Perfect grilled food requires essential barbeque equipment. Sure you can use the bamboo skewers and dispose of them when you are through but I love these skewers because they come with this amazing rack that holds six 17 inch skewers about 1 inch above the grate for even cooking. The rack also prevents the food from sticking to the grill without sacrificing the grilled taste.

Kabob Skewers with Grilling Rack available at www.surlatable.com $25

While you are buying stainless steel skewers pick up some adorable knotted bamboo mini skewers for satays, fruit kebabs, fish appetizers, and much more. These are a staple in my pantry!

Knotted bamboo skewer, available at www.surlatable.com $6

Get a Grip!

These oven gloves are a great invention. No more dropping trays of cookies on the floor because they slid out of your potholder (It only happened to me once but I’m still traumatized by the experience!). Everything is easier to hold on to and maneuver and the best part is that these gloves can handle higher temperatures than the average oven mitt. I bought a pareve set. Then I bought a milchic set. And you can guess what’s next. I’m going to our SHOP to purchase my third set! My husband and kids like them too and even more enthusiastic about helping around the kitchen if they get to wear the oven gloves. It’s a win-win situation.

Summertime is wonderful for so many reasons but high on my list is ice cream and popsicles. My family loves to experiment with different ingredients and make homemade popsicles with different fruit juices and yogurts. Try some of our favorite recipes and use these Norpro Ice Pop Molds. They are great because they make 10 large popsicles at a time, the plastic is dishwasher safe, and the aluminum top secures the stick in place while the ingredients are still liquid. Also, you can layer colored ingredients with the stick in place, now that’s a gourmet popsicle! Plus you get that retro popsicle look which is fun for all. Get them in our shop for just $17.

Some of our favorite recipes:
Banana Blueberry Swirl Popsicles
Triple Berry Popsicles
Watermelon Popsicles
Coconut Popsicles

I’m a big believer in everything in moderation. I’m unwilling to give up fats or sugar or other delicious foods. But I don’t like to eat wasted calories either. I try not to douse my salad with dressing (where all the hidden calories lie) and so I welcome this new Tabletop Mister. To quote the company’s product description, it “is the first BPA-free, sterilizable glass mister with a patented filtering system that allows the user to create their own flavored oils by infusing fresh herbs, spices or even ingredients like chili peppers and garlic without clogging the sprayer. Perfect for greasing pans and preventing food from sticking. Great for browning meat, and seasoning salads, misting cookie trays, or making pancakes. Our oil mister is the healthy way to add more flavor with less fat. Ensure a thin even coating of oil or other sprays. Beautiful styling fits perfectly in any kitchen or on any dining table.” I couldn’t have said it better myself! These misters are now available in our SHOP. Don’t get just one – you can have all different flavors and oils!

With your mortar and pestle set you can grind and pulverize your own spices and ingredients in the tradition of the finest chefs. I love it for mashing garlic and salt together to use on just about anything or for grinding freshly toasted whole spices like cumin or peppercorns, or for mashing avocados to the perfect consistency for guacamole. I recently used it to blend together kalamata olives, garlic, and spices for tapenade. It creates an authentic texture without overmixing them. I don’t mind the little arm workout either…I earn more treats later.

To purchase, visit our shop, $19

This is the ultimate traveling machine for kosher families. It’s great for breakfast – toasted bagels or waffles, omelets and French toast – lunch or dinner -grilled cheese, warming pizza and amazing Panini sandwiches or grilled fish. We take it everywhere, plug it in and are ready to go. It is easy to clean and store. I love this because it heats the top and bottom of the food simultaneously so the cheese or the interior of the food really cooks through. And for dessert my kids love dessert Paninis or warmed chocolate chip cookies. Imagine -real food while you travel this summer! Get one in our SHOP for $121 and join the fun and amazing treat of eating well while you travel.

The floating pro-press hinge grills foods up to 3″ thick! Utilizes the same pro-press handle as commercial restaurant Panini grills. Cook healthy too! Fats drain into external cup. Features large 11″ x 9″ Grilling Surface, Adjustable Temperature Control For Precise Grilling, Nonstick Coating For Easy Cooking And Cleanup, and 1400 Watts Of Fast Cooking Power. Highly polished die cast aluminum housing. On/off & ready lights. Three-way cord wrap for storage. Stands upright for space saving storage. 1400 watts. 1 year warranty on parts & labor.

One of the pleasures of this job is searching for new great products, beautiful items that are both functional and decorative for our homes and tables. Although I can’t own them all, sometimes just looking is the most fun (sometimes!) I recently found these great cake stands (okay, I have a weakness for a beautiful cake stand and own far too many already!) – with brightly painted vintage candlesticks as the pedestals and hand-finished Corian disks as the plates. They come in a variety of sizes and colors and can be purchased online through www.gretelhome.com. If you buy one, you have to promise to lend it to me…

So often when baking, I found myself searching for a toothpick or wooden skewer to check if my cake is complete. Then a friend gave me this adorable cake tester that works so well that I think everyone must own one. It’s metal and thin so it does not deflate a cake (like a knife does) and wipes clean for the next test. No more searching for the perfect tester. This really is it and it is so inexpensive that it makes a great present topper.

Sometimes you find a product that’s just too beautiful not to share. It may be out of your price range, you may not ever expect to own it but there is a pleasure in just looking and appreciating the design, the craftsmanship, the creativity and, in this case, the colors! So, just for fun (no one’s stopping you from purchasing also!), visit http://orbixhotglass.com/catalog/index.html I like the curly pitchers. But then I also like the opaque curly pitchers, the optic pitchers, the mini raisin bottles. The colors say summer but they may be even better when summer is long gone and you want to hold on to its brightness. So just take a 5 minute walk through the website and smile. That’s what I did…

You can’t make cheesecake without a springform pan – well, you can, I guess, and it will still taste great; you just can’t get that elegant look! The beautiful berries on top, or the sauce dripping down the sides. Many recipes call for 10-inch pans for which I recommend the Kaiser 10-inch springform pan available through amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Kaiser-Bakeware-Noblesse-Nonstick-Springform/dp/B00004RC48) – isn’t everything?! For slightly smaller recipes (you can actually squish in the batter from a recipe calling for a 10-inch pan), I recommend the Nordicware 9-inch non-stick springform available in our SHOP. Whichever you choose, make sure you try one of our delicious cheesecake recipes – and let us know how it looked and more importantly, how it tasted!