Does having good quality kitchen tools really matter?

Have you ever been in your kitchen, ready to create a Master Chef quality culinary master piece (ok, maybe not a masterpiece but at least something tasty for dinner), grab a knife and end up just squishing your tomato?

Or, how about spending hours in the kitchen chopping veggies in perfect julienne style for your salad with a small, dull knife.

Perhaps you blend up the perfect smoothie only to be chewing through chunks of frozen bits or fruit or greens?

How much fun does this sound? I don't know about you but I get frustrated just thinking about it!

In my cooking classes and private nutrition workshops I speak a lot about how making investment in some good quality kitchen tools will completely transform your experience when creating food to eat.

Some of the tools of the kitchen I think are necessary to have include:

1) A good knife set or at least two or three good knives. I can't express to you the difference having a good quality knife makes when it comes to cutting, peeling and chopping. When I got my first really good set of knives all I wanted to do was chop veggies. Suddenly this was a fun task that so many people hate doing. My favourite knives (that are still affordable for the average home cook) is Cutco. If you are looking for a diverse knife set, that is lifetime guaranteed and comes with a professional who teaches you how to use every single piece, Cutco is the way to go. Contact my good friend Roni-Lil Shapka to get set up with your own set today. Tell her I sent you and she might even give you a good deal!

2) High speed blender. If you don't have a Vitamix you are missing out. I am known by many as the smoothie master. Every time I do a smoothie making party people are in awe of how smooth and tasty my smoothies are. As much as I want to take all the credit, I can't. Yes, I know how to add the perfect ratio of ingredients into the blender but place these same ingredients in regular 'ol blender and it just wouldn't be the same. yes, a Vitamix can be a little more than most want to spend but if you save the money and make the investment you will wonder why you didn't do it before! This is a stock photo of the model I have. I LOVE the red! It comes in black and silver too!

3) Food Processor. If you are like me and make a lot of raw dishes a food processor is a must have. Again, sure you can work with a cheap, low quality food processor; however, if you use it a lot you will likely burn out the motor. Imagine this... you are in the creative process and the perfect dish is coming together. If have all the ingredients in your food processor, you press the button, it starts going and then suddenly it stops! What are you going to do? You have company coming over and you want to make the perfect dinner! So, you rush out to the store and end up buying one of the top models in the store to ensure this never happens again. Ok, this may not have happened to you but it has happened to me in exactly the way I told it! When I started using that new, high-quality food processor it was so much better than I vowed to inspire others to invest in a good one so they didn't have to experience what I went through. LOL.. that may be a bit dramatic but it is true. My favourite brand of food processor right now is CuisineArt. When I did my research it looks like the Kitchen Aid is close but the CuisineArt tends to be a bit better. Below is a picture of the one I have and the average cost is about $399.

4) Mandolin Slicer. I have to admit although I do use my mandolin slicer a lot I still like to cut my veggies using my good knives; however, if you are cutting up large amounts of veggies and you want them cut perfectly or in a special way such as julienne, like french fries or a flat cut, the mandolin slicer is the best tool to have ready to go. Just a word of caution... be sure to use the hand guard because if you don't you may slice off a finger, or at least a nail. Trust me... it happens. Below is the model I have. I bought this one at the Calgary Stampede trade show many years ago; however, there are many different models that are just as good.