I’m joining some of the Blended Bloggers in a blog hop where we are sharing our five favorite kitchen tools. With the Christmas and Hannukah holidays on the horizon, I thought I’d share stocking stuffer type of tools, not big ticket item Christmas presents. So when you finish with my favorites be sure to visit Christy’s blog to see what her favorites are. By visiting all the blogs, you might get some good ideas to add to your wish list or as a gift for someone else!

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5 Favorite Kitchen Tools

1. Garlic press

Being Italian, I cook a lot with of garlic which means peeling and mincing leaving my fingers with a pungent odor. Then I discovered a garlic press. No more smelly fingers! And bonus: you don’t even need to peel it! You can pop a clove in with the skin still on it. In fact, it simplifies cleaning up if you do that. You can pull the remnants out easily by the leftover peel. You get perfectly minced garlic in a fraction of the time, without stinking up your fingers! Mine looks like this one but mine is from Pampered Chef. Honestly I wouldn’t spend the money on that one. It’s nice but this price point is better.

This one looks really nice. It’s made of stainless steel, got really good reviews and the price is excellent!

2. Garlic peeler

Sometimes though you need to use a whole garlic clove. Peeling the little skins off can be frustrating and very time consuming. I saw one of these little silicone tubes at a Pampered Chef party but I felt it was gimmicky and was skeptical about how well it worked. I was wrong. My mother in law bought one and loved hers. I found a non-Pampered Chef one and now I love it too! It is seriously like magic! You simply put a clove of garlic inside the tube, roll it on the counter like you are making playdough snakes and voila’! The skin comes right off! Mine is very similar to this one.

3. Microplane

A microplane is a fancy name for a zester or grater. I use my microplane a lot. It is perfect for grating ginger, which I keep in the freezer so I have some on hand at all times. (Ginger is great in fried rice!) I also use it for grating lemon or lime peel in baked goods or in my lemon chicken recipe. You could also use it for grating Parmesan cheese but I have a rotary cheese grater for that. I like that mine has a cover on it so that I don’t cut myself when I’m rummaging around in my drawer. Mine is similar to this one but this one has little rubber feet on the bottom so you can rest it on a surface and it won’t slip. Wish mine had that.

This one has great reviews and the price is nice too! If you read the questions you’ll see that it comes with a cover and has the little feet as well. These two are not bidirectional, so keep that in mind when using. 

4. Measuring cup for teaspoons and tablespoons

When baking and cooking you use a lot of teaspoons and tablespoons for measuring. Life got so much easier when I discovered a small glass with all the markings for teaspoons and tablespoons and all their fractions. It makes measuring liquid servings, like vanilla, a breeze!

I prefer glass measuring cups but if you like plastic, here’s a plastic version. It’s also slightly cheaper.

5. Clamshell tongs

I have several different kinds of tongs but the ones I reach for the MOST often are these:

They are prefect for flipping chicken I’m sauteing in a pan, or for serving spaghetti. I can toss a salad, or pick up asparagus. I’m telling you – I use them EVERY day! I have some that are spring loaded but they hurt my hand after a while.

So there you have it! Five of my can’t-live-without tools for the kitchen! Can’t wait to see what others have shared! Don’t forget to visit Christy’s blog next!

If you enjoyed this post, you might enjoy my tips on how to be a better cook, my favorite Italian cookbooks, and my quick rundown on herbs and spices used in Italian cooking.