Who wants some pie?

Yeah, I know, this is supposed to be a teacher blog. So, why am I offering up pie? Well, I am SO in love with my new little oven that I have to share. You heard that right. I'm head-over-heels for an appliance. Here's the situation... I'm sort of a lazy cook. The easier the better is my motto. I also really like gadgets that do fun things. So, when I saw this thing on Amazon and watched some of the videos, I couldn't stop myself. Isn't it pretty?

So let me just tell you... it's faaaaaaabulous! I have not used my big oven even once since I got this last month. So far I've made homemade bread and rolls, pizza, a roasted chicken, pigs in a blanket, bagels, toast, steak, chicken fingers, pork tenderloin, baked potatoes, cookies, brownies, and lasagna in this little oven. And they all turned out perfectly. Look at the apple pie I made...FROM SCRATCH...

Beautiful, huh? And delicious, I might add. (Just disregard the disposable pie plate. I did mention that I'm a lazy cook.) Here's the recipe I used. You must try it!

Grandma Ople's Apple Pie

The sauce it makes to pour over the apples is amazing, like liquid caramel! Mmm... Ok, so the oven (Breville Smart Oven) is a little pricey but so worth it. It heats up super fast, remembers your preferred settings, has convection, is easy to clean, and can bake, roast, broil, toast, warm, reheat, and a lot more! Did I say that I'm in love?

Okay, enough about that. Here's my other new baby...

This thing is ridiculously easy to use! I didn't really need a laminator but amazon has it right now for $19 and who ever runs out of things to laminate? Not me! The film pouches aren't that expensive and they're nice and thick. Plus, you can cut close to the paper and it doesn't separate which is a big deal. My school has a big laminator but it takes forever to heat up, the film is thin and cheap, and it's just a pain to use. I'm going to get a lot of use out of this little one. Look, what I did today...

Now I just need to cut them out. Have you bought something really cool for your classroom or house? If so, I'd love to hear about it!