YoMamas Frozen Fruit

My husband, in observance of his 10th anniversary with his company, received a Wal-mart gift card. As he hates going to Wal-mart, he gave it to me. I told him if he gave it to me that I would buy nothing useful with it and would spend it all on kitchen gadgets I have talked myself out of buying. He said that was fine.

He didn't think I'd do it. He didn't think I had it in me. Then I came home today with a Yonanas machine and a Ninja Professional Blender (among other things).

I have been coveting this one for awhile, but have resisted, sure it would not really work. It's an intriguing machine with an unfortunate name. (We renamed it YoMamas at my table because YoNanas seems like you're making crusty, stale jokes about your grandma, which just ain't allowed at my house.)

The premise is that you take frozen fruit, put it in this machine, and it turns it into ice cream. It's my version of Rapunzel's spinning wheel - turning straw into solid gold!

I was skeptical. I had mixed frozen fruit in the freezer, so just tried that. And it worked! It was delicious and it tasted just like sherbet. And that was just a bag of frozen mixed fruit, so I can't wait to try all of these other recipes!

p.s. If you're looking for a new product idea, my son decided that  YoMama Joke Machine that actually came up with some original material would be a quick sell to the teen set. Maybe a YoMama App. Hmmmm. ;)

Waffle Iron Hash Browns

I am, admittedly, a kitchen gadget junkie. It's a weakness. (Somehow, I've stopped myself from the Soda Stream thang so far, but I think that's the only restraint I've shown.)

I'm also a breakfast junkie. Breakfast for breakfast. Breakfast for lunch or brunch. Breakfast for supper. So I was excited when I found (on Pinterest, of course) a new use for my waffle iron for one of my favorite breakfast items: hash browns.

The great thing about this idea - using tater tots to make hash browns with your waffle iron - is that it also eliminates the need to buy hash browns just for breakfast. You can just use tater tots!

Here was my first test (on just one). 

I experimented for you. If you have a square waffle maker like me, just put three rows of three tater tots on each square, close the lid tight (lock it if you have that feature) and cook for 5 minutes.

Perfect hash browns. They taste an awful lot like McDonald's hash browns too (without the strange shape)!