Beyond the Normal Duty of Kitchen Shears — The Product Puree

kitchen shears

In this new column twice a month, Catherine McCord will be sharing a blend of kid-tested, mom-approved products and secrets to keeping sanity in the kitchen.

I am sure that it comes as no surprise that the room in my house in which I spend the most time is the kitchen. As a result, finding reliable kitchen tools which can perform double and triple duty is essential.

While some kids got cars, when I was 18 my mother gave me my first set of kitchen shears. And I was thrilled. Not just regular old scissors, kitchen shears are a cook's best friend. Once you use a pair, you'll wonder how you ever got by without them.

Here are just a few kitchen chores that become a breeze by using them:

  • Trimming fat off chicken and meat
  • Cutting the spine off shrimp to easily peel and devein them
  • Cutting the ends off green beans
  • Chopping herbs (especially chives) into tiny pieces
  • Cutting open food packaging
  • Cutting green onions
  • Cutting pizza
  • Shredding cabbage
  • Cutting sun-dried tomatoes into thin strips
  • Trimming the bottoms off flower stems
  • Trimming cooked noodles to fit in a lasagna pan
  • Cutting string to truss a chicken or turkey
  • Cutting fruits and vegetables off the vine/plant in the garden
  • Cutting bacon into small pieces

Sure, you can use a knife for many of these jobs, but I bet, given the choice, you'll be reaching for your shears a lot more often once they've taken up residence in your kitchen.

Catherine McCord is a food blogger and mother of two living in Los Angeles. Her recipes and tips for nutritious and easy family eating are featured daily on her blog, Weelicious.com, and in her new cookbook  Weelicious: One Family. One Meal . Catherine's advice and recipes can often be seen on Babble.com, Huffington Post, Celebrity Babies, Parents, Parenting and more.

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