Kitchen Gadget Confessions

I am a kitchen gadget hoarder!! There I said it, now I guess I can move on with the next step in my therapy :0)

I came to this realization yesterday as I was trying to find a place to store the deep fryer that I got G.I. Joe for our anniversary.

the deep fryer

Which was no small task, since every place that I would normally store a kitchen gadget was already occupied with another gadget.

As I was searching Sasha decided she wanted to count the number of gadgets that I have; I have 11!
Yes, I said "11".

the electric juicer

11 gadgets that I am sure I NEEDED when I bought them or that I just HAD TO HAVE when I asked for them for whatever holiday I received the gadget on.

the crockpot

And do I use every single one at least once a week or ,heck, even once a month, NOPE.

 the manual 4 pc grater

I have gadgets that I did not even know I had and if I did know at one point I sure don't know now.
( know what I am saying :0)

the baby food maker

So after seeing how many gadgets that I had I set out to either sell or donate the ones that I really could do with out and keep the ones that I know I will use or that can do double duty.

I did not get very far.

the food processor ( with food in it )

As I was weeding through them I kept thinking about how this gadget works well for this recipe and this one for that recipe and on and on it went. Until I gave up and decided to ask G.I.Joe for his thoughts on which kitchen gadgets he thought we could live without, needless to say he looked at me and went right back to playing the XBox without ever saying a word.

the blender

So I still have 11 kitchen gadgets and probably will till one of them finally breaks down, at which time I will either replace it or figure that my life is okay with out having that particular kitchen gadget in it.

the magic bullet

Untill then, if you ever find yourself in my neighborhood feel free to stop by for a cup of coffee, some GF coffee cake and to see about borrowing one of my 11 kitchen gadgets.

 

the hand mixer

the bread maker and the bread storage container

and the ice cream maker

yes, you counted correctly there are 11 pictures :0)

For the love of crock pot

To most people Spring is a time for Baseball, picnics, Softball, little league games, camp outs, cook outs and  longer periods of sun, where you can let your kids run around outside longer praying that they will get so tired that they fall asleep before their heads even hit the pillow ( okay maybe that is just me :) ).
But, to me Spring means more crock pot cooking and less time spent in the kitchen!

During the Spring months my youngest daughter, Sasha, plays Softball, where she is the catcher ( yes I am bragging :) and our second son, Gabriel, plays T-ball, this is his second season and if I must say ( which of course I do :) he is pretty darn good. She has practice 5 days a week for about 2hrs each time and he only has it 2x a week for about 2 hrs also. So between car pooling them both to and from practice and games, which never are at the same time or same place for that matter, not to include all their other activities, and people say home schoolers don't get enough socialization, I have little, to no, time to stand in the kitchen slaving over a hot stove cooking some gluten free creation that will bring us all around the table for that all so important meal of the day, DINNER.

So right as the weather starts to turn warmer and the Softball/T-ball season kicks off I take my crock pot off its resting place, also known as the top of the refrigerator, give it a good cleaning and start going through my trusty notebook of, oh so yummy, recipes.
During these months I usually use my crock pot a good 3-4x a week adapting old and new recipes to our new GF living. I do have one unwritten rule though, I will never repeat a recipe during a single month, whether it's made in my crock pot or on the stove top. Which can make it very challenging at times to come up with meals, but it is a challenge that I gladly take on.

The crock pot I use, pictured below, is one that I have had for about 6-8  years now, it is not very fancy, has 3 modes, OFF,LOW and HIGH, but it is perfect for me.
more info on the crock pot

Tonight I am crock potting, is that even a word, Peking Pork from a recipe that I got from a great blogger that I follow at crockpot365.blogspot.com
 Peking Pork

I did change some items on her list and added other items,also, to suit my families taste buds. I will let you know how it comes out.