Kitchen Gadget: Part I

I think it is great when someone comes up with a kitchen do-hickey that makes life easier. And, I am lucky enough to be married to a man that likes to buy me these fun kitchen gadgets. Since I love looking at them in the store I figured I would blog about some that I already have, in case anyone else finds them interesting and wants to know if they work or not.

My criteria for a good kitchen thingamabob is simple:

1. It needs to be relatively small. I don't have a lot of room in my kitchen and anything larger than a grapefruit might as well be called an appliance, not a gadget.
2. It needs to be a creative way to improve a process I am already doing. If it doesn't actually improve the process or, if it creates more work for me, then it is a waste.
   

Mike got me this little guy as a Christmas stocking stuffer last year, it is a "brown sugar bear". It is made from terra cotta and is about the size of a business card, I think it is adorable. You soak him in water before the first use and then you put him in your brown sugar container and it keeps the brown sugar from hardening. It works well! I haven't had a problem with my brown sugar since. This little gadget is cute and fun, but if you don't have one and your brown sugar hardens you can always just throw a piece of white bread in the container and let it sit overnight. It will soften right up. This trick also works with cookies that hardened because they were left out (it doesn't remove the stale taste on old cookies, sorry).






















If you are interested in one you can find them almost anywhere that sells kitchen tools (like Bed, Bath, and Beyond or Target) they cost approx $3.50. I think they are cheaper if you buy them directly from the company that makes them. They come in different shapes, too: a maple leaf, an apple, a mouse, a bee, a chef, and a gingerbread man.