Canada
It’s probably no surprise that we love getting kitchen gadgets or inspiring ingredients as gifts. So we put together this simple gift guide of things we love in our kitchen. Whether we’re making organic salads with spring mix, arugula, baby kale, spinach, romaine, or Little Gems, a few items are key for our kitchen creating. If you have someone like us on your gift list like us and you’re looking for a little gift inspiration, we hope this little list is useful.
UNDER $25
A microplane is an absolute necessity and a game changer for the salad maker who doesn’t have one. Whether it’s grating ginger and citrus rind for a dressing or Parmesan to top a salad, this handy little tool is a must. Available pretty much wherever kitchen tools are sold, like Sur La Table, Target, or your local kitchen store.
Like the microplane, a handy citrus juicer is a great way to get more flavor into your salads and dressings. There are many varieties of juicers and you can certainly even find electric juicers. But we prefer this version – it gets all the juice available and fits nicely even in a shallow drawer. Available pretty much wherever kitchen tools are sold, like Sur La Table, Target, or your local kitchen store.
UNDER $50
OXO Good Grips Salad Chopper With Bowl
Making chopped salads at home is easier than ever with this modified pizza cutter and perfectly shaped bowl. It lets you perfectly chop an entire bowl of salad ingredients. Honestly, we’ve been doing this at home with a wooden salad bowl and an actual pizza cutter…so there’s always that. Available from OXO or in many other outlets where kitchenware is available.
Somehow, having a beautiful, perfectly shaped wooden salad bowl makes us want to have salad all the time. This acacia bowl will get more and more beautiful as you use it and it absorbs the oil from your salad dressings. This 45 oz Calabash Salad Bowl is available at Wayfair.
An Assortment of Extraordinary Spices
This is something that anyone who loves to cook – salads or anything else – will really appreciate. Having an assortment of fresh, vibrant spices is just the inspiration to try new recipes. Three of our favorite spice merchants offer online orders, but maybe you’re lucky enough to live close to one of their retail locations. All of them offer wonderful gift assortments so you don’t have to figure anything out…unless you want to.
Oaktown Spice Shop (Oakland, CA), World Spice Merchants (Seattle, WA), Penzeys (various locations across the country)
FOR THE SPLURGE
Anthony Bourdain said the only knife you need is a great chef’s knife. There’s nothing like a great knife – the way it feels in your hand, the ease with which it cuts, how easy it is to keep the edge sharp. And the weight and balance make handling it a pleasure. The price of a high-quality knife can be surprising and many of us settle for lesser knives. What most do not realize is that a good quality knife, properly maintained, and not abused can last 30-50 years which means that even the most expensive knife will end up costing you only a few dollars a year over its lifetime and it will probably be the last knife you will ever have to purchase. And it will make doing all your kitchen cutting a true pleasure. Choosing the right knife can be tricky so unless you know exactly what you’re after, we recommend a visit to your local cutlery or kitchen store.
