Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Favorite Kitchen Things – Lettuce Spinner

 

When I was younger and foolisher (ahem) I thought my Grandma was a bit silly for liking her lettuce spinner so much.  I didn’t think there was anything wrong with our method, which was shaking the leaves or patting them with paper towel.  Well, it’s a strange, but with at least some things, the older you get the more you think like your mom – and your grandmothers.  Now, I think my lettuce spinner is great!  (I also love watermelon, but that’s off the subject.)

My local sister-in-law bought me this neat little salad spinner (pictured above) and I’ve learned to use and and enjoy it!  Sometimes I do forget to use it still (old habits die hard), but I have remembered a fair amount. 

I also figured out that it works for other things besides lettuce.  I’ve spun baby carrots and blueberries in it as well.  It’s really handy for making smallish fruits and veggies less drippy!  And, the removable basket is useful for rinsing small vegetables and fruit under the faucet, then putting it in the spinner to spin. For something that just needs a surface rinse it works as a colander.

Another cool thing about it?  I can store my lettuce right in the container in the fridge and it stays nice and fresh!  I do drain out the water from the bottom if there’s an excessive amount, but then I just pop the basket holding the lettuce back in and put the lid on and it’s ready for the fridge.

Maybe I shouldn’t admit this, but I also don’t always really wash it after I use it.  I will if I’ve used it to store lettuce for awhile, but if it’s just a short job I usually rinse it and put it in the drainer.  My reasoning is that we’re going to eat the fresh carrots or lettuce or berries just the way they came out of the spinner, so why is the spinner “dirty”?  I only rinse and drain if it’s visibly dirty or been storing something for awhile. :-)  Easy peasy.

(Yeah, I can hear one of my local friends now asking me to please wash the lettuce spinner before they come to dinner if we’re having salad. Haha.)

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