New Year, New Toys!- 2015

So, right before the year ended, I went shopping for some new toys. For the kitchen, bit@h, not for the bedroom. I wanted to review the very best things that I think will change my life in 2015 and keep me in the damn kitchen. Here are the first four. Keep an eye out for the rest coming soon!

I have resisted getting an Immersion Blender for so long now. I thought whatever I needed to blend I could do with my upright or my food processor. How damn wrong this bit@h was! Actually a friend got me this one for Christmas and I haven’t stopped using it yet. I find it great for making purees (Sweet Pea Puree Recipe), for whipping cream… really anything I need to blend quickly in the kitchen without lugging out my heavy apparatus. For only $30, I fully recommend you bit@hes get one and get in the damn kitchen!

Being single with no kids, I never really needed anything larger than my medium sized non-stick, oven-safe frying pan and my small cast-iron skillet. Then last year I discovered the most awesome and easy way to do chicken and potatoes as demonstrated in this recipe: Chicken Vessuvio Bit@h Style. The problem was that when I had people over, I had to use all my damn pans and stuff still spilled out, creating the most uncleanable messes ever! So I decided to get my ass to the store and get me an oven safe, 5 quart chef’s pan like this one! (I happen to love cuisinart, so I stuck with what I love). I got it at the end of December and have used it three times already. If you have a family or even love to have guests over, you need one of these for a fully operational kitchen. I fu@%ing love it.

Silicone Basting Brush- I can’t fu@%ing believe I resisted this purchase for so long. There is nothing I don’t love about my new Silicone Basting brush. It’s easy to baste and brush on butter and egg wash, but more importantly, unlike my old regular synthetic hair brushes, it actually gets cleaned in the dishwasher without becoming an oily, crappy, disgusting mess!!!!! I definitely recommend the investment in order to get your butt in the damn kitchen this year. Here are some options for you that I found. There’s even one for the grilling bit@h in the family!!

Fish Turner- In 2014, I started making a lot of fish recipes because I didn’t want to eat like an unhealthy bit@h anymore. Here are a few of my favorite recipes:

1) Pan Roasted Mahi Mahi in a Tomato Marsala Sauce

2) Pan-Roasted Mahi Mahi in a Mediterranean Garlic Lemon Sauce

3) Potato Crusted Cajun Cod Over Sweet Pea Puree

The problem was I didn’t have a proper fish turner. I would use my regular clumsy spatula, and a lot of the time just fu@% the whole damned thing up. If you are going to do a proper and delicious pan-roasted fish filet or steak without having it stick to the pan in a ginormous fleshy mess, you are going to need to get the right equipment. Below are a few I have found. They range from the lower end to the higher end. There are definitely some pros about going all out, so if you plan to do a lot of fish in 2015, I’d splurge on this one. If not, the lower cost option is definitely worth it!