Christmas… When You’re a Cook

I think that when I started my blog, late last year, my love of cooking and baking became blatantly obvious to any family and friends that weren’t already aware. My closest friends and family have been well aware of that fact for many years. The most telling proof of this is by taking a look through the storage room in my basement. In there, you will find an enermous shelf that is home to all of my kitchen gadgets and gizmos that I don’t have room for in my kitchen. And there is a LOT. You better believe that when people know one of your passions or hobbies- it’s going to be the first thing that they think of when shopping for a gift for you.

I will say that I never get tired of receiving these gifts. Sure, I have more than one spiralizer or frosting decorating set. I have platters for every holiday, an empanada press, a cake pop maker. I even have those plastic red containers that Mexican restaurants have to keep tortillas warm. I’d say that almost half of the items in my storage room were gifts and I love them all.

This Christmas was no different. There were a couple of things that I asked for and a couple of things that I got that I did not ask for. So I thought- why not share what I got and give my opinions about how they perform and how I like them? (** I want to note that this is not a sponsored post. I am not being paid for my opinion on any of these products and they were all given as gifts.**) All of the items are linked at the bottom of this post.

So here is the haul 👇🏻

There are 2 items that are not pictured that I’d like to mention as well. The first one that I want to talk about is not in the picture because I have already used it and can’t wait to tell you about it. So we’ll start with that one…

-Curtis Stone Dura-Bake 3 Piece Baking Tray Set (HSN, $39.95 + tax and shipping)

Have I ever mentioned that my mom is a huge QVC/HSN junkie? She also loves to cook and is always purchasing things from these two companies. She had bought these baking trays for herself and when she showed them to me, I thought that they were nice, but not necessarily anything special.

AND THEN… she gave them to me for Christmas and I used them. OH MY GOSH these things are awesome! Her and I both have a few of the Curtis Stone pots and pans and I really like them. But, geez, these baking trays are on a whole other level. The first time that I used them, I made honey roasted carrots on one and bacon-wrapped green beans on the other. They bake so evenly and so nicely and the clean up is incredible. I can’t recommend these enough. In fact, I’m probably going to throw out some of my baking trays and buy more of these for myself.

-Kitchen Aid 3 Piece Pasta Roller and Cutter Set (Amazon, $121.99 + tax)

I have not opened this item yet, but let me tell you that I am so excited to use this thing! Have you ever made fresh pasta before? It is a lot easier than you might think. Not to mention, that the taste and texture is one million times better than the dried stuff that you buy in the grocery.

First, this box is surprisingly heavy! Apparently, that’s because the attachments are made from stainless steel- so super nice quality. There are 3 rollers that come in this set- a spaghetti cutter, a fettuccine cutter and a pasta sheet cutter that rolls 6 inch wide pasta sheets in upto 8 different thicknesses. While I love fresh pasta, I have usually been limited to ravioli or more rustic shaped pastas. But with this set, I can conquer spaghetti and fettuccine. I am also super psyched to use the pasta sheet roller for fresh lasagna noodles. I know that it’s a little pricey, but it seems like what you’re paying for is a quality item that is going to last. This set is also very highly rated everywhere that I have seen it sold.

-Food Network Spiralizer with 2 pc Prep Bowl Set (Kohl’s, $39.99 + tax)

A spiralizer is one product that I already own multiples of, but that didn’t stop me from putting this item on my Christmas wish list. I haven’t cracked it open yet- sorry, it’s taken longer to recover from Christmas than I anticipated- but I am very excited to use this product. First, it comes with 2 prep bowls and lids for the bowls which is a totally cool bonus. Second, it comes with 3 stainless steel blades for 3 different cuts.

Even though I have a few things in my house that basically do the same thing, I wasn’t very happy with how they performed. I have a Veggeti that I won last year at a White Elephant Christmas party and while it gets the job done, it wastes a lot of the vegetable and isn’t comfortable to use. I am hoping that this tabletop version (with feet that suction) will be a lot sturdier and more efficient. Also, it has awesome online reviews. Stay tuned for how I think it performs.

-Nordic Ware 3 Pc Pizza Baking Set (Target, $15.99)

I’ll be honest, I’m not expecting fireworks with this gift. Maybe I will be pleasantly surprised though. My kids and I were walking around Target, right before Christmas, and they wanted some ideas for gifts for me. We just happened to be in the kitchen section of the store and I spotted this set. It’s a great deal at $15.99. It’s a 3 piece set that comes with the pizza stone, a pizza cutter and a metal stand to serve the pizza (on the stone).

I already have a pizza stone (not a great one) and I wanted another one. Plus I really think the metal stand is cute. I have not yet tried out the pizza stone, but I have opened the box and have a few points to mention- 1. The pizza stone is nice and large, 14” I believe. It’s pretty nice quality-wise. 2. The pizza cutter is smaller than I thought it would be. It’s mid-range in quality. 3. I noticed on the box that it said that the stone’s max temp is 400 degrees. Which kind of surprises me considering it’s a pizza stone. I would have thought it would max out around 500 degrees. So I guess that I better watch out for that. 🤔

-Kitchen Aid 2-Speed Immersion Hand Blender (Target, $49.99)

I pulled this sweet thing out of the box to smooth out some soup that I had made. With almost 1,200 reviews on target.com and almost a 5 star rating, I wasn’t really surprised at how well it worked. There are some brands that you know are going to sell quality items and, as far as I can remember, I have always been satisfied with my Kitchen Aid products. This immersion blender has two speeds, has a removable blending arm (which makes cleaning a lot easier) and it feels very comfortable in your hand. It also comes with this cute little cup and lid.

-OXO Steel Mandoline (Sur La Table, $99.99)

Haven’t used this yet. Can’t say that I am excited to use it either. This particular item was on my Christmas wish list as well. So why am I not excited to use it? Ugh… because it’s a damn mandoline. Have you ever had the displeasure of using one? Cut yourself one time on one of these things and it can scar you for life- not just physically, but mentally as well.

I have had so many mandolines over the years that it’s ridiculous. I threw my last one away and was in need of another. My biggest piece of advice when shopping for a mandoline is- do NOT go cheap. Go for quality. Get a safe piece of equipment. Go for a nice blade that is going to stay sharp. Any chef will tell you that a sharp blade isn’t as dangerous as a dull blade.

I picked this mandoline, specifically, for a lot of reasons. It comes extremely highly recommended. Both online and from every associate that I have ever talked to at (multiple) Sur La Table locations. It also has blades that are not stored in the base. That was important to me because the clean up on mandolines where the blades are stored inside are extremely annoying because basically every blade gets dirty even if you just use one. The other things that were important to me were: A solid base- this one is stainless steel. Non-slip feet. Folding legs. A nice food holder for slicing. And blades for all of the different cuts that I want. This model also has a really cool thickness dial. I will definitely keep you updated on how this OXO Mandoline performs.

Last, but not least, is a gift that I didn’t receive. It was a gift that I gave to my family for Christmas. We have a lot of movie nights in our home and we LOVE popcorn. So I thought that it was about time that we had one of these 👇🏻

-West Bend Theater Crazy Popcorn Machine (Target, $44.99)

I’ll be honest… I didn’t do a lot of product research before making this purchase. I was walking through Target one day and saw it and bought it. I thought that it looked really neat. I wanted a popcorn machine that was more fun than the ones that just blow the popcorn into a bowl, but I also wasn’t quite ready to pull the plug on a stand-up popcorn machine.

We used this right away for a movie night and I have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised. The one thing that I will note right from the beginning is that it is not fully assembled in the box and there aren’t any real directions for putting it together (only directions for cooking popcorn). It took a minute, but we figured it out. Other than that, it was SUPER simple to operate and a lot of fun! It does a fantastic job popping the popcorn and pops a decent amount per batch. For a family of 4, we did have to make 2 batches, but it only takes a couple minutes more than a microwave popcorn does and it is SOOO much healthier and better tasting.

(Post cover image by: Sarah Pflug at Burst)