these from Lehmans Hardware in Ohio this summer.  I can't find it on their website, but here is the link to the Joie Shop where you can see lots of fun kitchen tools. This little measuring cup measures in Tablespoons and ml, and I find it much easier to use than traditional spoons.

* Wilton Measuring Cups and Pampered Chef Measure-All Cup: Both of these cups are very easy to read, which I find makes measuring ingredients much less time consuming. The Measure-All is terrific for solid ingredients, but I prefer the Wilton for liquids. The four cup option is great for baking in bulk.




Well, I hope that is helpful to you, weather you are making out your Christmas list, considering gifts for others, or just adjusting to a new routine of gluten-free cooking. I'd love to know what kitchen tools you find helpful!