I used to buy kitchen gadgets like mad, and then I moved into my husband's apartment with the teeniest kitchen I'd ever seen - and then we moved to Wisconsin into an apartment with an even tinier kitchen.
Our current apartment has a humongous kitchen, and I love it. My walk-in pantry is just begging for kitchen appliances, but I'm so used to guarding my shelf-space (when to have something come in, I had to throw something else out).
The bread machine should go, because I avoid wheat altogether and limit other grains, and homemade bread is so yummy, I end up eating 1/4 of the loaf while the bread is still warm (I've not tried making gluten-free breads in it, but I'm holding onto it, just in case I'm ever inspired to learn).
The pocket-sandwhich griller needs to go as well, because without bread, there's not a big need for a pocket sanwhich grill.
The dehyrdator only gets used once a year, but I'd never hear the end of it, if I skipped a year of making my Christmas jerky for family gifts (and I look forward to the annual "Christmas jerky" as well).
I could easily fill the available space, so I've learned to be really cautious. Also, almost everything I've ever wanted, I've found in a thrift store within six months. Often obviously never used and still in the original packaging and almost always at a fraction of the new cost.
I wish I had bought the brand new ($150) dehydrater I found for $2 - but my dehydrator is still in good shape.
Hubby said "why do you want it, is there something wrong with yours," and
I said "No, except that I can't make anything but jerky in it, because it's absorbed so much jerky (soy sauce and smoke flavoring) smell.
He said, "So do you ever make anything but jerky?"
And I said, "Well, no... but I could..." and I decided that he was right and I didn't really need the gadget after all.
I wanted one of those gadgets that looks like a hamster ball, but it's a manual icecream maker. You put ice cream mix into the inner ball and put salt and ice in the outer ball, and then you roll it around until the ice cream is done.
(My rationale - I would burn off the calories in the icecream before making the ice cream). Luckily the $35.00 price tag deterred me - until I found it brand new in unopened packaging at a Goodwill store for $4.00.
I bought it, and decided to give it to my nephews as a Christmas present (a weird gift for Christmas maybe, but they'll get a lot more use out of it than I will).
Somehow I missed this post earlier. I know what you mean about a small kitchen. Mine is not too tiny but still small but I still like the kitchen gadgets.
I love my dehydrator even though I don't use it too often. My favorites are dried pineapple and the red grapes, which make fantastic raisins (and I don't generally like raisins all that well).
Tonights Yonanas was a small banana, frozen dark cherries, a few dried cherries and 1 tbsp. of mini dark chocolate baking chips. (had to really be careful on those dried cherries and chips)!!! Quite good. I have lots more ideas and some stuff to try.
One I look forward to is -- frozen pineapple with coconut extract, and today I bought real dried coconut flakes to add a few.
It will also be interesting to try the root beer concentrate (extract).
It is so nice having this kind of stuff as a treat!!!
Last edited by Misti in Seattle; 12-19-2011 at 02:39 AM.
Reason: add
OMG I just blended so much stuff I had in my freezer for me and my kids. My girl liked them all a lot, my boy just wanted a bite of each. I started with frozen grapes for a slushie. Not my thing but the kids usually go for that. Then I tried bananas with a few pieces of chocolate caramel candy and a splash of milk, my favorite! And then I threw in some frozen yogurt dots I made a few weeks ago that no one wanted, some chocolate syrup, and some peanut butter. Okay, but it still proves I am not a yogurt fan unless it is not recognizable as yogurt.
Anyway, that banana trick may just get me through what promises to be a hot summer. I'm on WW so it is 0 pp and cheap too!
I used a Hamilton Beach personal blender (magic bullet knockoff) I bought a few years ago. I am glad I dusted it off!
Misti, glad you posted, didn't realize til I read your last one that this thread was from 2011! I have a ninja, love it, I use it for smoothies for breakfast, but have ground up some ice cubes and frozen fruit in it, will have to try the frozen banana.
I use almond milk, pretty much exclusively, I see they have come out with an almond/coconut milk combo, I'll have to try that.
I make a smoothie with a bunch of stuff (baby spinach, almond milk, etc.) but the banana and homemade peanut butter make it, I love it, can't wait to get back on it now that the holidaze are over.
I think you are just better off with a really good food processor or even better, would be a heavy duty, high speed blender... My all time favorite being the Vitamix... that thing is a beast! Plus you can do so many other things with it if you want... I've had mind for I think 6 years now and it's still going strong... Actually, I think it's pretty much gonna last forever, so I think it was a pretty good investment... Especially, when I think of all the other kitchen "gadgets" that I've bought over the years that I thought looked so cool at first and I used for maybe a few months... then they just sat around collecting dust and taking up space, so I would just eventually wind up getting rid of them...
I think you are just better off with a really good food processor or even better, would be a heavy duty, high speed blender... My all time favorite being the Vitamix... that thing is a beast! Plus you can do so many other things with it if you want... I've had mind for I think 6 years now and it's still going strong... Actually, I think it's pretty much gonna last forever, so I think it was a pretty good investment... Especially, when I think of all the other kitchen "gadgets" that I've bought over the years that I thought looked so cool at first and I used for maybe a few months... then they just sat around collecting dust and taking up space, so I would just eventually wind up getting rid of them...
I looked at the Vitamix but yikes... $500 at Costco AND it does not SLICE as a food processor so I am stuck with just using less expensive products. I would love to find a good one at a reasonable price that also slices.
I would love to find a good one at a reasonable price that also slices.
