Favorite Things - Kitchen Edition #2

I'm back with another edition of Favorite Things - Round 2 of kitchen accessories! You can read the first edition HERE.  This was also where I confessed my, possibly unnatural, love of kitchen tools and gadgets. I've noticed there are several other things I use fairly frequently that I could rave about. So here is an additional list to add to the other six.

Wilton Verona pan - we registered for Wilton baking pans and sheets for our wedding and received most of them. For some reason I didn't think to get a 9x13 baking pan; you know the most common one to have. I was in TJMaxx [or HomeGoods...one of those] one day and came across the pan you see above. It looked nice, the price seemed right, and I had needed a 9x13 pan (read: family sized box of brownies...for the two of us), so home it came and I fell in love.  For two reasons: 1) the handles - if you bake something that rises up high you won't smash it by taking it out of the oven  2) it is the most non-stick pan I've ever used! I have forgotten to grease the pan several times when makes cake-type recipes and it comes out clean every time. I had to do a bit of Googling because I couldn't remember the "special" name of this Wilton pan. I had never heard of this "special" Verona line of Wilton pans before, or since. On researching for this post I discovered many sizes are available on Amazon!

2. Pineapple Slicer - this handy tool got it's own post HERE, so I'll let you read up on that in case you missed it and save you from more rambling if you didn't.

3. Juicer bowl - I saw a sweet juicer bowl similar to the one above in a magazine recently for over $100. I'm not sure who pays that much to juice a lemon every now and then, but they should feel ashamed of themselves. I thought it was sweet and cute though, so when I found one at Ross for 3 bucks I thought I found a steal. This is completely unnecessary, as you can squeeze a lemon with only one hand, but it does get more juice out than I usual do, and you can strain the seeds out, and you can pour all that you've juiced into a measuring cup to make sure you have enough for your recipe without losing any in the process. (See how I did that? Justification of $3 right there.)

4. Cookie Scoop - this gadget happens to be from Pampered Chef because it was given to me by my sweet sister, Kristi. (Who is a Pampered Chef rep, so if you'd like your own cookie scoop or other items go HERE to order or contact her!)  I'm not sure how I made cookies before I had this. It just makes it so easy to place the dough on the sheet, and it results in "perfectly" shaped and uniform cookies.  Pampered Chef sells a small (1Tbspn), medium (2Tbspn), and large (3Tbspn) scoop. I have the medium size and think it works great for a good-sized cookie.  I'd like to have them all one day though. I could see where the small would be better for maybe making cookies for a large crowd or party where there is lots of food, so the cookies are only a few bites. I know my sister-in-law, Heidi, likes to use hers for filling her cupcake tins so that they are all filled to the same height and result in uniform, domed cupcakes. They are sold elsewhere, but I can vouch for the quality of these Pampered Chef scoops!

5. The Misto - this is a refillable container that you pump to create pressure so that it will mist out oil (or water you fill it with). Aunt Vera gave me this because she had two and likes hers, and I'm so thankful for it. I love refillable products (and should implement more of them into our home) because it produces less waste in our landfills. It also lets us use pure oil of our choice and not additives that are found in store-bought aerosol cooking sprays (why eat more chemicals than you have to?). You do have to pump it often to prevent a stream of oil in place of misting, but it's worth it.

I hope you've enjoyed this edition of Favorite Things! I enjoy sharing them with you, and some of you had fun responses to the last one. Do you have any new favorite kitchen tools?

Weekend Recap

While it's nearly the weekend again, last weekend was quite eventful so I thought I'd do a quick run-through:

Friday: Jesse and I had lunch with Aunt Vera at our usually place - O'Carr's for chicken salad and fruit. We realized we had never introduced Vera to Steel City Pops, and it was just right around the corner so we went!  Vera had vanilla (I told her that was too plain, but it is delicious), I had Maple Bacon Bourbon (ah-mazing!), and Jesse had Watermelon (I think... we've been again since...).

Later that night we drove to Helena for a free outdoor movie in the park with friends Ronda, Mike, Kelsey, and baby Addy. It's such a cute idea for the town to do for everyone to have some summer fun. And you all know that I love free. :)

Saturday:  We met up with friends and went to the Pepper Place farmer's market downtown. It was fun spending the morning strolling around chatting with friends and enjoying local produce and products. I love seeing the proud farmers standing behind their beautiful fruits and veggies. I can barely keep my one low-light, barely-needs-water plant alive, and these men and women have nurtured seeds into bountiful items to fill many dinner plates. I wish I had that kind of talent and patience.
We spent the afternoon at the outlet mall sprucing up Jesse's wardrobe.  Then we ended the night at the dollar theater with a big bag of popcorn, watching Oz.  I was pleasantly surprised with the movie. I love The Wizard of Oz, and while the plot of this movie occurs before the plot of the original I was hoping they would tie things together well, and they did.

Sunday: We were finally in town to be able to go to church, and it was SO good to be back to hear the importance and passion of our church leaders for community building within our congregation. I love the community group we attend and the friends we've made within it. Church is so much more than Sunday morning, and having a community of friends to share the week with is something I'm glad I've found here in Birmingham. Some of us even held true to the sermon on Sunday and had lunch together after church at Mooyah - a burger place similar to Five Guys, which was delicious!

Now we need to make more plans for this coming weekend - a big blowout weekend before Summer semester starts on Monday!