So I am a strong believer that the best kitchen tools out there are God-given – your two hands! They get into nooks and crannies of pots, pans, bottles and jars (leaving no waste behind!), they never get lost in a drawer full of utensils and they are free! LOL In addition to using my hands (extremely clean hands of course) a good sharp knife would be second runner up as my fav kitchen tool.

I wish my hands and a knife were all I needed to cook with, but unfortunately, that is just not how it works. I wind up using my food processor and stand mixer daily. Don’t get me wrong they are great tools, and I would be lost without them, I just loathe cleaning all the parts, such a PITA to me (and by PITA, I do not mean a Mediterranean bread pocket LOL).

When I found my mother (aka Chef Nancy) making perfectly uniform mini burgers for sliders, I had to know which new kitchen gadget she had purchased. My Mom and I are complete opposites in the kitchen appliance area – she loves trying out all the latest gadgets, while I could not be bothered. So I thought for sure I was going to find the latest “as seen on TV” machine for making perfectly round burgers, but instead all I saw was an empty spice bottle….which brings me to today’s blog post!

Mama’s Spicy Slider Hack

Apparently my mom has been doing this for years, she takes the lid from her store bought spice bottle, Cento brand garlic or onion powder to be exact , (she claims that is best size for slider-sized burgers, 2×2 inch round) and she uses the lid to cut out impeccable, perfectly round, uniform mini burgers!

Nance seasons her ground meat of choice and “rolls” the meat out (in between 2 pieces of parchment paper with a rolling pin) into a ¾ inch thick square…and then just like cutting out sugar cookies, she cuts out the burgers with the top of her spice bottle. Easy, peasy, and you do not have to wait until you are down to your last pinch of powdered seasoning, just make sure when you are done with the lid, that you thoroughly disinfect and dry before returning it to the top of the spice bottle. Now this is my type of kitchen tool, and I love that this is a quick, easy to clean, everyone-already-has-it-at-home, kitchen hack!

And while I am at it, Happy Mother’s Day to Fancy Nancy, Chef Nancy, my childhood school and life-long teacher, and now creative kitchen hacker Mother! LOL I love you!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the amazing mamas reading this!