Show & Tell: my new favorite kitchen gadget

To me, this seems like the perfect "Show & Tell" as we happily slip in to strawberry season. Yesterday I gave it a workout on two batches of jam and it gave me the most perfect, slightly chunky strawberries--which is how I love my jam.

And I should probably thank Courtney as well, who turned me on to this nifty little kitchen gadget when we were having a discussion about crying over chopped onions.

Today's Show & Tell is called the Chef'n VeggiChop. It is a small kitchen chopper that requires no electricity and quickly chops, dices with the pull of a cord. It's like starting a lawn mower (but easier) or working out on a rowing machine (but much more fun).

I got my VeggiChop
just over a week ago, and I've found tons of uses for it. I've made fresh salsa by throwing all the ingredients right into the chopping bowl, chopped nuts and veggies for a salad and used it to make strawberry jam. It is simple and fun to use. Simple (and safe) enough, that I'm completely comfortable with Emma and Mary using it--as long as they remember to keep their hands on the lid, so it doesn't send puree'd veggies everywhere.

I've always been the kind of person to shy away from extra gadgets in the kitchen--I don't like them cluttering up my limited counter space and it's hard to find a convenient place to store them where I'll actually get them out and use them.

But I've hardly put away this little gadget--it goes from use, to the dishwasher and back to my counter as part of lunch or dinner prep.

And with all these great summer fruits and veggies just weeks away from emerging from our gardens, I imagine it will be getting even more use. I'm seeing lots of batches of pesto in my future....

Check out this quick demo to see exactly how the chopper works.

And guess what?? Thanks to the generous folks at Chef'n I have TWO VeggiChops to giveaway.  You know the drill--leave a comment on this post to be entered in the giveaway. I'll choose and announce two random winners on Sunday.