Kitchen Tools - Early Fall Edition

I have decided to share with you my favorite kitchen tools, for the season of course.  The early fall edition showcases my apple peeler/corer.  I had one of these nifty little guys from pampered chef (ok so it was my mother's that I "borrowed") and I hated it!!  It would never stay attached to the side of the counter and it just seemed like I would spend so much time trying to make it steady that I could have chopped and peeled my apples, by hand, ten times over by the time I was done.  I finally got so frustrated with it that I shoved it in a box in the back of a cabinet and promptly forgot it's existence.

Enter my incredible apple phase of 2007.  For some reason I went through a crazy apple cooking phase in 2007.  I wanted to make applesauce EVERY DAY.  Apple Bread was as much a staple in our house as wheat bread.  I don't know what it was, I was just apple obsessed.  The obsession grew to the point that I started thinking about that old pampered chef corer/peeler again - trying to think of ways to make it sturdier.  It happened to be late fall and Brian and I were at a Cracker Barrel grabbing lunch when I saw the answer to my musings - SUCTION CUP.  Right there on clearance at Cracker Barrel was an apple corer/peeler like mine but better.

I immediately bought one.  The peeler/corer has been a salvation ever since.  It sits on my counter year round.  Did you know that you can use it to make perfect potato slices as well?  The suction cup is not the strongest but it sure beats the heck out of trying to stabilize a C-clamp like fixture to the side of my counter.  It also beats the heck out of peeling a bushel of apples by hand!  If you are big into cooking with apples (or other things that need to be cored and peeled) then I highly suggest looking for one of these.  It was fairly inexpensive - I would say in the 5 years I have owned mine it has more than paid for itself.

What are your favorite fall kitchen gadgets?  I love finding new/better ways around my kitchen!