Help! I'm addicted to kitchen gadgets!!

Ratty

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Sat Aug-14-04 01:37 PM
Original message

Help! I'm addicted to kitchen gadgets!!

I thought I had it under control. At first it was "I REALLY need that," then it was, "I can stop whenever I want." Now I have to face the fact that I have a problem. I have a typical amount of counter space in my kitchen but an UNGODLY amount of cabinets with lots and lots of room for all kinds of junk. This only makes the problem worse. In THE LAST 2 MONTHS here is what I've bought:

Hamilton Beach HealthSmart 31605A Indoor Grill
Completely submersible, cleanup is a breeze. Does thin things really, really well. Thin cuts of fish are the juciest and tastiest I've ever had, with those nice delicious grill stripes on both sides. I haven't quite managed to do thicker cuts yet very well yet. Large boneless chicken breasts turn out a little dry, it's hard to judge when the inside is done. I may have to set it to a little lower heat or cover it while grilling, or maybe it just doesn't do thick cuts well. Need more practice to tell for sure.

Presto Pizzazz Rotating Pizza Oven
A strange looking device but I do love homemade pizza and can never seem to get the crust right in the oven. I really like this little guy. It's very, very light, small, quiet and does pizza--homemade, frozen, unbaked take-out--to absolute perfection. With independent lower and upper heating elements, you can fine tune the timing to make the crispiest crust or bake the top a little longer for extra thick toppings. Frozen, store-bought pizzas come out perfect every time. Only does up to 12" pizzas, may be a problem for families, but for a single persom I recommend it highly.

HealthSmart Juice Extractor
I don't even like juice. Carrot juice makes me gag, but the pulp is very useful in recipes. Still, the recipe book has some tasty looking fruit juices you can make, various cranberry blends, etc. I was going to take my father's juicer which he no longer uses but it's like 40 lbs and nearly the size of a suitcase. At least this one is quite small. The filter/blade doohicky is extremely delicate and not covered by warranty. I haven't had a chance to use it yet.

George Foreman GV5 Contact Cooker
I saw this one on TV. They said order in the next 10 minutes and they'd take 20 dollars off! So I did. I NEVER thought I'd fall for that, or buy a "George Foreman" anything, but I have to admit I'm loving it (turns out you can buy it for the same "20 dollars off" price online anyplace, of course). Instead of grilling my thick cut of salmon I popped it in this baby instead. It turned out perfect. Moist and juicy inside and out. Not as tasty as if it were grilled, but like I said, I haven't figured out how to grill thick cuts on my griller. The timer makes it easy, no need to worry about temperature or preheating or heating the entire oven to bake something small. It's very small which makes it easy to store on the counter out of the way, but limits you to really small chickens and other cuts of meat. There is a larger version for sale but this size is perfect for me. I do have a regular oven after all. So far this is my favorite purchase. For some reason it's really easy to burn yourself on it, even though the manual warns about this repeatedly. You have to be careful near the thing.

I also bought a very small food processor for something like 15 bucks. Good for chopping a clove or two of garlic. I have my eye on one of those nifty super-processors they're currently selling on TV, complete with goofy chef, fawning female assistant, and easily pleased ohh-ing and ahh-ing audience. He just makes everything look so easy and delicious. Plus I saw an ice shaving machine in a store window I want (I LOVE shaved ice), and there's another thread this morning about fancy kitchen knives and I REALLY need a new set of knives. AND i need a new coffee ginder to top it all off.

When will it stop? Is there a support group for people like me?