Mixed Berry Pie and Turnovers (OXO Product Review)

Wow, I've kind of fallen off the wagon with posts over the last couple weeks.  I apologize to my loyal readers.  To make it up to you, let me share a delicious new pie recipe and tell you about OXO's new cherry pitter design.

To make this pie...

...which involves delicious homegrown sweet cherries, blackberries, and blueberries...

...you need one of these.

But the design of the above pictured cherry pitter is awful.  I'd been using it for about three years now, and I never liked it.  The grip was too far apart to be comfortable for my hands, it wouldn't really come clean in the dishwasher and was a slight pain to wash by hand. Plus it splattered cherry juice everywhere - on my counter, down my arm, across my (apron-clad) front...

You get the idea.

But fresh cherry pies are so awesome, so you need a decent cherry pitter to make the pitting part easy.

I received OXO's newly designed cherry pitter recently and I have to say, it's pretty awesome.

For one thing, the distance between the hand grips is far, far smaller than on my old cherry pitter.  It's more ergonomically designed and thus more comfortable for pitting quart upon quart of cherries.  The overall design is a lot smarter too.

The prong (the thing that pushes through the cherry, I don't know if it has an actual name) is made of metal - probably stainless steel.  The little "cradle for the cherry is also a little more secure - I had no fears of the cherry falling out, which was a bit of a problem on my old pitter.  Plus, see that little plastic sleeve on the bottom there?  That's a splash guard.

So you don't spray yourself and your kitchen with cherry juice.

It works like a dream.

Plus, that little plastic guard comes off for easy cleaning - and like most OXO products, the whole thing is dishwasher safe.

And perhaps my favorite part (aside from the dishwasher safe thing) - there's a little locking mechanism that lets you lock the pitter closed for easy storage.  Takes up way less space in my drawer!

So, armed with this awesome OXO cherry pitter, what did I decide to make?

Well, that mixed berry pie, of course!

It was one of a dozen pies I made for a friend's wedding recently.

(This, by the way, is one of the reasons I haven't blogged much in the past couple weeks.  The other reason is getting my classroom ready.)

Anyway, the mixed berry pie was amazing, if I do say so myself.  Want to know how to make it?

Kitchen Gadgets ~ A Few of My Favorite Things

Every cook and baker, whether professional or amateur, probably has certain tools and gadgets they simply couldn't live without.  These are tools and kitchen gadgets that make life in the kitchen easy and enjoyable.  They help get the job done right, whether the job is Thanksgiving dinner or pizza night.

Here are my kitchen essentials.  My forays into food would be far more challenging without them.

1. Farberware Classic Forged 22-Piece Knife Block Set - This knife set is amazing. It comes with eight steak knives, 6-inch and 8-inch chef's knives, 7-inch Santoku knife, 6-inch cleaver, 3 and 1/4-inch paring and bird's-beak paring knives, a 5-inch serrated utility knife, a 6-inch boning knife, kitchen shears, 6-inch fork, and an 8-inch sharpening steel.  The only two knives in this set I haven't used are the boning knife and the cleaver.  But they're awesome.  Amazing.  And the wood block makes for great storage.
2. Calphalon Non-Stick 10-inch and 12-inch Skillets - I've mentioned these before, but they're worth mentioning again. They're the best skillets I've ever used.  They cook evenly, and are the correct shape for making omelets and sauteing vegetables, stir frying, and everything in between.
3. Pampered Chef Pizza Stone - Okay, so the pizza stone I have is a couple years old and doesn't have the handy handles on it.  But I just leave it in my lower oven most of the time. The pizza I've made with this thing is the best pizza ever - the crust is so much crisper than on a standard pizza tin!  And if you're going to have a pizza stone, be smart and get a...
4. Wooden Pizza Peel - The days before I got this item were fraught with danger when it came time to taking pizza out of the oven (and off the pizza stone).  This pizza peel is a life saver.
5. Calphalon Wooden Utensils - This seems ridiculously simple, but the best tools in my kitchen are my three hefty wooden spoons.  What can I say... I'm Italian.
6. Wilton Bakeware - Okay, I don't have every piece of bakeware from every category from Wilton, but I wish I did.  All of my metal bakeware is Wilton. It cooks evenly, and every cake I've ever make in a Wilton pan comes out perfect after the minimum baking time has passed.
7. KitchenAid Artisan 5-Quart Stand Mixer - This is my mixer. Isn't it a beautiful thing?  Perfect batters, the stiffest egg whites I've ever seen - ever!  Any serious baker should have one of these.
8. OXO Good Grips Chopper - This thing is fun, easy, and awesome to use.  A few good "smacks" and you've got minced garlic, onions, olives - whatever you need, as fine as you need.  Plus, it comes apart for easy cleaning.
9. OXO Good Grips Wire Balloon Whisk - Okay, so it doesn't have to be OXO, or necessarily a balloon whisk in particular.  But if you want to make smooth sauces or batters by hand, you need a good wire whisk. The loops shouldn't touch each other, either, because food can get stuck in between, which makes cleaning a pain, and it should be sturdy enough to stand up to the sides of any bowl or pan you're cooking in.
10. Cuisinart Mini-Prep Food Processor - I don't do a whole lot of food processing, at least not in large amounts, so this little food processor is perfect for my needs.  The blade orientation can be changed depending on whether you're processing soft foods or grinding nuts.  Plus the whole assembly comes apart for easy cleaning, and it doesn't take up much storage space.

I'm sure I have many more gadgets and tools in my kitchen that I simply "can't live without", but this is truly the short list.  Without these items, my cooking and baking adventures wouldn't go over nearly as well as they do.