Newest Gadgets

Ah, I really enjoy a good kitchen gadget. And my husband knows this. His love language, I believe, is giving gifts. Meaning, gift giving is a major way he shows how he loves you. Thus, on my birthday and on Mother's Day I was the recipient of two new gadgets. One I didn't even know that I wanted and the other I've been tempted to buy myself for a few years.

For my birthday I received a pressure cooker. Honestly, I kinda thought "Am I really going to use this thing?" But I have! At least once or twice a week which in my book means it is a pretty good gadget! For instance, I made 14 bean soup from dry beans without soaking them and it took a matter of 45 minutes total! I also decided late one day to have chicken enchiladas for supper (hey, I think it was Cinco de Mayo). All that I needed to do was take frozen chicken breasts and some chicken broth (but water would have worked fine) put them in the pressure cooker and 9 minutes later I had chicken breasts that seemed as they had been in the slow cooker for hours! Yes, it really is a neat little gadget. Mike got me one that has one lid and two bottom pots, a 4 quart and a 8 quart. I can also "can" veggies in the 8 quart. Very cool. Now, the first time I used it I have to say it was a little daunting. I mean, I remember hearing horror stories of pressure cookers blowing up and having split pea soup over every inch of the kitchen but the new generation of pressure cookers have many built-in safety features, I have little concern of anything going wrong.

Now, the second gadget I received was a salad spinner. Very cool. We've always leaned towards buying the pre-washed bagged salads. Well, no more! I hated having to wash and then dry the salad. It seemed it was always soggy or there would be little puddles of water under your salad. Not cool. Last night I chopped up a head of iceberg lettuce for tacos and for salad. Both girls helped me spin the salad dry - another perk - it keeps the kids entertained (and it unnervingly feels similar to some baby toys in the church nursery). Then I spun dry some cilantro - perfect! I'm in love with it already and I feel like this will save me money in the long run. However, don't forget Ebay. I think you can get them cheaper from there than in the store.

Now, I have a sad, very sad thing to update you all on. My mini-tiller died a horrible death. It just wasn't worth fixing as I was told by the small appliance repair man. So we bought a new member to the Richard gardening arsenal - another larger albeit older rototiller. I'll post about this baby another day.