A Favorite Kitchen Tool

I love my mandoline. I am seriously in love with this tool. Mine looks a bit different, but this Oxo tool gives you an idea, if you have no idea what I am talking about.


When I first asked for one, I was told by a foodie friend that it was a waste of money. Because it's only good for stir fry veggies. Oh contraire, mon ami! It's the best tool I have for slicing all kinds of veggies. I've even used it to slice garlic into thin slices. This morning, I used it to slice potatoes for home fries and while I was at it I sliced the onions that went in there, too. Cucumber salad would not be the same without it!

Don't get me wrong, I have a knife set and some pretty good knife skills, but I'm human. My slices are not always thin enough or uniform enough for my purposes. That's when I whip out that mandoline and slice away. The adjustable settings make it great for paper thin slices to chip size chunks.

Whenever I feel like my family is not eating enough veggies, I break out the mandoline and my favorite veggie recipes and get creative.

If your kitchen is without a mandoline, I recommend you run to your nearest kitchen store and pick one up.

Kitchen Tools

I absolutely love buying kitchen tools. Nothing makes me happier than having the right tool for the job. Every year, my Christmas wish list is chock full of new things I want for my kitchen. More is more is my philosophy in so many ways. But, especially when it comes to the tools of my art. Alton Brown says that the only uni-tasker you should have in a kitchen is a fire extinguisher. Clearly Alton has not stood in a kitchen store because when faced with the plethora of choices, who doesn't need a zester that creates strips and one that just zests. Or a lemon press, lime press and orange press. OK, I exaggerate a bit on the presses, but you take my meaning.