New Kitchen Equipment

I have had for a while now a small but ever growing list of Kitchen equipment that at some point I would like to acquire.  These are either as replacements for items I once had and know that they work well or completely new acquisitions altogether, however I am mindful of cost as well.  Sometimes we just have to wait a little bit longer for items to come our way as it were.

This month however, I have managed to locate a couple of items reasonably which are on the list.  Starting with the item photographed below.  (schh - not my photo on the B & M site).

Blender, Grinder, Milk Shakes, Fruit Juice Gadget

For some years, I had a cheapie gadget which was bought new from a car boot sale.  It consisted of a blender jug, four mugs and lids, two different sizes of  holders with a grinding disc and a blending disc,  It was a brilliant bit of kit.  Some pieces broke but I have been unable to trace it - think it may be in the Unit.  In any event, I used to use this piece of equipment for making my own homemade mayonnaise, dips, smoothies, milk shakes etc.  As I could not locate the other one and because prices are getting silly for lots of things I decided that I needed to replace this.  I therefore located a similar machine - all the same pieces but a different brand in B & M for £29. This is the Weightwatchers machine. That was purchased the other day when I went in.  Now time to get using it not only to make it pay for itself, but to save me lots of money in the longer term and to also have food which is free from any additional and unnecessary additives.

I am looking forward to being able to make the following again:

• French Dressing and other Dressings.  G is particularly fond of French Dressing and as I tend to have all the ingredients to hand in any event it seems wasteful to me to be buying it especially when he does not use it all up.  I therefore decided that if it is made in small quantities as is needed will waste less overall.
• Dips such as onion, yogurt, creme fraiche, cheese and fresh herbs or indeed my own Herb spread and of course Ranch, Onion Chive and cheese etc.
• Blue Cheese Dressing for salad leaves and also baked potatoes.
• My own Hummus from preserved Chick Peas both bought or home preserved.
• Making my own Tahini either smooth or with a bit of texture
• Garlic Mayonnaise
• Herb Mayonnaise
• Mayonnaise
• Marie Rose Sauce for Prawn Cocktail
• Grinding nuts and seeds for topping bread and other bakes
• Grinding nuts to add as toppings to plain ice cream with a little chocolate sauce or a fruit sauce.  Puddings do not have to be expensive just appealing and tasty.
• Fruit Juice - Particularly Pineapple and Ginger.  Am looking for something to have at breakfast which will be both anti-inflammatory, good for you and to drink as I need to keep my liquid levels  up
• Smoothies - such as mixed fruit ones i.e. Blueberries, Strawberries and Raspberries with a bit of ice cream added
• Milk Shakes especially Banana or Strawberry

Yes there are other ways and methods of making these items, but I got so used to the ease of using this machine because it made things so simple, that I could not use anything that was nowhere near the same standard as the machine I had previously.

There are lots of other items on the list to make as well, but these are the more well known ones.

The second item is a new 6.5 Litre slow cooker (I am hoping to buy two of these, but only one this month).

6 Litre Slow Cookers

I am also after a very large 6 Litre Slow Cooker.  As I make my own stock and have been managing with two smaller slow cookers, (my large one having died a while back) I have decided to re-invest in a couple of larger ones.  There is a reason for me going for two of these - more on the practical side than anything else.  I have always found the Slow cooker extremely useful for doing all sorts of things in the kitchen especially for making my own stocks which I intend to make moving forward and then heat process them.  Stock is expensive to buy off the shelf but far cheaper to make at home and I think far better for you.  Think of how many chicken carcasses you have in a year and  you can usually make at least 4 to 5 jars of stock per session from a couple of carcasses.  I have found the above slow cooker in B & M a 6.5 Litre Slow cooker for £25 each.  Next time I go into town I therefore intend to buy the first.  The second will have to wait until next month.  There is only so much you can do at a time.  This will be one step towards this.

Stick Blender and Accessories

This I think I am going to have to save for this as I have had a very good one in the past and it is something I have been missing for a while.  I do want quite a high speed one as you can do a little bit more than the average stick blender with them.  I shall keep looking around on this.

A Melitta Coffee Maker

Just a plain filter coffee machine.  Over 40 years ago when I was with my first husband, we bought a Melitta Coffee machine and it is one of the best coffee machines we have ever had.  I first had Coffee in Belgium (where they have the scrummiest coffee ever) as a child of seven as well as chocolate spread both of which were prominent features of breakfast in Belgium in the sixties.  Now Melitta machines are expensive and I am looking to source just a simple model in order that I can occasionally indulge in my love of coffee.  I say occasionally as if I have too much it causes my IBS to play up which was one of the reasons I cut back on coffee intake initially.  I do have a French Press and yet again I do indulge in a coffee from this every so often. Let us say that it does not happen every day and it is more of a treat when I do have one.

Klarstein Electric Water Bath

I hope to be able to buy this next month.  It has been on my list forever (5 years).  Fingers crossed and toes plaited.  Now over 5 years ago I did have an Electric Water Bath preserver which I lost in a fire amongst a lot of other preserving stuff.  I therefore have had one before - this one is just a different make.

Ninja Products

I have had my eye on a Creami for sometime.  I do hope to get one of these eventually as I think it would be very useful to extend my repertoire a little bit.  I am looking at the Soft n Swirl model. That is on the wait list though as it is about £300.  I am a bit of a sucker for soft swirly ice cream.  I always have been.

That is plenty to be going at for now just nibbling away an item or two at a time as I can afford it.  I do use my kitchen equipment until it dies and usually end up having it for many years. Rome was not built in a day so they say and neither was my kitchen.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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