I find it hard to pick just one kitchen gadget, as there are so many that I use frequently. However, the one I most recently found myself without and immediately sought out replacing was my microplane. The day after it broke in the dishwasher, I found myself reaching for it and saddened that it was no longer there.

While a fine grater can also be used, it is nowhere near the same as the sharp microplane surface, and the pieces just don't have that fine quality. This was especially important when adding lemon zest to cut-out cookies, as the larger chunks got stuck in the cookie cutters and I sat slicing them with a knife or carefully extracting them each time it happened so the edge would be clean.

These cupcakes use the microplane to zest a similar lemon in both the cupcake batter and in the lemon buttercream. They're bright and fluffy, and they are perfect for your Easter dinner.

What are your favorite kitchen gadgets? What can you absolutely not live without? Do you love your kitchen scoops, or do you have a favorite vegetable peeler? Perhaps you are desperately smitten over your mandoline.

Kitchen gadgets are my weakness. No kidding, once I step foot into a Williams Sonoma or Sur La Table, it's all over. My bank account is in trouble! There are so many fun options and adorable designs like rubber spatualas, measuring cups, measuring spoons, decorating equipment and baking equipment. The list goes on and on. If I had to pick one of my very favorite cooking gadgets right now, it would be my flat whisk. What on earth is a flat whisk you might ask, take a look at the photo below :)

So a normal whisk is great, but when you've got lots of whisking to do in a saucepan or pot, a normal whisk just doesn't get into the edges so well. Try using the flat whisk and it's pure heaven, it fits around every nook and cranny of your pot! Maybe I am over excited, but I make mac and cheese....a lot at our house, so I need my flat whisk all the time. Today I am sharing a very basic, simple yet completely tasty mac and cheese that will be a hit with the entire family. Enjoy my Bacon Crusted Mac and Cheese!

Whrrr! Whrrr! Whrrr!

I'm not a gadgety sort of person. I have gadgets, but they mostly collect dust. My mandolin, garlic press and apple corer have all been long abandoned in favor of a good old-fashioned knife. But the one kitchen item I do adore (love!) is my blender. It's not fancy or expensive, in fact I couldn't even tell you what brand it is without getting up to look. But what it is? Awesome. Why? Because it blends.

I know, sounds corny, but I just believe that some things are so much better after being whipped around in a blender for a minute or two. Creamy soup? Yes, please! Frozen fruit smoothie? Yes, please! Perfectly mixed salad dressings? Yes, yes, yes!!!

And because I love YOU, I am going to share one of my very favorite blenderized marinade recipes! This marinade can be used on several different types of meat (or vegetables!), but today we're going to use it on slow cooker pork loin. Okay, you caught me... I guess I have two beloved gadgets.

So, tell me... do you have a favorite kitchen gadget?

You can make bread. Yes! I've learned that baking bread can be as easy and delicious as it is in your dreams, if you're willing to try it. In fact, now that I've gotten over my fears, making bread is a regular part of my life. I've even given up store-bought bread completely! I don't have any special skills, I just know how to follow a recipe. So, if I can do it, you can do it. Let's start making bread-bakers out of you! I'm convinced that once you have this skill in your back pocket, you'll be all the happier for it.

If you're unfamiliar with the method and means of bread making, a recipe can certainly look intimidating. The instructions may seem lengthy and riddled with rising time, and the phraseology alone is enough to frighten people away. But, guess what? "Yeast" is not a scary word! Let's just get over that hurdle right now. Here are some important things I've learned in my experience with bread dough. 6 basic steps to empower you and your bread. Following the tips, I'm giving you the bread recipe that started it all for me. The most basic of all breads, and my husband's all-time favorite.

1. Ingredients. Most bread recipes are shockingly simple. Water, yeast, flour, and salt are your basic building blocks. For the water, the important thing is temperature. If it calls for warm water, you should poke a finger into the water and have a just barely "toasty" sensation- but not hot. If the water is hot, it will kill the yeast. If it calls for room temp water, when you test it, you really shouldn't be able to tell a difference when your finger is in or out of the water. For yeast, I always buy active dry yeast- either in little packets (which contain 2 1/4 teaspoons of yeast) or in a jar that you store in your fridge. For flour, keep in mind that the recipe will yield the best outcome if you use the kind of flour directed, but there is always room for adaptations. If I don't have bread flour, I've found that all-purpose works great too. Remember that whole wheat flours can be substituted in for white flours, as well.
2. "Proofing." If you see anything about "proofing" the yeast in your recipe, it's just another way to say you are going to activate the yeast by adding a liquid. Most of the time, this will just mean combining the yeast with some water. After a few minutes, you might notice that your yeast has gotten bubbly or foamy, or as some people like to say: it has "bloomed."
3. Mixing and Kneading. Don't have a fancy stand mixer or a food processor? We don't need it! Now, admittedly, a mixer equipped with a dough hook is my favorite method for mixing and kneading, as it is quick, easy, and clean. But that's definitely not the only way or necessarily the best way. Try this hands-on approach: do all your mixing in a bowl with a wooden spoon and dump it out onto a floured surface to do the kneading. Speaking of kneading, have no fear that you lack the technique to do it. As long as you are pushing out, folding, and turning the dough, everything is okay! When you have a nice cohesive lump, in which the inside and outside parts seem to have come together as a whole, you're ready to move on. If using a dough hook for the kneading step, you know you're done when the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl and formed a ball around the hook.

4. Wetter is Better. In both kneading methods (hands-on or by dough hook), a sprinkle of extra flour can help an overly-sticky dough become workable, but beware of adding too much. Extra flour can yield a tough loaf of bread, so always air on the side of "wetter is better." A wet dough that is still manageable will result in a softer loaf.
5. "Doubling" and "Punching Down." Once you have placed your dough in an oiled bowl (I usually swirl a teaspoon of olive oil around with a paper towel) and covered it with a lightweight towel (or saran wrap), you wait. You are supposed to wait until it "doubles" in size. How in the world should you measure this?! When it comes to rising, I tend to follow a standard of 1 hour for the first rise and about 45 minutes for the second rise. Obviously, these will differ based on individual recipes, but generally, these times have yielded good results for me. To test your dough to see if it has risen enough, press a finger down into it. If the hollow from your finger stays and does not spring back, you're good to go. As for the punching down part, I usually just press my hands flat down onto the dough to make it "collapse" before I shape it into a loaf.
6. The Baking. A good way to tell if your bread is done baking is if the loaf gives a hollow sound when thumped on the bottom. Or, a really accurate way is to use a thermometer. Generally 200° to 220° is considered "done." After discovering how a recipe works in your oven, you will have a much better idea of how long your loaf needs. After baking, I like to brush the tops of my breads with butter for a soft crust.

Welcome Home Wonderful

Are your kids trained as well as mine? The minute they walk in the door from school, the backpacks are dropped, the shoes kicked off, and hungry mouths beg, "what can we have for snack?" Most days I try to conjure something clever and ever-so-slightly healthy. We'll pull out cheese and crackers, pop a piece of whole-wheat cinnamon toast on a plate, scoop peanut butter into the center of a hollowed out apple. But, something those stand-by's aren't enough. After all, the kids have been in school all day and they need to snuggle their little bodies up by their mama and get cooking in the kitchen. (Okay, whatevs. Their mama needs to sneak in some serious snuggle time with them. But who's keeping track of which way this all works? Not me. I'm just glad for the time with my cute kids).

On those days when we have 20 minutes to spare and spend together, this is a perfect recipe to stir up. The recipe is so simple, even my tiniest helpers can lend a hand. It's super speedy to make and bake. And, it's the sort of recipe that leaves the kids begging, begging, begging for more! more! more! In short, it's ridiculously quick, easy, and delish. Just the sort of snack that welcomes your kiddos home with a big, warm hug.

Get Your Kids in the Kitchen

One of my favorite parts about this recipe is how many little tasks there are for kids to help with. Whether you're baking with a 2-year-old or 10-year-old, here's how you can get them involved in the afterschool snack making:

• One and Two Year Olds. Invite your teeny tots to sprinkle the cheese into the bowl, and stir the batter to mix the recipe all together.
• Three and Four Year Olds.Preschoolers will love pouring in pre-measured cups of flour, milk, and baking powder.
• Five and Six Year Olds. Kindergarten-aged kiddos will be splendid at cracking the egg. Just make sure you invite them to crack it into a small bowl before adding it to the batter! That way, any bits of shell can be fished out.
• Seven to Ten Year Olds.Invite your grade-schoolers to practice their fractions by measuring out the specific amounts of each ingredient needed.