My favorite things

I know some people who look forward every year to Oprah's show(s) of her favorite things. I personally have never seen one of these episodes and doubt I could even afford most the items on her list anyway. Despite my dislike of Oprah, all summer I have found myself making mental note of my "favorite (kitchen) things" and wondering how the rest of the world lives without such handy tools. I decided that even though my following mostly consists of my family that already own such gadgets I'd still post a blog for those of you that might not have these lovely tools. (A special thanks to Google images. I was just too lazy to get everything out and take pictures.)

Here they are in no particular order.

1: Borner V Slicer
Although my Mom bought me this 5 years ago, I had only used it a handful of times before this summer. We had one growing up so I knew it had a lot of purposes, but with our small kitchen in LA, I just didn't get it out often. Now, I use it at least once a week. It is great for slicing and dicing onions, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, celery, zucchini and so much more. I LOVE using this to make homemade baked french fries. I'll post that recipe later!

2: Vitamix 5200 Blender
I have to admit this blender was actually purchased because of Christopher. He loves smoothies and a regular blender just doesn't do the job when it comes to blending up seeds and such. I gave in about a year and half ago and bought one from Costco. Our last year at USC we made smoothies almost every day. He finished his by the time we got to school and I usually sipped on mine most the morning. We still have smoothies regularly, but only a few times a week instead of everyday. Most of you might say that is lot of money to spend on a blender for smoothies, but I also use it to grind Oats into flour, sugar into powdered sugar and so much more.

3: Martha Stewart Cast Iron Pot
This pot is great for cooking soups, stews and I always make my enchilada sauce in it. Plus, I just recently started using it to bake Tri-tip for French Dip sandwiches. The only down side, it is kind of heavy.

4. Brita Water Filters


I probably drink one of these a day (yes all by myself.) I LOVE WATER!!! But I don't like gross tasting water. The Brita water filters have been a staple in our kitchen for the last 5 years. Thank goodness Costco often has the filters on sale!

I have several other "favorite things" but they will have to wait for another post.