Our Must Have of the Week: Ikea Charm Grater

Ikea may not be known for its healthful food offerings (if you've ever been to Ikea, then you know they are famous for serving Swedish meatballs and pastries in their cafes). But they do offer a wide range of kitchen gadgets that make healthy cooking more convenient and more fun. In fact, you can actually create an entire kitchen—including appliances—via Ikea.

I stumbled upon one kitchen gizmo that really makes me happy during a visit to Ikea about a year ago, and it costs a lot less than a new kitchen! The Ikea Charm grater ($6 for a set of two) is so simple, yet so genius. It's a plastic container that comes with two lids: one is a grater and the other is a snugly fitted plastic top. You can use it to grate a food into the container and then store it in the refrigerator, sealed for freshness.  

When I first saw these graters, I immediately thought "cheese," (and I certainly do grate my fair share of cheese). But it only took me a few weeks to realize that I could also grate carrots to sprinkle into wraps or stir into salmon salad. I grate onions to use in frittatas and stir-fries. Sometimes I grate peppers, onions, carrots, and squash and store the mixture in the container in my fridge to toss into omelets, sandwiches, pizza, salads…there aren't really many dishes that don't benefit from this shredded-veggie mixture.

I can also use the container to store the un-grated portion of food until I'm ready to grate it. This helps keep veggies and cheese fresher longer than buying pre-grated or grating a whole bunch all at once. And because it's convenient and so easy to use, you'll actually use it, unlike some other kitchen gadgets that might be taking up space in your kitchen drawers or cabinets (yes, I'm talking to you, bagel slicer!).

Check out the Ikea Charm grater, and let me know what fun uses you come up with!

Our Must-Have of the Week: A Potato Ricer

This week's must-have is one I didn't even know I needed until recently. I was cooking dinner with a friend a few days ago when she mentioned that she had a potato ricer that she needed to start using more. (A potato ricer is a kitchen gadget that looks like a giant garlic press; you squeeze cooked potatoes and other fruits and veggies through tiny holes to create food that resembles grains of rice.) My memories of potato ricers date back to childhood, when my grandmother used to serve riced potatoes with almost every meal. I hadn't seen a potato ricer—or eaten riced potatoes—since.

But the very next day, that same friend and I were in the kitchen again trying our hand at sweet potato gnocchi when I noticed that the recipe suggested ricing the boiled sweet potato before combining it with the flour. I took this as a sign from the kitchen apparatus gods that it was time to reintroduce myself to the potato ricer, and so we riced away. Guess what? It worked like a charm!  Our potatoes easily incorporated into the flour to form dough, and it didn't get gummy.

My one hesitation with purchasing a potato ricer for myself was that I wouldn't use it enough to merit the cost or the storage space. But, there are uses for them beyond simply a riced potato side dish.  Riced potatoes can be mixed with milk, butter, and seasonings to produce very smooth, creamy mashed potatoes; the riced potatoes allow the mixture to be creamy without turning gummy. You can also put cooked cauliflower through a ricer and then mix it with Parmesan, chives, and pepper for a delicious cauliflower mash. In fact, you can put cooked squash, carrots, turnips, and more through a ricer to create a delicate veggie mash. You can also put hardboiled eggs through a ricer before mixing it with veggies and reduced-fat mayo to create egg salad, or put cooked fruit through to make fresh fruit puree to top whole-grain waffles or nonfat plain yogurt!

After considering all the things I could do with a ricer, I decided to invest the $20. And I'm glad I did because it has allowed me to be a little more creative with veggies and fruit! If you want to try your hand at using a ricer, look for one with longer handles, which provide more leverage—OXO makes a version with easy to grip handles. You can find it (as well as other brands) at Amazon.com and national retail stores. Happy ricing!