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Sometimes when I’m in my kitchen I think about the all the years I spent watching the Jetsons growing up. I remember as a kid thinking how cool it would be if some time in the future robots really could do a lot of the work for us.
Now here I am, standing in “the future” using “robots” in my kitchen to get a lot of the work done. It makes life (and dinnertime) so much easier!
There are 5 things your kitchen wants for Christmas. (These are the five things I don’t know how I ever lived without! Once you have them, you’ll know what I mean)
The InstantPot
I have to be honest, this one was really difficult for me to give in to. Friends and family were singing its praises for more than a year – telling me all the reasons I just had to have one. I’m an old school girl who loves her crockpot so I didn’t really see the point. Then one day, I was grocery shopping and noticed the store had it marked way down. I mean c’mon, is there a southern girl anywhere who doesn’t love a bargain? So I put it in my basket and brought it home, still unsure that I would ever understand the craze. I quickly began to see just what all the hype was about. Boiled eggs in less than 10 minutes. Baked potatoes so fluffy they melt in your mouth. Chicken goes from frozen to shredded in under 20 minutes. I mean, this thing is a genius! If you want to make healthier meals a LOT faster add one of these to your kitchen toolbelt.
Ninja Mega Kitchen System
Have you ever made a homemade carrot cake? It’s my husband’s favorite so I bake one at least once a year. I don’t know how I went 20 years of marriage without a food processor! I’m done grating carrots by hand and I think this thing is probably the best Mother’s Day Gift I’ve ever bought myself! The other day I used it to make homemade cashew butter, which I then used to make homemade “Reese’s” cups. Oh.my.goodness. Yum! Besides desserts, this food processor/blender/smoothie maker is great for all kinds of things – from blending frozen fruit, milk and protein powder into a creamy breakfast shake, to dicing up onions and tomatoes for a quick salsa or pico de gallo, to shredding that giant block of cheese from Costco. It’s three kitchen appliances in one!
Ninja AIR FRYER
We got this one as a family gift from my mom last Christmas. In the words of my 16 year old, “This is the BEST gift Nana has ever given us!” The kids love to use it to re-heat pizza (it gets just as crisp as when the pizza was fresh out of the oven!), make crispy gluten free chicken nuggets, quesadillas, and all those other snacky foods teens love. My husband and I use it almost every morning for quick breakfasts. A few chicken links and some red potatoes tossed with herbs are a nice complement to our eggs in the morning. It also does an incredible job of roasting veggies. My recent experiment in this gadget was bacon wrapped jalapeno chicken “nuggets”. I basically marinated chicken breast that I had cut into chunks. Then I wrapped them in bacon with a slice of jalapeno and “fried” them. I wish I had a picture to convince you how quick and delicious life is with this thing around!
KitchenAid Stand Mixer
So this one is actually on MY wish list. I can only tell you how much I love it because I’ve seen it in action at my mom’s, aunt’s, and grandmother’s houses. Talk about whipping up a nice loaf of bread or gluten free pizza dough with almost zero effort! My grandma also uses hers to beat her mashed potatoes and they are so fluffy and creamy every single time. Not to mention cakes, cookies, icings, and all the other things that you don’t need to babysit while they mix. I can’t WAIT to have this in my kitchen. If you get one for yours, will you tag me in a picture on Facebook or Instagram so I can celebrate with you?!
Last but not least, this little “robot” makes our kitchen so much fun:
Google Home Hub with Assistant
When we’re all in the kitchen cooking together, we use this handy device to look up recipes, do the math to convert amounts in recipes, play music, play games, watch YouTube videos, check the weather, set timers, and research weird questions like, “How many countries are primarily Spanish speaking?” (Yes, that was an actual question my daughter asked it while we were cooking tonight. In case you’re curious, there are twenty!) We even have it connected to our Nest doorbell so when someone comes to the front door it notifies us in the kitchen and we can see on the screen who is there.
I’m an old school girl at heart, but I’m really learning to love just how much these devices can do for us. They make getting meals on the table easy and fun. I think one thing that hasn’t changed from my grandmother’s generation until now is that the kitchen is still a place where families gather. These little pieces of technology that have a space on my counter make it so easy to create memories that I hope my children will cherish for generations to come.
Living in the future is cool, y’all. So tell me, what are your favorite kitchen gadgets? Got any on your Christmas wish list this year?