By Darcy Miller

Okay so Ive told you about stocking your pantry or cupboards now it's time to stock your kitchen with useful gadgets and ten made my Top Ten list!

1. TONGS

With a simple pair of tongs you can serve spaghetti, flip grillf ood, toss salad, squeeze tea bags, remove baked potatoes from the oven, lift corn. And let your two year old pick things up with them! The list for tongs is endless! A must have for your kitchen!

2. MEAT MALLET

Don't beat your meat, pound with a meat mallet! Be careful what you are pounding though you may catch a finger and it may not be yours!

3.HEAT PROOF SPATULA

If you don't have a heat proof spatula you may end up with mud on your face or plastic in your food. You can fry with it, stir hot steamed vegies, folding egg whites and mixing cookie batter.

4.GARLIC PRESS

Didn't have one until recently. Boy was I missing out! With a flick of the wrist presto your garlic is pressed and ready to be added to meals! It can also squeeze juice out of an onion or ginger. Push cookie dough through this to make hair for your gingerbread men. Well...just a suggestion. But one piece of advice, playdough doesn't come out of the little holes!

5.MELON BALLER

Good ole melon baller can work as a ice cream scoop, a cookie dropper and core pears and apples.

6 KITCHEN SHEARS

My Mom has the nicest pair of these. I'll have to ask her where she got them. You MUST have a good pair of kitchen scissors for snipping herbs, can cut up whole tomatoes,can chop cooked noodles, pizza cuts in a snap, and trim fats from your meats with these. Too bad they couldn't trim fat from my thighs!

7.COLLANDER

The steel ones seem to work better and don't stain as easily AND clean up quicker. You can steam vegies over a hot pan of water with this, drain noodles, drain just about anything in this. I've even drained hamburger through my collander!

8. A "Y" SHAPER PEELER

Believe me, I've gone through my share of those long skinny peelers that dont seem to go quick enough on the potatoes. I have found the Y shaped peeler is quicker and cleaner. It also makes carrot ribbons and zuchinni for your breads, You can make chocolate curls for your cakes, and even grate cheese with this gadget!

9. WOOD BUTCHER BLOCK CUTTING BOARD

If you like to keep your counter top fairly decent, invest in a woodblock cutting board. Very handy to have in the kitchen. The Butcher block ones have a finsh that you can roll out your dough and it won't stick. Easy clean up with a cutting board since it's movable. Move it to the garbage can and scrape it clean. I like the fact that I can move what I am doing with me. I even use my cutting board for doing my scrapbooks and one time I read or did a crossword puzzle on it in bed : )

10. OLD FASHIONED STEEL CHEESE GRATER

This is my favorite gadget, I shave chocolate over my puddings and cakes, of course shred cheese with it, grate vegies and pumpkin. Easy clean up because of the stainless steel and inexpensive to havearound!

Just a few really useful items to have around the kitchen! All of these items combined in a nice gift basket make an excellent wedding or shower gift!

About The Author: About the Author: Darcy Miller is a freelance writer with such works as The EzineCreator and Moms Who Work. Publishes two Newsletters called The HoneyPot Newsletter with over 80,000 subscribers and Moms Who Work a womens community for Mothers! Also known for her Childrens Holiday Postal Newsletter which she does entirely from her home! To subscribe to her newsletter send email to Aniasangel@aol.com

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