Making life easier

A couple of years ago I remember reading a blog post where the person mentioned that they learned that you can broil things in the oven. Hmm, that's weird, I thought. I've been doing that since I was seven. Maybe she grew up with a gas oven. Anyway, it got me thinking about all the things, tricks and gadgets and such, that other people know about that I am oblivious to that would make my life easier.

Here's just a few kitchen gadgets that make my life easier.

1.

**An apple slicer**

Most of you have probably use one of these, but Chad had never seen one until we were married. Now he owns his own and keeps it at work.

2.

I love these plastic bottles. I own a bunch. Right now I have five of them in my fridge full of homemade snow cone syrup. I need to use the syrup up and get those bottles out of the fridge until next summer.

I love these bottles because I can use them to do creative cooking by making fancy designs on plates or making shaped pancakes. So fun.

But a more practical use for them is I put sour cream in them. By doing that we use a lot less sour cream then if we were to use a spoon to dollop it on top of our food. (And of course I am not just about things being practical- you can also make fancy designs on top of the food! Like spiderwebs in tomato soup, etc...)

3.

I love my kitchen scissors. Kitchen Aid brand kitchen scissors to be exact. I own two of them because one of them is always in the sink or the dishwasher. I can't think of all the things I use them for right now, but I did use a pair of them this morning to cut my kids rolled up crepes into bit size pieces. Oh, and of course we almost always use them to cut up chicken.

4.

Can you tell what this thing is?

It's a velcro cord keeper. I am easily annoyed by untamed cords. Mostly because I keep all my small kitchen appliances on a lazy susan and if there is a rogue cord, it cause problems. I use to just use rubber bands to keep the cords in check, but they would always break. Then one day I found these things at NPS and I was a happy girl. I have also been able to find them at Home Depot and I've seen them at Lowe's.

5.

I love, love, love this knife. I use it every. Single. Day. I was going to write a Favorite Things Friday post about it, but I haven't gotten to it yet. Chad gave me this knife a couple of years ago for Mother's Day. It's a J.A. Henckels Santoku knife. J.A. Henckels makes this knife out of different kinds of steel. This particular version of the knife is made out of more expensive steel and it has an awesome soft handle. And of course Chad had to buy the knife made out of the more expensive steel because the steel is manufactured in Solingen, Germany. Chad live in that particular city when he served his mission. Cool, huh? I am glad he had an excuse to go for the more expensive steel because this knife is AWESOME!

My sister has one of these knifes too and she is afraid to use it because it's so sharp.

6.

And the last little gadget that makes my life easier that most of you haven't heard of. Or you have seen it, but don't own one. It's a must have too. Everytime somebody sees me using it they ask me about it. It's an Ulu knife. I first heard of these things when I had an aunt and uncle who lived in Alaska. It's an Iniut knife. I randomly used one when I was growing up and after I got married (Chad gave me one for a gift. Hmm, apparently Chad likes to give me sharp things.)

Because of kids, it's another thing I use every. Single. Day. It makes cutting up food for kids soooooooooooooooooooooo easy. I wouldn't want to live without it. And my current one is starting to fall apart because it has a wooden handle and I stick it in the dishwasher, even thought I shouldn't. It's lasted eight years, not too shabby. And I just picked up a brand new one, still in the package, and the Goodwill in Seattle. Awesome souvenir!

So, what have you got that will make my life easier??