Chef Wars At Home

So my oldest daughter and I have been having a competition with our chef abilities, much to the delight of my husband and sons. It all started when she decided to go to culinary school and began fixing all sorts of different and delicious meals. This got me wanting to do the same so I fired myself up and got on the bandwagon. She also has been trying to figure out ways to make healthier meals and got me totally hooked on "The Sneaky Chef" books. I have been trying new things, trying to cook healthier, and have actually enjoyed making food for everyone. You have to understand that when my kids were younger I hated cooking because A) nobody appreciated the effort I went through, B) there was always at least one or two kids who didn't like something and C) it was just another mess I had to clean up later. So Lee did most the cooking in those days. He didn't mind. And he did a pretty good job of keeping us from starving to death! It was great to have someone else help me out at the end of a long day of chasing babies, so I love him for all of that!
But now it's his turn to enjoy a meal that he didn't have to fix. I have kids who are old enough now to help out, clean up, and just eat up, shut up or go without!
Now that I am in the kitchen more, I have discovered a few fun things; that there are a lot of cool gadgets out there that our mothers and grandmothers never had. I have an automatic rice steamer that gets the rice done just right every time. I have a bread machine, a slow cooker, non-stick pans, a hand blender, air-bake pans that won't burn the cookies, a microwave, a kitchen aide, and a ton of Pampered Chef gadgets that make cooking a breeze! But what's my favorite, you ask? Well, I have quite a few but I will list just a couple. The first one is my garlic press. I never knew garlic was so much fun until this little thingy! I use garlic in much of my cooking now because I can actually use it fresh. Yay! The other thing would be my Kitchen Aide. I love that I can just put the ingredients in and let it do all the work. I have been trying to make homemade bread and cookies and stuff more often and this really helps. And did you know you can buy an ice cream maker for it? It's $80, so I have to save up for it, but it's on my list! I also want the pasta maker, but it's a lot more expensive. Ahhhh, some day ...
So tell me, what's your favorite kitchen gadget or machine that you like to use? Where can we find one if we want to purchase it? I'm waiting to hear all the favorites - it's almost dinner time!!!