This gourmet sizzler turns an ordnary slice of vegetable into an appetizer.  I saw this in an Asian Store and HAD to have it.... No stick but also NO TEFLON!  Comes with a METAL SPATULA... you are officiall freed of stupid nylon kitchen tools that look like they belong in a child's kitchen... SERIOUSLY durable!

 My teen daughter tried it out.  She did a quick food demo for a hungry 4-H group.  She grilled slices of mushroom, zucchini, green pepper, carrot, and more.... The kids ate up every last bit!  Vegetables, with NO seasoning (except a tiny bit of oil to fry with) were the hit of lunch.

Some really great design features make this extra safe.  You can't remove the pan until you uplug the probe.  You can scrub it with anything, but don't need to.... it's non-stick but durable made out of titanium ceramic.

I first got turned on to this appliance in Geography Club.... a mom got one from Korea.. you don't have to go that far!  Just visit your local Asian Market or click on the left!

Ice Cream Makers

I know summer has really arrived when my daughter starts making frozen fruit juice slushes.  On a really hot day, this is very refreshing.   Often store-bought ice cream and gelato contains many ingredients, many preservatives, adding chemical load to the heat load of a hot summer day. 

Some other things you can freeze include yogurt (the runny kind, not the Greek yogurt) and honey, rice milk, soy milk, almond milk and more.

Clean-up is easy since you simply rinse the removable freezer unit with hot water, a tiny bit of soap and then back into the freezer to recharge.  Unless you can't wait... then you may want to buy an extra freezer bowl.

When shopping for rice cookers, the easier and cheaper the better.

I like using mine for quinoa, couscous, pearled barley, millet and-of course- rice.  Very yummy... as easy as a microwaved spud!  Draws a huge crowd.  I never have left overs to freeze (although when the mixture cools slightly, you can freeze leftovers in zipper'd plastic bags... and then pop out of the bag and reheat on a plate)

There are measuring tools that come with rice cookers, but I never use them.  I fill up the grain to the 1 cup mark then squirt water to fill to the 3 cup mark.  Easy.  

For clean up, I usually refill it with broth and a leftover veggies and restart the unit (pulls the rice off the sides and makes chicken rice soup)

A stirring wand popcorn popper can be an interesting and tasty way to explode corn and amaranth grains.  If you have kids in the house, this has been known to take eyes off of the TV.... for a little bit anyway :)

These automatic popcorn poppers come in all shapes and sizes... from magnificent popcorn towers to whimsical "Hello Kitty"  "Disney" popcorn machines....