Starting with some of the cheapest, these collapsible cup measure-rs are the BOMB. They don't fill up a ton of drawer space and the numbers (such as 1/3, 1/2, etc) never rub off b/c they are engraved into the plastic. They are a little pricier than normal measuring cups, but well worth it. These are about $15.00. They sell them at Target. Next time I'm invited to a wedding, I'm gettin' them these!!
I've recently discovered how much tasty-er home-made dressing is! There really is a different taste that is less vinegar-y and more fresh that livens up any salad if you use good ingredients. A salad-dressing emulsifier that I bought at target (that is actually a bit different from this amazon.com version) is great because it mixes and pours your dressing very well. I don't know how I survived without it, I was always getting oil stains on my clothes. I used to put my dressings in mason jars, but now I don't pour all over the floor instead of my salad. This cost about $12.00 at Target, great buy compared to some version by pampered chef.
This is a lemon-squeezer! Got it for Christmas, has already come in handy. Something I recently learned was to NEVER leave the entire lime or lemon rind in a slow-cooker. It makes your meat taste so acidic because the oils from the rind secrete out and make acid burns. Found this one on amazon for about $10.00.
The pampered chef garlic press is something I have been coveting. My mother-in-law uses it and you can crush the garlic very well without ever having to take off the skin.A couple other kitchen tools I own that I truly adore include my Bosch Universal Mixer and my Nutrimill. I got these for our wedding, and they are very expensive, but I know they will last my entire life most likely, they are sturdy. The Bosch is like a kitchen-aide on steroids. :-) You can make six loaves of bread dough on this at once, and the blender is awesome. There are lots of attachments that you can buy for it, such as an electric cheese grater, food processor, juicer, pasta maker, pretty much anything you can think of.
AAANNNNND last but not least, my new-found LOVE:THE DIGITAL PRESSURE COOKER!!
I got this for Christmas, and it is now the love of my life. I seriously make every single meal with this thing. You can plump up dried beans in 22 minutes without ever using the stove-top. You can also cook a pot roast and it will be falling off the bone in 45 minutes! There are safety locks built in, so you don't have to ever worry about it exploding. You can slow-cook with it, brown your meats on it's 'browning' setting (which is HOT, burns garlic to a crisp if you dont watch it for even 1 minute), and of course an awesome pressure cooking setting. Love love love.I never use my slow-cooker anymore, although I still like to use my rice-cooker because I'm way too lazy to cook that. And usually I need rice to accompany something that's already being cooked in the pressure cooker, otherwise I would use the pressure cooker for my rice. Maybe having 2 pressure cookers would be convenient? hmmmm....:-)
Well that concludes my list!!! ......for now....
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