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Day 5: Pam’s Kitchen’s absolute must have items!

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I grew up in an Italian family where my mom made all our food.  It was a normal day to see mom in the kitchen making 40 quarts of gravy (Italian for pasta sauce), large pots of Venus de Milo soup, pickling peppers, or cutting corn off the cob to freeze for the winter.  We had a large chest freezer in our basement that was fully stocked and ready to go for the winter. Meat, veggies, breads, etc. were all bought in bulk and when there was a great sale.  My house was the house in the neighborhood where all the kids would come to hang out because there was always tons of food and plenty of Popsicles in the freezer.  In fact, my dad “asking” my mom if she was making enough food to feed an army is one of my fondest childhood memories of my dad.  This is a great example of how we as parents can instill values and traditions into our children without necessarily teaching them. We lead by example and hope that our traditions and values will rub off on our children. Cooking and baking from scratch as well as showing love through food are values that I am grateful that my mom instilled and passed down to me. I hope that I am instilling that same passion about cooking to my kids as well.

So here are a few of the items in my kitchen that allow me to be a well-oiled cooking machine. Nothing here is really that Earth shattering of an item, but having all these allows me to make a greater amount of my family’s food.

  1. Frigidaire Chest freezer-The first purchase after buying our house was a chest freezer. Dani & I devote an entire section of the blog to freezer friendly meals. Stock your freezer and you will not only be able to buy foods in bulk when they go on sale thus saving money, but you will always have prepped meals on hand when you need them.

    My chest freezer

    My chest freezer

  2. Food processor- I have an 8-year-old Cuisinart Prep 11 Plus that still kicks butt and is a staple in my kitchen. Although I am no longer making baby food, I still use my food processor a lot. Whether it’s making my home-made fruit & nut bars or dicing a bunch of veggies for broccoli soup, a food processor is a kitchen must have.

  3. Saladmaster Steamer pot-My mom found this set at a yard sale and paid $5 bucks for it. I had no idea what it was worth until the handle broke & I went to recycle it. My mom freaked out because I had obviously no idea this 3 piece set was worth $200 new. Needless to say I replaced the handle (love the lifetime warranty) and kept it. This post and my food processor were my 2 staples for making baby food. I also use it every time I cook vegetables. Worth its weight and then some.

    my steamer set

    my steamer set

  4. Yogotherm yogurt maker-My daughter loves yogurt. I love that I can make it for her with 2 ingredients: grass-fed whole milk and a starter culture. Yup, you read that right. All it takes is 2 ingredients to make the most delicious yogurt.  Have you looked at the ingredients list of some yogurt out there? Fructose, modified corn starch, malic acid, potassium sorbet & sodium citrate are the ingredients that I don’t recognize in Dannon’s Oikos yogurt. Knowing how to make yogurt tells me that those ingredients aren’t necessary and that this is just another processed food.  Making yogurt with whole milk or 2% milk yields thick yogurt with the consistency almost to that of Greek-style. Straining it in a cheese cloths would allow you to take any fat milk and turn it into Greek-style. Not sure where to start? Check out my post on how to make it yourself. Now if I could only find a recipe that is easy enough for coconut milk yogurt for myself….

    My yogotherm and saladmaster pot ready for yogurt making!

    My yogotherm and saladmaster pot ready for yogurt making!

  5. Oster-Hand mixer-This is not an overly fancy mixer but I do like that mine has a retractable cord. I use this for small jobs like my paleo pancakes or creaming butter. Basically I use this for any small job that doesn’t warrant the “big guns” you know, the Kitchen Aid Mixer. Speaking of my Kitchen Aid mixer…

    source: amazon.com

    source: amazon.com

  6. Kitchen aid ice cream maker attachment- I was fortunate enough that Dani let me borrow her ice cream attachment first. I had it for a few weeks and quickly realized that it was super easy to use. Just keep it stored in the freezer at all times so it’s ready to go whenever the mood strikes for the best tasting homemade ice cream or sorbet. My whole family loves ice cream and I love that I can make a variety of healthy treats from cow’s milk to coconut milk to sorbet with very few ingredients. Just wait for the post where I tell you how to make the most amazing ice cream cake! I just made it for the Dude’s 6th birthday on Saturday and it was so yummy that I sacrificed feeling sick (I am lactose intolerant) to eat it…..twice!

    Ice cream maker

    Dani’s Ice cream maker

  7. Rival Crock Pot-In case you missed my slow cooker whole chicken post let me just say that the crock pot/slow cooker makes a weekly appearance in my house. I am a big fan of the “throw a bunch of food into the crock pot and set it” recipes. Recipes that require lengthy prep or precooking of meat or veggies are recipes I skip over. I am using the Crock Pot because I want two things: fast & easy.

What are your kitchen must haves? Am I missing something that you personally can’t live without? Let me know in the comments; I can still ask Santa for a few more gifts ;-)

Don’t forget to enter our giveaway! You will get one entry each for the below items and letting us know in the comments of this post (if you do all three you get 3 entries):

  • Become a follower of our blog by selecting “follow” on the right side of our blog, or let us know that you already follow us.
  • “Like” us on Facebook or let us know that you already do.
  • Follow us on Twitter or let us know that you already do.

You will also get one entry for each of the below that you do and letting us know in the comments:

  • Share this post on your Facebook, Blog, or Twitter page.
  • Leave a comment answering our question at the end of our post on each of the 12-days. Miss past days? Here they are:

Day 1: Pam’s Closet Must-Haves

Day 2: Dani’s Workout Apparel Addiction

Day 3: Pam’s Favorite Exercise Gear & Stuff

Day 4: Dani’s Must Have Running Gear

PamSignatureNote: This series is not sponsored by any company/blog/manufacturer/website. The Fit Moms have not been paid or received any product as compensation for writing their reviews. All opinions are entirely their own and all items were purchased with their own funds for their own use because of their belief in the product/company. Likewise, the items that will be given away were purchased with their own funds simply because they want to spread a little holiday cheer.



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