My Favorite Kitchen Items

I love to cook, and having really good tools and products makes it even better!  Here are some of House of Ingrams’ kitchen favorites, along with some things on my wishlist…

This page contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something through the link I will receive a small fee, at no additional cost to you.  See my Disclosure Policy for more information.Half sheet pans are the best.  I use them for baking cookies, cakes, low carb sandwich bread, low carb noodles, chicken…While looking around on Amazon I found these nice Nordic Ware pans that come with a LID!  How nice would that be if you are taking a big old chocolate sheet cake to an event?  Foil and plastic wrap always bond to your frosting or blow away as soon as you get outside.   You can buy a single pan, a pack of two, a pan with lid, or lid only.  (I don’t know if these lids will fit other brands of half sheet pans.)

Half sheet pan cooling rack by Checkered Chef…these are great too.  Stainless steel so they are oven and dishwasher safe.  You can elevate some chicken wings to make them crispier in the oven, or cool a ton of cookies.

I have these Amazon Basics silicone baking mats (half sheet pan size) and love them.  They save me a lot of parchment paper when I am making low carb “egg” noodles and keep cookies from sticking to my pans.  They are dishwasher safe but I prefer to hand wash as I have noticed our latest dishwashing detergent leaves a scent on plastic and silicone items.  Boo.  Back to my Finish Powerball tabs as soon as these Cascade pod things are used up.

This is a tool I have and LOVE using…my old KitchenAid beater blade rusted out after many long years of service and I replaced it with this nifty gadget.  The KitchenAid Flex Edge Beater for Tilt Stand Mixers does a fantastic job creaming butter and sugar for cookies and also helps me whip up a mean meatloaf.   It’s dishwasher safe.  It is self-scraping so you don’t have to spend as much time stopping the mixer to scrape down the sides.  Depending on what you are mixing, you might have to do a little scraping, but this is much better than the original beater blade in my opinion.

This KitchenAid 4.5-quart Classic Plus mixer is like the one I’ve had for something like sixteen years.  It is a workhorse in my kitchen.  I have made dozens of cinnamon rolls, meatloaves, cakes, cookies, bird food, and even homemade playdough with it.  It can shred cooked chicken, whip up egg whites, and knead bread dough.  There are several attachments you can add on, like a spiralizer, meat grinder, and a pasta roller/cutter.  (I don’t have any of those.  Yet.)  😉  If you are shopping for attachments for your mixer, be sure they are compatible before you buy.

The OXO Good Grips Zester and Grater is helpful when you need a lot of lemon or orange zest, or you need to grate a big fluffy pile of Parmesan cheese.   Parm grated off a wedge is so much better than the stuff from the green can (but that does have its uses).

This T-Fal 12-inch nonstick pan is another workhorse in my kitchen…it gets used at least once a day and usually two or three times.  We are a bacon or sausage and eggs for breakfast family so a good nonstick skillet is mandatory.  I use it for eggs, hamburgers, sauteed spinach, and pan-fried chicken.  While in search of a new nonstick pan a few years ago I read a review by Cooks Country or maybe Cook’s Illustrated, and they said they used the Tfal pans.  Well I guess they did another test more recently and have decided the OXO Good Grips Non-Stick 12″ Open Frypan is better.  I still have my Tfal for now.

Now this Instant Pot has been on my radar for quite a while now.  Several of my friends have one and seem very happy with it.  I haven’t taken the plunge yet, but I’m already collecting recipes so it’s just a matter of time…

Another goodie that’s on my wishlist is this Simple Chef 3.5 quart Air Fryer… I think it would be a great way to “fry” items that are breaded with low carb things like parmesan cheese or pork rinds without having the breading fall off.  I especially want to try making low carb fried green beans.

True confessions time…I actually have two slow cookers from Hamilton Beach.  One is programmable and the other just has the high, low, and warm settings.  I use them both all the time.  They both have the travel clamps with gasketed lids, which are wonderful if you need to transport your big old crock of baked beans to the potluck and don’t enjoy having them spill all over the back of your car.  Shown is a 6-quart Hamilton Beach Programmable Set & Forget It Slow Cooker.

These  Reynolds Slow Cooker Liners are wonderful.  I try to keep at least one full box on hand all the time.  Scrubbing a crockpot/slow cooker (even these nice ones with removable crocks) is a pain and you run the risk of a crack from thermal shock or simply dropping the thing.  With these, you pull out the liner and boom, you’re done!  Also really nice when you get back from a marathon potluck or church dinner and you just. can’t. face. doing. any. more. dishes.  (I have considered giving a case of these as a wedding gift but am not sure newlyweds would appreciate how epic they really are.)

I will add more items to this page from time to time when I find more amazing kitchen products.