How To: Simplify

A simple living lifestyle

Happy New Year + {Giveaway}

Congratulations Amy (@laprochaine)! You are the winner of How To: Simplify’s $50 Visa gift card giveaway! I e-mailed you with instructions on how to claim your prize!

Thank you to all who participated in the giveaway! I had so much fun learning about your favorite cooking gadgets! I hope you enjoy following How To: Simplify and all of the tips, tricks and recipes that are shared to help simplify life in the kitchen!

Can you believe it’s 2010 already? I hope all of you had an amazing time ringing in the New Year. To continue the celebration of the New Year, I would like to start 2010off on the right foot by offering a special giveaway!

Inspired by the awesome KitchenAid Stand Mixer that my husband gave me for Christmas, all you have to do is tell me what your favorite cooking gadget is for a chance to win a $50 Visa gift card! It’s that simple!

Rule:

  1. Leave a comment on this post by 11:59 p.m. EST January 6, 2010 telling me what your favorite cooking gadget is for a chance to win a $50 Visa gift card!

Bonus Entries:

  1. Follow How To: Simplify on Twitter and tweet the following: “Visit http://bit.ly/6SeE60 and share what your favorite cooking gadget is for a chance to win a $50 Visa gift card via @HowToSimplify!” Be sure to leave a link to your Twitter post in a comment.
  2. Become a fan of How To: Simplify’s Facebook page and share this with your own Facebook friends: “Visit http://bit.ly/6SeE60 and share what your favorite cooking gadget is for a chance to win a $50 Visa gift card from How To: Simplify!” Be sure to leave a comment letting me know that you did this.
  3. Share information about this giveaway with your own blog readers. Just remember to leave me a separate comment sharing the link to your post.
  4. Subscribe to How To: Simplify via email or RSS feed. New subscribers only.

To recap: In addition to leaving a comment on this post, you also have four bonus entries, giving you a total of five possible entries. Please remember to leave me a separate comment for each additional action you take (shared on Twitter, shared on Facebook, shared on blog, subscribed via email or RSS feed).

*If you’re having issues with submitting a comment, try previewing the comment and then tab through the comment section to view the submit button. Please feel free to email me directly if you run into any issues.

This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only and ends at 11:59 p.m. EST January 6, 2010. One winner will randomly be selected on January 7, 2010.

If you are reading this entry via email updates or RSS reader, please visit How To: Simplify to enter. Unfortunately, emailing How To: Simplify is not a valid entry for this giveaway.

 

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Comments

  1. Definitely my food chopper! It makes for great chopped nuts, chopped lettuce, chopped corn flakes for breading, and chopped candy for "Flurries" in ice cream! I'd be lost without it!

    Reply

  3. I have so many kitchen gadgets, it's hard to decide which one I love the most. I use my mini-chopper quite a bit, and I really love my big, heavy Cuisinart whisk.

    But I think my favorite kitchen gadget is a huge old wooden spoon that my grandmother gave me. I use it for everything, and the sentimental value makes all the food taste even better. :)

    Reply

  24. My favorite cooking gadget is my automatic egg cooker. I can't boil an egg to save my life, but with this egg cooker, I can make perfect soft-boiled or hard-boiled eggs every time. I also love my egg slicer, which makes making egg salad a snap.
    Alicia Webster
    5webs@comcast.net

    Reply

  28. I would have to say a stand mixer. I don't own one but borrow my Mom's quite often. I really as in love with the Stand mixer.
    Thanks so much.

    Reply

  43. My favorite gadget used to be my slow cooker. My husband just bought a breadmaker recently and now that's my favorite. The bread comes out delicious!

    mami2jcn at gmail dot com

    Reply

  62. I have a small food processor that has proved very helpful in my kitchen. I love to bake and this gadget grinds my walnuts and almonds so fast that I can finish my cookie fillings in less than ten minutes.

    Reply

  80. My favorite kitchen gadget is my KitchenAid stand mixer in bright red. I have never baked so much in my life until I had this nifty gadget!

    Kim
    turtles8861(at)gmail(dot)com

    Reply

  83. The mandolin slicer. Flatter and easier to clean than the old box one Mom had, and it has a thing to hold the food while you slice!

    Reply

  87. Thank you for the giveaway. I don't really have any favorites (yet) but, I'd love a stand mixer! If I had to choose something I own, would an electric can opener count?

    Reply

  88. My favorite is my Kitchen Aid mixer but other than that I really like my grill pan…A heavy pan with groves in it. Great for grilling fish and chicken. semtaylor(at)yahoo(dot)com

    Reply

  94. I'm such a kitchen gadget novice! I have to say that when I used my moms food processor the other day it melted my mind with it's glory! I didn't realize what I had been missing out on!

    Reply

  96. Oh, I'd LOVE a stand mixer. I broke down and got a salad spinner this year. I can't believe how much I love it. I use it all the time to clean fresh herbs and spin them dry.

    Reply

  97. I have a little battery opperated hand mixer with 4 attachments that is great for small jobs, great for beating an egg or mixing hot chocolate

    singermagic1(at)yahoo(dot)com

    Reply

  107. I love my Oxo can opener. I used to buy electric after electric until I wised up and purchased this handheld one. It opens cans like a charm!

    Reply

  110. My very expensive WMF garlic press. It works like a dream. It was the sort of gift I'd never buy for myself, but I really love it.
    gandtiques at (hotmail) dot com

    Reply

  121. My favorite is also a kitchen aid stand mixer, but my favorite inexpensive one is my garliczoom XL.

    denise_22315 at yahoo dot com

    Reply

  128. I use my KitchenAid stand mixer all of the time. I especially like the shredder/slicer attachment that allows me to shred mounds of cheese, slice apples for fresh apple cakes, shred oranges and slice cranberries for fresh relish, and a host of other uses.

    Reply

  134. My favorite gadget is my garlic press. We can have fresh garlic in our meals without my hands getting too smelly!

    jillrh1 [at] comcast [dot] net

    Reply

  139. My slow cooker, especially during the winter months. It warms the house with the smell of simmering dinner, and its so easy :) Thanks!
    shevilkenevil1 at aol dot com

    Reply

  145. The Slap Chop is my favorite kitchen gadget! I love that thing; a definite must if you love to eat salads of different varieties.

    its.a.hit at gmail dot com

    Reply

  147. My favorite cooking gadget is my OXO peeler – it's so fast and it's so easy to control the width of the peel with a little pressure. asthenight at gmail dot com

    Reply

  172. We love our George Foreman grill. We use it frequently during the week for hamburgers and also kielbasa sandwiches.

    shel704 at aol dot com

    Reply

  174. I don't have a lot of kitchen gadgets but I guess my favorite would be the apple slicer thingy. lol It slices and cores the apple for my girls. thank you!!

    Reply

  182. Not really sure if you could count this as a gadget..but I love my dishwasher…prior to having a dishwasher I would dread cooking meals that involved intensive prep as I literally HATE doing the dishes but when I got a dishwasher…I cook my butt off and it saves me money from doing the dishes manually and from ordering or dining out as I always do not mind cooking now.

    email – hhadry19114@aol.com

    Reply

  183. There's tons I could choose from, but my favorite gadget today is my apple slicer. I've had lots of dental work that doesn't allow me to bite into an apple, so the slicer is a quick way to get my apple into a form I can eat :)

    Reply

  184. My favorite kitchen gadget is my garlic scraper-it is this little ceramic plate with raised notches in graduating circles-that when you rub a garlic clove across it makes the finest minced garlic ever.

    Reply

  190. My favorite would be either my blender or our electric skillet…both of them make cooking/baking so much easier!
    onepilgrim86[at]yahoo.com

    Reply

  193. my kitchen favorites are the kitchenaid stand mixer when I am baking, or else I love to crush garlic with the side of a large knife and then mince it. Don't know why I find that so fun, but I do.

    Reply

  198. My favorite gadget is this great peeler. I don't remember the brand but it is awesome. Does a great job peeling anything. Thanks for the giveaway.

    Reply

  203. I'll admit that I'm pretty partial to our Magic Bullet. That gets a lot more use than I thought it would when it was first brought home.

    paschott [at] gmail [dot] com

    Reply

  208. My current favorite is my mandolin slicer! It saved me this summer when I had tons of tomatoes from the garden and wanted to make sundried tomatoes! Slice, slice, slice …DONE! Second would probably be a tie between microwave and dishwasher.

    Reply

  213. After my stand mixer it'd have to be my rice cooker. While it doesn't save time, I can leave it alone to do its job and I know I'll have awesome rice.

    Reply

  223. This is a hard one, I love how time my mushroom brush saves me, but I really love my vita-mix blender. You can do so many things with it.

    apeak AT hotmail DOt com

    Reply

  238. Well, since I do not cook and the hubby does, since he loves to and he does such a good job at it. He doesn't have a kitchen aid mixer, but I do know that if he had one it would be his favorite. He does like the food processor and uses it a lot.

    Thanks for the chance to win.

    Reply

  276. My favorite kitchen gadget is my crockpot! I love it for great meals and especially in the summer b/c I don't have to heat up the kitchen cooking in the oven.

    Reply

  287. I don't know if you consider this a gadget, but my favorite item is my convection toaster oven/broiler….you can cook everything in it.

    Reply

  292. I have a bright red Kitchenaid Artisan mixer and I would not be with out it! I love to bake and it is so much easier to mix in butter with a mixer!

    amysweepstake at yahoo.com

    Reply

  303. I love my meat masher (I don't know the technical name) for when I'm browning meat.

    Wendy
    ebeandebe at gmail dot com

    Reply

  304. I wish I could say my kitchenaide unfortunately I still do not have one… some day though!!! I don't really have alot of gadgets since I am just starting out, guess my favorite would be my vegetable peeler?

    Reply

  305. I love my meat masher (I don't know the technical name) for when I'm browning meat.

    Wendy
    ebeandebe at gmail dot com

    Reply

  317. Although I don't own one, I recently discovered the beauty of the standing mixer when I visited my mom for the holidays. She's promised me one in the near future and I can't wait!

    Reply

  328. My favorite cooking gadget is a toaster oven b/c you can do so much with it. Thanks for the contest! codisweepstakes2 (at) gmail.com

    Reply

  340. I guess i am very simple because I love my large kitchen knife. I have two small kids and food needs to be cut up small, very small for the 9-month old. So this is the kitchen tool that I use the most. I love my nice sharp knife.

    Reply

  345. I have a sandwich maker and I love it. It makes grilled cheese or egg sandwiches. So easy and hardly any mess. Great kitchen gadet.

    tmh29141 at hotmail dot com

    Reply

  349. I got a pressure cooker for Christmas and I love it. It lets me cook so much faster. I like it even better than I thought I would.

    ajolly1456 at gmail dot com

    Reply

  358. My slow cooker is my favorite. I can make a wonderfully healthy meal for the whole family with a minimum of effort in the morning. At the end of the day when I least feel like cooking it is all ready.

    Reply

  366. I love my blender – it gives me smoothies in the mornings, helps me make baby food, and produces smooth apple butter and pesto in the summer. :)

    hawaiismn(at)gmail(dot)com

    Reply

  412. i got a new black and decker food processor for christmas and it's my new fave gadget! i can shred a pound of cheese in seconds. it used to take forever by hand!

    Reply

  434. I'm not sure if a blender qualifies as a gadget, but I love mine more than anything else in the kitchen. It's heavy-duty and I use it to make so many things!

    Reply

  442. Mine would have to be my Pampered Chef Mix 'N Chop (a $10 tool… that does it all… amazing…). If that doesn't count as a gaget – I'd go for my large electric skillet with removable plate…

    Reply

  443. The Tasty Baker is my new favorite because it allows my tween to get engaged in the cooking and have fun doing it. I love it just for that reason, but the little pancakes it makes are tasty too.

    msurosey@yahoo.com

    Reply

  445. My Pampered Chef food chopper!! LOVE that thing. Also my Pampered Chef stone (and no I don't sell it, I just buy it enthusiastically!!)

    Thanks so much! pamelashockley(AT)netscape(DOT)net

    Reply

  448. My favorite cooking gadget is also my Kitchen Aid mixer, that my grandmother gave me years ago when I bought my first home. It never fails me.

    Reply

  460. Mine is really simple but honestly I couldn't live without my wooden cooking spoon. It was passed down to me from my mom and it is my go to cooking gadget. It stirs great, doesn't scrape my pots and pans and the kids love pretending that it is a drum stick.

    Reply

  467. My favorite gadget is my blender. I make smoothies all the time. In the summertime I blend up fresh fruit and juice to make popsicles for the kiddos and sneak in a little extra nutrition.
    dontaskme22(at)yahoo(dot)com

    Reply

  487. My favorite cooking gadget is my KitchenAid stand mixer. I love that thing!! I even make my own bread, now that the mixer does the kneading for me!

    Great giveaway! Thanks for the chance!

    Reply

  493. Does a small appliance qualify as a gadget? I love my bread machine! Small gadget-wise, I also love my 4oz measuring cup that's like a little juice glass. Great for measuring medicine as well as ingredients.

    Reply

  505. A few years ago, my mother purchased a little pan with spatula so that I could cook little round eggs for my kids and I and I'll admit, I use it several times a week to make my special "egg mcmuffin" from home!
    pauline15_01 at hotmail dot com

    Reply

  512. My favorite gadget is an electric food chopper ( a small food processor) I use it almost every day. Great for chopping onions,garlic, cabbage for slaw and carrots.If it broke I would have to buy another one,I love it so much!

    Reply

  525. I have to agree with you. I couldn't live without my KitchenAid Stand Mixer. Although the past month or so I have been using my blender a ton too to make baby food.

    Reply

  551. My favorite kitchen gadget is my egg slicer as it slices eggs perfectly for egg salad which is one of my favorite foods and is an easy lunch to bring to work.

    Reply

  562. This is an easy one…
    My favorite kitchen gadget is my Rice Cooker from Cuisinart. I couldn't live without it!
    Thanks!
    Aimee
    sierranelsby (at) gmail (dot) com

    Reply

  574. I love lots of my kitchen gadgets but I guess I would have to say my KitchenAid stand mixer! I LOVE it and wouldn't trade it for anything!

    Thank you for the great giveaway!

    JH33194(underscore)2002(at)yahoo.com

    Reply

  587. I cannot live without silicone spatulas. Not a gadget itself, but oh so useful. I also like the silicone muffin "tins". In Winter I use the slow cooker a lot.

    Reply

  589. I'm not sure it would qualify as a gadget but the thing I use most is my George Foreman grill. In fact, I used it the other night for steaks…great since it was 19 degrees out!

    tamlynn at morfius dot com

    Reply

  597. My favorite gadget is my blender. I even use it as a mixer when I'm too lazy to pull out the real one! to clean it, I just put a little dish soap and water in the glass part and run it again! What could be better for a lazy gal?
    wandapanda at live dot com

    Reply

  602. The electric can opener is my favorite kitchen gadget.
    Actually I can't do without a can opener of any kind. I take a manual can opener sailing.
    phyllisskoglund AT go DOT com

    Reply

  619. It's so hard to pick just one! I love my KitchenAid stand mixer, too – although mine is nearly 10 years old, and I wish it were bigger (it's only 4 1/2 quarts, I should've registered for the 5 or 6 quart one!). For small things, nothing beats a microplane. Thank you for the giveaway!

    Reply

  630. Thanks for the giveaway…My favorite cooking gadget is a Swedish stainless steel vegetable peeler which gets used almost every day.

    senorpiero [at] yahoo [dot] com

    Reply