Wonder Cup

A Wonder Cup eliminates clean up between ingredients. This tool is perfect for peanut butter, honey, and any other hard-to-measure ingredients. The Wonder Cup also measure accurately fractions of cups, ounces, tablespoons,  and teaspoons.

Here is a picture of the cup using the solid side. You would move the cup to the desired measurement and the press into whatever you are cooking into. IT IS AWESOME!

You can buy this tool for about $9.95 – $15.00 and is perfect last minute Christmas gift!

Enjoy!

This is not a nice to have, but I consider this a must in the kitchen. I have many different types of thermometers but if you are just starting out cooking look into something like the Polder THM-160. This thermometer has a built-in presets and alerts you as the food is being cooked has reached the USDA safety temperatures for the meat you are cooking.  The green light on the bottom of the device illuminates when safe cooking tempature has been reached. With that being said, I never cook my steaks well-done (unless someone tells me too, which hasn’t happened yet) so if you are not sure on temperature for the desired doneness, it even has the USDA food temperature chart on the cover for the probe:

Depending on where you get it, the price could range from $10.99 – $12.99. With the stock market the way it is, this is a better investment than buying a car company stock because if you use this tool correctly you are ensuring your dinner guest won’t get sick from improperly cooked food tempature.

Jen has a tennis match tonight and I am not going to slave in the kitchen for just me, so we will go out to dinner late tonight and support one of the local chefs. Tomorrow’s dinner will be Mexican, which has been requested by several of the blog readers, and I am happy to oblige. 

Happy Cooking!

Now that is one fine piece of technology isn’t it? Ok I must admit, a couple years back I couldn’t sleep and the usual late-night informerical for it was on and I thought to myself, no way that thing works or would I ever buy one. Well, it turned out to be one of the tools in the kitchen I use often and love. There is nothing like the sound of this machine saving your meat from freezer burn etc. Jen and I shop in bulk so this tool saves us a lot of money. My foodsaver can seal with bags, canisters, and even mason jars. One thing I have been playing around with mine is putting my meats in the bags with marinade and seeing how it flavors the meat–just a little something I have been using as an experiment. They have newer models which are pretty sweet but I won’t get one till mine goes out. So the prices ranges from $99.99 – $299.99 and we get our bags/rolls from the bulk store which also saves a ton of money!

So this is a top 5 tool to have in the kitchen.

Happy Cooking!

Ah another great piece of steel I use often in the kitchen. Yes that is correct, I am talking about a zester grater but not only just a zest grater but the Microplane Zester Grater!

Originally a woodworking tool, this grates even the hardest Parmesan Reggiano as well as other hard cheeses into fine lacy wisps. Ideal for topping your favorite spaghetti and meatballs or a Caesar salad. It’s also wonderful for effortless citrus zesting to add natural flavors to a lemon crème brulee or a basic vinaigrette.

Dishwasher safe.

I recommend rinsing your grater in warm water immediately after each use. Remove particles stuck in the blade from the back side whenever possible. To remove “stuck on food” from the front, first soak the tool in warm water and then use a cleaning brush and stroke in the same direction as the teeth.

Store with blade covered when not in use in the plastic cover it comes with.

Price range vary depends on the quality and brand but are from $6 – $15.

So when I say zest or fine grate this is the tool I am using which should be added to your set of kitchen tools.

Happy Cooking!