Kitchen Gadgets

I'm not the biggest fan of gift cards. I always end up with gift cards to places I very rarely shop, making it pretty difficult to find something I want from that particular store. For instance, I received a gift card to a store called Home Goods - and we don't have one anywhere near New Orleans. I've also had some Williams-Sonoma gift cards in my wallet for two years and FINALLY found something I wanted to spend them on. And here's why. This Christmas I decided to spend all of my miscellaneous gift cards on kitchen gadgets.

My gadgets! More on them later.

I grew up with my mom making us a home cooked meal every single night, and for some reason I always had it in my head that I could never be that good at cooking...and kind of didn't even try. After I got married and got all of the necessary supplies to stock my kitchen, I definitely became more interested in stepping up my game from boxed pasta dishes and easy mac. The problem, I've recently realized, is that I registered for all of my wedding gifts when I had no idea what I would actually need in the kitchen.

My first time making lasagna from scratch. A very exciting day for me!

One of my New Years resolutions this year is to cook every night. Pinterest makes the recipe finding part rather easy, and my recent Food Network obsession just fuels that fire. I find myself recording episodes of shows like Chopped and Cupcake Wars pretty much every day and getting all sorts of great ideas...but not ideas about recipes. Those shows give me a good idea of kitchen gadgets I need and how to use them. So this Christmas I went on a mission to spend my random gift card money on the necessary kitchen gadgets I neglected to register for when I got married. Here's what I got.

Ice cream scoop to use for cupcakes (thank you Cupcake Wars for that tip), a large grater with 3 grating options and a slicing option, and a potato peeler. Not sure how I went so long without a potato peeler or a grater that won't attack my fingers.

A paring knife, utility knife, and cutting board...all of which can go in the dishwasher! Thank you Home Goods in Houston! You have no idea how frustrating it is to chop 4 mushrooms for a recipe and then have to hand wash my bamboo cutting board and nice knives. This will make my life so much easier!

Herb scissors. I saw these on pinterest and absolutely must have them. I've been chopping my fresh herbs with either normal scissors or a dull knife, and the concept of having 5 blades just seems to appealing to me. Since one of my goals for this year is to plant a nice herb garden, I figure I'll be needing a pair of these. I'm still in research mode, but will be ordering them very soon (probably from Target with a gift card haha)!

And last but not least, a Cuisinart Elite 9-Cup Food Processor. I finally figured out what I needed to spend my Williams-Sonoma gift cards on, and I couldn't be happier. I always see these used on shows like Chopped and didn't register for one because, well, I'm not sure I understood what they were for. I can't wait to play with it when it comes in. Slicing, shredding, kneading, chopping, mixing, pureeing...it seems like there's not much this bad boy can't do! I'll have to post again with some recipes using my new toy in a few weeks.

So if you're like me and have a stack of gift cards in your wallet you have no idea what to do with, start watching the Food Network and collect a few new kitchen gadgets!