BellaOnline Forums Food and Wine Quick Cooking Timesaving Appliances

As a new editor for the Quick Cooking site, I would like to ask you which appliances you use to save time in your cooking. When I receive feedback, I'll post quick recipes using your favorite timesaving tools.

I'm even hoping that some of you will suggest new appliances or some I haven't used in the past--I always want a good excuse to purchase something new!

Some of my favorite timesaving appliances are slow cookers, indoor grills (like the George Foreman), automatic bread bakers, and rice cookers.

I'd love to hear from you!

Ooh, I just got a plug-in skillet, and I used it today. I love it! It cooked my bacon in less than 7 minutes. And it's immersible, so I can get the whole thing clean! It's made by Presto. It didn't come with a cookbook, but I can order one for $20. I look forward to finding some recipes online.

I also use my rice cooker ALL the time. I've developed lots of recipes for making different side dishes with rice. Yesterday I made spicy Spanish rice, which involves replacing some liquid with salsa and using lots of spices. I would love new recipes with this appliance.

This is cheating, since I haven't used it yet, but I'm very excited to have just purchased an immersion blender. I love making blended soups, but barely every do it because it's such a hassle transferring hot soup to the blender. I hope this appliance is the answer to my prayers, uttered despairingly over a leaky blender full of hot liquid.

I used my rice cooker almost every day too, but just for my husband's favorite, plain old white rice. I'd be interested in recipes for that too.

We use the slow cooker all the time, it is great for delicious stews and roasts

We use a slow cooker all the time. We also use our toaster oven quite a bit. We have a bread maker but it bakes it too dark even on the low setting. I miss my old one.

I've never tried a rice cooker. We just do it in a pot on the stove. What are the benefits of a rice cooker, how much are they?

I reheat in the microwave a lot. I also steam veggies in it. And, will occasionally steam fish in it.

I use the slow cooker a lot, too. There's just a ton of things you can make in it and I love the throw it in & go aspect of the slow cooker. My favorite--one whole chicken, lots of salt & pepper & whatever herbs you like (thyme is one of my favorites) and cook on low all day.

Rice cookers are pretty cheap, Moe, and one of the big benefits is that it doesn't burn the rice--you don't have to worry about a pot boiling dry. I love it for brown rice, especially.

I haven't used my bread maker in ages, but I did like the convenience.

I have never wanted a toaster oven until now--I hate turning on the oven for just toasting an English muffin or something, so that's on my "look at" list.

A slow cooker is a homely, yet time-saving, cooking device consisting of a pot made of fired clay. It is surrounded by a metal housing that contains a thermostatically-controlled electric heating element. Slow cooker is my best because I use slow cooker for many times. I love my slow cooker.

Immersion blender (or boat motor) is great for all kinds of kitchen chores. I use it whip up batches of Hummus with canned chick peas.

Toaster oven is my all time favorite kitchen appliance. Makes reheating food so much easier! (Not a big microwave person).

My mini food processor. Great for chopping up a quick onion, garlic or fresh spices.

Now I did have one of these at one point, but is it useful or lazy?LOL An Elcectric potato peeler!

Several people have mentioned a rice cooker which brings up a problem I am hoping someone can help me with. We have a rice cooker but the directions were misplaced before we ever used it. I have tried several times to make rice in it but I guess I am not getting the water/rice proportions correct because all of the water evaporates before the rice is cooked and when I add more water it seems too mushy. Can someone share the water/rice proportions? Do they vary between rice cookers? Any other hints?

Thank you!

Have you tried the manufacturer's website to see if they have a replacement manual? A lot will offer a PDF file of the user manual.

Rhonda,
I have found that most manufacturers have a website which not only has user instructions for the appliances, but also lots of recipes for using them. I've found that recipes from the manufacturer's sites are usually good, since they want you to use their appliance often.

The amounts of rice and water vary depending on the type of rice used. When using converted rice such as Uncle Bens (my favorite all purpose rice), use 1 cup rice to two cups water; I always add a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of butter to this. When I'm using Asian rice, such as jasamine, basmati, or short grain sushi rice, I use 1 cup rice to 1 1/2-1 3/4 cups water. It also makes a difference where you live. In high altitudes it sometimes takes a little more water than in lower altitudes. Also, check the directions on the package of rice and the first time use the amounts given, then add or subtract depending on how the rice turns out.

Although I never use Minute Rice or equivalent, I don't believe they are suitable for the rice cooker.

I have posted several recipes using the rice cooker on the Quick Cooking Site. I not only use mine for rice dishes, but it also works well for steaming vegetables, homemade tamales, and steamed puddings.

Good Luck!

I am a big bread machine person, especially when I'm in a hurry and want bread but don't want to be in the kitchen while it's mixing. However, I use it mostly for mixing and proofing the dough. It's difficult to get the machine to bake the bread so that it isn't too dark or too light (I own 8 bread machines, all different brands, that I picked up at the thrift store for about $5 each. Some bake better than others, but none of my 8 are perfect). The dough setting allows you to shape the finished dough just how you want to, either in a standard bread pan, mini pans, muffin pans, or free form style like French Bread. I always use the bread machine for pita bread dough, pizza dough, English muffin dough, and roll dough. I know that partly defeats the purpose, and I've been told that it can be recalibrated at an appliance repair shop, which might be worth it.

If you're willing to pay a lot of money, the Zojirushi is a bread machine on the market that makes perfectly baked loaves, however it sells for over $200. I want to buy one of these to test, but my husband thinks I have too many machines as it is!

To answer your question on the rice cooker, the main benefit of a rice cooker is that it cooks the rice perfectly without anyone having to watch it. The rice cooker turns off automatically when the water is absorbed and keeps it warm for up to a couple of hours. I use it a lot to make rice pilaf, too. There are several recipes on the Quick Cooking site to use in the rice cooker.