Top Ten Gift Ideas for Your Favorite Cook

Having been married for a while, I know that I could use an update in many of my kitchen utensils, gadgets, and appliances. Many of my plastic spatulas have become stained from tomato sauce; I have broken several of my nice goblets, and most of my knives have become dull. Plus there are items I've never gotten or was never given at my wedding shower that I still need. So, here is my top ten list of what I and many other cooks might be thrilled to receive as holiday gifts for this Christmas season.

Salad Spinner
One way to save a cook from having more mess than she needs in the kitchen is to give her a salad spinner. The Salad Spinner by OXO brand is great, since it works to spin a salad dry and then store the same salad. It comes with a plastic bowl, a net-type basket which inserts inside the plastic bowl, a lid with a pump on it (to spin the salad dry), and a regular lid. After cutting and washing some lettuce leaves, one simply dumps the wet leaves into the basket (which should be inside the plastic bowl), puts the pump lid on top of the bowl and pumps until the leaves are dry. Then, one removes the basket from the bowl, dumps out the green water that's in the bowl, transfers the lettuce from the basket to the bowl, and puts on the regular lid. The salad's done and can go into the refrigerator in this plastic bowl! This saves the cook from having to wait for the salad to dry on its own and finding another bowl to store it in.

Kitchen Organizers
If the cook in your life could use some help with kitchen organization, consider getting her several kitchen organizational baskets, racks, or caddies for her cupboards or countertop. These organizers keep things like pot lids, spices, coffee cups, or even plastic wrap out of chaos and in their correct spots. Now, you don't want to offend your favorite cook, of course, but if she's ever before mentioned that she'd like to be more organized, you could consider getting one or two of these kitchen organizational items.