One holiday season there was a display of Hamilton Beech mini food processors at a bargain price so I bought one and insisted to myself it would make a great gift.

Once home I eyed the box and decided to fish out the instruction manual just to see what this little guy could do. The manual was informative but didn’t exactly satisfy my curiosity. Carefully I unwrapped the mini processor from its packaging and set it on the counter. It barely took up any space at all!

Examining the blade I wondered how effectively it would work on some of the things my blender was pitifully poor at chopping. Suddenly I decided to give it a try.

First I made breadcrumbs, unlike my blender the mini made fine crumbs with no large pieces left in the container. Next I chopped an onion and again I was satisfied with the results. Then I pulled out a hunk of ham and set about making some ham salad - the arch nemesis of my blender.

What joy!

The mini chopper shredded every bit without those annoying big chunks left behind and I didn’t have to keep scraping down the sides of the container. Needless to say the processor kicked my blenders butt and no one ever got that mini processor as a gift that year.

Spices are traditionally ground on special flat grinding stones. These are just flat slabs of stones and have a stone ‘roller’ to wet-grind the spices, especially coriander seeds and coconut. These days we tend to use a blender. Sumeet is a popular brand, and the one I have, but there are many other brands that are equally suited for Indian kitchens. These have a small bowl which is very efficient in wet grinding coconut and spices. Every household will have one these but we have to depend on the stone grinder when there is power shut down, which happens on a regular basis. I grind up coconut in bulk and freeze it so that I can have it at hand, ready for use. This is a way to solve the problem of getting stuck on account of power failure!

I have a small stone mortar and pestle which I use for crushing ginger, garlic or pepper. Kitchen Aid or Cuisineart food processes are not equal to the job of grinding coconut to a fine paste, I can assure you.

I have a Berg grill, which I find very handy. This grill has two heating elements, one above the tray and one below it. Both heat up together. The tray is 20”x 12”x 1” and the heating elements are just an inch above and below it. This grill is excellent for making tandoori dishes. Because the heating elements are too close to the tray, it is necessary to wrap the stuff that is being grilled or baked in aluminum foil for the first few minutes. Then the foil is removed for the last couple of minutes so that the food item gets nicely browned. Food cooks quicker than in a regular grill or oven and this is a huge advantage.

I love to bake and I use both my Sunflame 31lt capacity oven and my Samsung microwave for baking. I use the microwave essentially to bake brownies or bread pudding, and use the oven for all other type of baking. Both are small compared to the oven that is part of a cooking range. The Sunflame oven is a table top model and the largest baking tray that it will take is 13”x9”. This serves my purpose and so I am happy.

The Gizmo is hand held and magnetically snaps right on to the can. After pressing down to start opening, you can let go of the can and have your hands free to do something else. It will turn and turn and automatically open your can.

The Gizmo is very easy to store under a cabinet. Drill a few holes, attach and set the Gizmo into its cradle. It must stay attached and plugged in in order to keep charged. In this way, however, the device is always handy and ready for quick use.

Cleaning is even a snap with this can opener. The blade attachment twists and pops right off for washing or simply pop into the utility basket of you dishwasher. What could be easier?

Be sure to keep the hand held part of your Gizmo attached to its cradle so that when the attachment is cleaned you can pop it right back on and your ready to go. This gadget has certainly made life easier for me in the kitchen.

I have two cutting boards in my kitchen, one for cutting meat and vegetables and another is for fruits.

The one I used to cut meat is a wooden cutting board. The problem that arises is that fungus are easy to grow whenever it is wet as it provides place for bacteria, so make sure that you clean and season your board often.

For my plastic cutting board, its great for a quick job or when I need to transfer stuff from the board and don’t want to lug around my wooden one, but that said, I don’t know how many small plastic pieces I have ate because there are many scars left by the knife.
I think every kitchen needs an oven. It is too useful for me. I found that nowadays cakes sold at shops are too sweet. Pizza offer at Pizza Hut or Domino have only little cheese on it. Furthermore, it is difficult to find roasted chicken breast selling everywhere as they normally only offer the whole chicken. With oven, I am able to bake cakes, pizza and chicken breast with my own secret recipes.

I am able to make different flavors of pasta such as wheat pasta and spinach pasta that only cost me pennies of serving.

The machine is very simple to use. There are several dies to choose from that allow me to make different types of pasta. I can choose from macaroni, or spaghetti, or fettuccini, and others. I simply attach the die that I want to the machine, measure out the flour in a cup that was provided with the machine and add a pinch of salt.
In the cup that was provided I add two eggs and a tablespoon of oil and fill the cup up to the line with cold water. I add the liquid to the flour and salt and let the machine mix it up.

Then I turn the switch to the extrude setting and the pasta comes out of the machine. I simply cut it into the length I want and I am done.

The whole process takes less time than it takes for the water to come to boil in a pot. Once the water is boiling, I add the pasta and it is done in three to four minutes. That is much quicker than store bought pasta.

The machine comes completely apart for easy cleaning.

The best tip is to put the die in the freezer for a little while to make it easier to clean. The whole cleanup process takes about five minutes.

The Pasta Express machine is one of my best tools in the kitchen. Pasta is a mainstay of our diet and I can now make it for less than one third of what it used to cost me.

It is also healthier to make because I can choose what ingredients go in the pasta. The taste is fantastic and even the pickiest kid enjoys this type of pasta. The process is so easy; my ten year old can do it.

Making pasta by hand is hard work and doesn’t always seem worth the effort, but with this machine, I don’t plan on buying pasta at the store again. And the best part is I got a machine that costs over one hundred dollars for only five bucks at a garage sale.
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

She cannot resist the phrases “free gift”, “special offer”, “reduced” etc,

that is why we have a Kenwood SB206 Smoothie Maker in my kitchen.

Yes, my kitchen - you taste my wife’s cooking, you will understand that I cook as a form of self defence. Oh, but I love her anyway, and I have to give her credit, she tries to cook sometimes. The results are usually edible, but you wouldn’t pay for them - you would if I cooked it!

She bought the smoothie machine, and I end up using it for a lot of other purposes.

Hey, this thing makes salsa and sauces better than my blender, and it is easier to clean.

Four tomatillos, a clove of garlic, a spoonful of balsamic vinegar, and a pinch of spice, gimme a bag of chips and I’ve got a couch potato weekend movie kit, with added compliments!

And I love what it does to celery - celery, like pepper, is best added after cooking, because cooking impairs the flavor. Make a celery smoothie and you can stir it in to your food quickly, near the end of cooking, and you don’t lose the WOW factor. Same with cilantro …

She gave me this thing, and I thought it would go the same way as the George Foreman grill - quietly into the garage and under the bench (she’s almost vegetarian - why she bought that, I dunno). But I find I’m using the smoothie maker to compose really interesting sauces every day now - and they taste really good, because I’m using fresh ingredients all the time. I could buy canned stuff, but the smoothie maker is quicker than opening the cans.

Perfect for people who just want to throw frozen french fries or veggies into the over or for a more accomplished at hom chef who doesn’t want her berry crumble to ooze all over the inside of her oven.

A jelly roll pan is much more useful than a regular baking sheet because the side of it keep any spills from happening whether it’s just excess olive oil dripping off some broccoli or drippings from your hamburger. Cleaning an oven can be extremely messy and annoying - it’s best to just avoid spills from happening in the first place.

I think the CIA Masters stainless steel jelly roll pan is the best because it had a think guage of steel which ensures that all of the food is cooked evenly. Nothing is ever scorched or cooked more than another on it!

I have a Traditions electric can opener that I just love. It makes opener cans so much easier. I hate using the manual can openers. I cut open my thumb once using them. I don’t cut myself with this device because the magnet pulls up the sharp lid so I don’t have to do it myself. It also has a knife sharpener on it.

The Magic Bullet food processor is not all it’s cracked up to be, but there are a few things I love to use it for. It’s easy to clean so I usually grind up black beans in it for soup. I also used to make my daughter’s baby food by hand with the blender.

We always use Dawn hand soap. We use the brand that suds when you pump it. One pump seems to last longer than the usual kind. It cuts through grease really well and isn’t even that bad for the environment.