Holiday Kitchen Essentials

The holiday season is my absolute favorite time of the year. It’s all about fun gatherings with family and friends, lots and lots of food and plenty of excuses to go shopping! One of the things I love most is cooking during the holidays and over the years I’ve hosted many family gatherings so my kitchen is well stocked with all the necessary tools for prepping a a huge meal. Since the Thanksgiving countdown has officially begun and you’re likely in the midst of planning your Turkey Day menu, I thought I’d share some of my favorite kitchen essentials that will help you prep a fabulous holiday feast. Many of these items are tools that are useful not just for the holidays but all year round if you love to cook a lot. Of all the items in my kitchen, two favorites are my Kitchen Aid Artisan stand mixer which makes preparing cake batters and large batches of dough a breeze and I also can’t live without my Cuisinart Elite food processor – it handles the task of chopping all the vegetable ingredients for my Thanksgiving stuffing and grating the cheeses for my mac ‘n cheese in under a minute. The time savings is invaluable! Do you have any favorite kitchen tools or gadgets that you can’t live without during the holidays? Please share your faves in the comments below! (Top image: James Ransom for Food52)