Kitchen Items you Need NOW!!

Can you believe it’s Thanksgiving week? It’s crazy how fast time flies! Every time the Holiday season comes to an end and New Year’s is over I have that sad feeling because I have to wait a whole year for it to come back around and that seems so far away and then you blink and it’s Halloween and it all starts  over again!

Our neighbors across the street have had their Christmas tree up since the weekend after Halloween! They put up their Christmas decorations last weekend. I’m kind of jealous and really want to put ours up, but my Husband (aka the Grinch) doesn’t want to do it til after Thanksgiving. Well good thing that’s almost here next weekend it’s on.

Anyway since Thanksgiving is pretty much a cooking holiday I wanted to share with you some of the things I’ve gotten lately that make life in the kitchen easier. I like to cook but I don’t like when things get complicated or messy. So I love anything that makes my life easy.

The first item that I finally gave in and tried was the Instant Pot. EVERYONE kept talking about them and how amazing they are, but I just kept thinking how it was one more thing I would have to find a place to store. I finally gave in and ordered one when there was big sale on them. Just a warning it’s alot larger than it looks in pictures. I have to store it in the garage in the box it came in. Even so I think EVERYONE should make room for an Instant Pot in life. I hate to admit it but it’s as great as they say. It makes one pot cooking so easy. So far we’ve used it a handful of times and it makes the whole process 10x’s faster. I cooked spaghettin squash in 15 minutes. 15 MINUTES!! The alternative is  45 min in the oven. I’ll take it! Our first meal we made Mongolian Beef and it was delicious. One of the settings listed is “yogurt.” You can make your own yogurt and from what I’ve read it really only had two ingredients. A started yogurt and gallon of milk!! How crazy is that! I’m going to try that soon and I will be sure to let you know how it goes.

This Chopstir is something that I saw on a random instagram post and it looked interesting. The account raved about it, but in my head I though “how hard is it to chop ground meat?” Then a real life friend posted about it and I asked her if it was really that great and she confirmed it was “Amazing.” So I ordered it and now I used it every time I cooked ground meat and it saves me from having to stand at the stove and stab at the ground meat excessively. I highly recommend it!

These Non-Stick Oven Liners are a life saver. We’re messy cooks in this house and I’m notorious for over filling the pans. It never fails that while cooking the contents spill over and leave a big burnt mess on the bottom of the over. If you don’t know cleaning the over is not a fun task. These mats save you from having that over flow burn to the bottom of the oven. They make clean up so much easier, you just pull the mat out scrub it clean and replace to the over floor. I love that it saves me from using the self clean option which stinks up the house. You’re good to go again in about 5 min.

Maybe I’ve been living under a rock but I use to line everything with tin foil when I baked. I hate having to scrub food out of the bottom of pans, and with the foil you just pulled it our and threw it away. Well when I found these Silicone Baking Mats it was life changing. They’re even easier then tinfoil and not waste to throw away.  They are non stick so most things just peel right off and then you just wipe them down and your ready for next time.

These Joseph Joseph Elevated Kitchen Utensils  are one of my favorite Pinterest finds from a few years ago. I had pinned them and kinda forgot about it and my husband actually looked at my boards for ideas for Christmas one year and bough them for me. They are weighted on one end so they sit up off the counter with out needing a spoon rest. They keep the counter and stove top clean and they are colorful and cute at the same time.

This final item is the best life saver of all! Someone told me about them a few years and I again felt like I’d been living under a rock. Crockpot liners are LIFE!! You know how horrible it is to have to try to scrub the pot clean after it’s been cooking for 6, 8 or even 10 hours. All the food cooked to the sides usually is a pain to scrub off. With these liners you just pull it out and throw it away wipe the bowl clean and your ready to cook that dip for the next party!

What items do you have in your kitchen that make cooking easier? I’d love for you to share them with me, I’m always looking for new things to make life simpler!