Ask most keen cooks which item in their kitchen they couldn’t live without and the majority would probably say their blender!

This isn’t surprising since electric blenders have revolutionised the art of cookery, assisting with preparation and mixing to varying degrees. With the variety available on the market now all of which off ease of use and cleaning, along with different power and pulsing levels to maximise versatility on the blend of ingredients to suit.

Some blenders have drip fill lids so you can add easilly ingredients as blending, and now offering dishwasher proof jugs to ease cleaning further.

With the Kenwood BL450 Blender for instance you can whizz up soups, smoothies etc in no time. This blender has a 1.6L capacity, 2 speeds and a pulse action for all your recipe requirements. On top of this it comes with a mulit mill for herbs, spices and coffee, and can also crush ice ( a must for all your summer and autumn evening parties). With stainless steel blades and non slip feet to keep it firmly fixed on your kitchen worktops.

See my previous blog Dark, delicious chocolate icecream, its very sundae, cooked, blended and served in a jiffy, and celebration time come on, plus many more great recipes for you to try.

Whats your kitchen essential?

Well have you a coffee fanatic in the house? We all have our likes and dislikes. Traditionally speaking we usually enjoy coffee morning and tea in the afternoon. I have family members who only drink coffee and compete with each other on the lastest gadget, gismo and machine.

So finding this all intriging we set a challenge to blindfold 4 of us to see if we could taste the difference between the coffee’s with 4 non advid coffee fans as such and well the results are interesting.

We took 4 people 2 men and 2 women, all drink coffee, tea and water on a regular basis daily. Being logical my brother in law Mark and me made up a coffee pot on the stove with ground beans, we put on a cheaper range coffee perculator, we made a cup of instant coffee from a popular brand and we used 2 different coffee machines. This gave us 5 different black coffee’s.

Whats surprised us all was how the, not so coffee drinkers all picked out the coffee machine coffees has the best in flavour and richness. So Mark was over joyed as a avid coffee drinker that his gismo won top marks in our dedicated testing.

Marks best gismo is the Krups Compact Espresseria EA8080 Bean to Cup Coffee Machine. Some how Krups have managed to shrink the coffee shop down to a small shiny black cube of coffee making genius. The Compact Espresseria EA8080 has all the convenience of a capsule coffee maker, but the skills to turn whole beans into fresh espresso.

Bean-to-cup coffee machines usually tower over your sideboard because they have to incorporate a grinder as well as storage for the beans and water, but the German engineers at Krups have managed to miniaturise the whole process with the dinky Espresseria machine. Although small, it can generate 15 bar of pump pressure and hold 1.8 litres of water, while the blue LCD display lets you choose between Esspresso, Lungo, Cappuccino or Latte. There’s even room to warm two cups on top.

The EA8080 is also supplied with a Krups welcome pack which contains a Claris water filter, two sachets of descaling crystals, two cleaning tablets, a water hardness test strip and of course, the instruction manual.

So to sum up its features are:

• Bean to Cup
• LCD Display
• 1.8 Litre water tank capacity
• 15 Bar Pressure
• Metallic Conical Burr grinder for precise and uniform grinding
• 1450W
• Stainless Steel Milk jug and XS6000 Auto Cappuccino Maker
• New easy ‘Touch and Turn’ dial
• New piano black finish
• Compact Thermoblock System for optimum temperature at the very first cup
• Temperature adjuster for perfect bitterness and aroma result
• Automatic Rinsing/Cleaning/Descaling programmes
• Includes Claris water filter, 2 cleaning tablets, descaling crystals, water hardness test strip
• 275g Bean hopper capacity
• Cup Warming Tray
• Height 365mm x Length 330mm x Width 245mm
• 2 Year Manufacturer Warranty 

Why not tell us about your favourite coffee bean for the perfect coffee? Send in your argument for tea versus coffee.

See my blogs take your drinks outside in style, tea leaf or tea bag there is one teapot for every mum, and home made sweets make a great gift to name but a few for you to read over.

As I stand at the sink to a never ending stream of pots to wash up while at me daughters I am then met by the the baking tray from hell. Oh yes! we all know the one!  The one which no matter what you use will not come clean, the one you grab a knive to, in a effort to try to get the caked cooking residues off!

“What on earth!”, was my comment.  ”Where is the Silicone baking set I brought you!”, guess what? its still in the box I sent it to her in!

I do not know anyone who once they have tried silicone they wonder how they coped before they found it. Its so versatile, easy to store, light, easy to clean and so easy to get your baked delites out or off. Its a must in my kitchen, no matter how delicate your baking is, it just pops out, literally!

This WellBake® Silicone Bakeware Professional 5 Piece Easy Baking Set, as shown above is not only a great gift for the cook in your life, but its a kitchen essential in my kitchen.  A great set comprising of 2 x 6 Cup Muffin Pans, 2 x 8″ Cake Mould Dishes, 1 x 9″ Square Lasagne Dish - Heavy Duty Non-Stick Silicone and what’s more, a 10 Year Guarantee.

This set features:

So whats it going to be? hours scrapping at the kitchen sink or easy baking? I know which one I’d choose. Why not tell me about your favourite bakeware or even a tip for cleaning?

See my previous blogs Traditional Soda Bread Recipe, Irresistable eggless cake, and quick homebaked tea time treats plus loads more recipes for you to try out your silicone bakeware on!