Kitchenware Hand Blender For Soups

Toys, tools, gadgets, techonology you need/don't need for this lifestyle

Sorry for the hiatus, I was on a little mini-vacation helping my best friend move back home from Kentucky. In what feels like a life time ago, when my children were still babies and I was still married, I was a stay-at-home Mom. I became quite domesticated for a time and part of this meant that I had to have every funky gadget and toy for the kitchen imaginable. We had a waffle maker, a blender, a food dehydrator, a vacuum sealer, cappuccino makers, ice tea pot brewer, a juicer, a mixer, a panini maker, a pan to make omelettes, a pan to make pancakes, a tortilla warmer, an electric frying pan, a deep... In short, we had a bunch of crap that mostly went unused after two or three times of trying them. Unused, because it was either a pain in the ass to clean, or it didn't work as well as it did in the commercials, or because it was more cumbersome and time-consuming (the very things these gadgets were supposed to prevent, consuming time) than... Sometimes the simple ways are also the easier ways. I also am not big on clutter and I tend to move a lot, so being bogged down with a bunch of gadgets and machinery didn't quite fit my gypsy lifestyle. As any trip to the Good Will will prove-many trendy gadgets crowd the shelves like the Forgotten Toys of the North Pole. But I have found that a few items are absolutely indispensable to me and this life style of eating, and I'd like to share with you what they are. What triggered all of this for me was moving my best friend back. He openly shared that during a deep bout of depression accompanied by insomnia, he'd be sucked into late night t. v. informercials for magical and amazing kitchen products and subsequently, would whip out his credit card and buy them. Since he was now going to be living with some friends until he finds his own place, most of these gadgets were headed to his storage until I asked him if I could try a few to see if I wanted them or not, or if they make my life any easier. First up-a veggie dicer/slicer. I watched a few commercial on the YouTube for this thing and it seemed to be pretty cool. In theory it is. But like everything else you see on TV or a menu picture-then there's real life. I managed to get the onion chopped as you can see-but I had to experiment with onion pieces and that meant I still had to chop. Unlike the commercial where you put an actual half of an onion on the grill/grate/chopper metal thingy-yeah that didn't do a damn thing when you pushed down on it. So it really does require slicing and dicing. I would say that this thing is then worth it when you want these uniform perfect diced pieces, perhaps for a Pico De Gallo when you are entertaining. As for me doing this each time I want a diced onion-I don't know. I am going to take the onion I did dice in this picture and just freeze it. This way, when I am really super lazy or tired, I can just pull this out of the freezer. So it's my back-up for those times. This would also work for freezing onions ahead for soups. There is a measuring cup attached which I found totally worthless, especially as most recipes will say 'one small onion' or 'one medium onion' and not so much cups of onion but whatever. I still need to try some different veggies on it such as green peppers and carrots-I think maybe with some of the softer veggies it might be easier to use, and it also comes with a slicer which I will try with a cucumber. For me though, its just as fast and actually easier with a really good knife to just chop myself by hand. If you have excellent knives, cutting veggies is not that big of a deal. I'm thinking that using celery with this would be a pain in the ass, but again if you want decent aesthetics for your chopped stuff (dare I say chopped eggs for egg salad non-vegans) then this is the best thing- otherwise, I would not buy this. Takes up room in the kitchen when you really don't need this-unless you entertain a lot, really hate chopping stuff and/or take much better pictures of your food for your blog than I do and have them look more 'professional. Food Steamers. I have used the metal steamer pan insert to steam my veggies for years. It's easy enough to use-just put a bit of water in the bottom of a sauce pan, add the steamer, add the veggies then put a lid on the pan and steam til done. Not only healthier but keeps the veggies 'al dente' (and makes broccoli a gorgeous color green.