TRUDEAU KITCHEN GADGET BONANZA!

When I was contacted by a representative of a kitchen gadget company, I’ll admit I was a bit dubious. Send me a gift set of kitchen gadgets designed specifically for those with fibromyalgia/arthritis-type conditions (i.e. joint pain), and then blog about it? Wow! What an offer. Could it get any better?

Why, yes!

Here’s the great part – I get to give away a FREE set to ONE of my lucky readers! Before I provide details on how YOU can get your hands on a set, let me tell you a bit more about the Stress Less products that I’ve personally tested.

This six piece set includes a rotary cheese grater, can opener, garlic press, salt & pepper mills, and a pizza cutter.

My first reaction? Disappointment. In my non-dairy household, I felt there’d be no use for either the cheese grater or the pizza cutter, and I was bummed to not use the whole set … but (hint, hint) wait for the final analysis.

I started with the can opener. Because I wanted to figure out how easy these gadgets were to use without looking at the instructions, I’ll admit I got frustrated with the opener. Turns out the handles swing out from each other (der!) so that it can clamp onto the can. You’d think I’d figure that out, but even after I looked at the directions, none of the pictures showed the handles rotated out, so I thought they were stationary.

That little snag aside, the opener worked like a dream. I was impressed at how easily the handle turned and how simple it was to remove the top of the can – with no sharp edges. I especially like how it cleans easily and folds neatly for storage.

The salt and pepper mills were next. My engineering-minded hubby pointed out that the rotation of the Stress Less grinder handle produced more ground salt with less effort than our other grinder. And another perk? The coarse/fine adjustment knob actually works!

The garlic press impressed me the most, by far. Other presses are clumsy to use, hard to clean, and rarely worth the effort. I typically skip the useless devices and chop my garlic by hand. Well, no more! I was surprised to find that I could actually squeeze this press and make it work, but when I read the directions and saw that it could be placed on a hard surface for better leverage, I knew this design was for me. Even though I no longer have much joint pain, I don’t have very strong hands. The real kicker here, is that this press completely spreads apart for easy cleaning. The messy strainer swings clear of the press so it can be placed in the dishwasher. This is one tool I’ll use frequently.

And, the pizza cutter? Since Bill Clinton was in office the last time I probably ate a slice, I looked for other ways to use this ergonomically-friendly tool. It swiftly made quick work of cutting the ends off of fresh green beans and slicing celery. It chops cilantro and basil with ease. Because I have small hands, I was surprised to find that very little pressure was necessary and the thumb and finger rests on either side of the tool make it feel extra secure. And a removable blade for cleaning? Nifty!

The rotary cheese grater was the last item to be put to use. Since I’m not going to be grating cheese any time soon, I tried it out on some fresh ginger root. Why not? Surprisingly, it worked. Again, I thought having small hands would be a problem, but the circumference of the drum didn’t seem to matter. I was able to adjust my grip to accommodate, and the spring-loaded hinged door made it an easy task.

To view these tools and more, be sure to visit SHOP TRUDEAU.

So – by now you’re hankering for your own set, right? Easy peasy! All you have to do is leave a comment below this post and I’ll draw one name at random. Deadline for comments will be noon on Father’s Day, 06/17/12. I’ll notify the winner via reply to the comment and post the winner’s name in my June 19^th post.

The only disqualifier here is being directly related to me (sorry Mom!), but everyone else … feel free to enter. May the best chef win!