Recipe ReDux: Holiday Kitchen Gadget Gift Guide
This month’s Recipe ReDux theme is to share our favorite kitchen gadget or appliance – great timing if you’re looking for a last minute recipe idea for a foodie! I love talking about kitchen gadgets. Since so much of my work is devoted to educating people about how to cook and eat healthfully, I’m constantly recommending favorite kitchen gadgets that help simplify the process.
Despite having an unusually humongous kitchen for a Boston apartment, we severely lack cabinet space. Dig through my apartment and you’ll find the hall closet stocked with a dehydrator, ice cream maker, slow cooker, rice cooker and bread machine. We have more kitchen gadgets in there than coats. On top of our fridge is the blender/food processor combo. Our counter top holds our most prized kitchen gadget: the Vitamix. And shoved in other closets and storage space are a handful of other gadgets and appliances. Here are my top favorite kitchen gadgets and some recipes to go along with them:
Vitamix – It may come as no surprise that the Vitamix is top on my list. I know the price is steep, but since the day we bought it over two years ago, we have used our beloved Vitamix nearly every single day, making it well worth every cent. The primary use in my kitchen is for smoothies, but we also use it to make creamy nut butters, buttery-smooth hummus, quick soups and sauces. I find other blenders don’t compare when it comes to super smooth blending and ice crushing in a matter of seconds.
Ice cream maker – I only really enjoy ice cream in the hot summer months, so it stays tucked away October – May. But during those summer months it gets a lot of use. I’ve perfected a vegan ice cream recipe using coconut milk, and love making fruit sorbets.
Slow Cooker – In the past couple of months that I’ve owned my slow cooker, it’s quickly taken precedence over my once favored rice cooker. It does the same things…and more! And I love the steam, bake, and stovetop features of this particular slow cooker.
Crockpot breakfast oatmeal cookie cake
This winter, I really want to make better use of my dehydrator (love making macaroons!) and bread machine – I’ve made a few successful loaves, but want to experiment more. If you have any favorite bread or dehydrator recipes to share, please do so!
What’s on your kitchen gadget wish list this season? Check out some other Recipe ReDux ideas.
4 Comments
Wow, what a great idea to use dehydrator for macaroons! And love the oatmeal in the crockpot idea…never thought of that!
love you collection of kitchen gadgets.. I have been meaning to use more of my slow cooker for stew but havent yet. My food processor broke down few weeks and I have been eying at KitchenAid or Cuisine Art. do you have a recommendation?
Hmm, I don’t really have a food processor recommendation. Mine is a blender/food processor hybrid (Oster brand) which was great before I had my vitamix. It comes with 2 containers – one for the blender and one for the food processor so its a good 2-for-1 deal, but I actually packed it away in my basement since the Vitamix gets the most use!
I like your idea for making macaroons in the dehydrator, I’ll have to give it a try.