I don’t really consider myself a collector of gadgets. Apparently, I like to do things the hard way. Let’s face it, there are good reasons why most gadgets exist: to solve a unique problem.

Here in no apparent order are some of my favorite gadgets:

Food processor. Yeah, okay, it’s not really a gadget, but as anyone who will tell you grating cheese by hand can cost about a pound of flesh, usually from the knuckles.

The stick blender. I love my stick blender especially for grinding up spaghetti sauce with lots of veggies. The whisk attachment is just plain awesome, too.

Apple corer, slicer, and peeler (all in one). Perfect and fast for any recipe that calls for apples.

Cherry pitter: Aside from the suspiciously bright red spatter from pitting cherries, this is a fabulous way to add cherries to fruit salad and lunches without having to spit out the pits. Bonus: you can actually aim the pits at someone although the range is somewhat lacking.

Can openers are worth their weight in gold especially if you’ve ever had to use that little opener on your pocket knife.

Vegetable peelers. But it has to be a good one. We all know the frustration of a bad one, might as well just use a paring knife.

Well, that’s about it from my kitchen. I’m sure there are others but those are some of the ones I’ve used in the last week.

Until next time.