What Are Your 5 Top Kitchen Gadget Go To's?

My last blog post was all about what I think makes for a healthy lifestyle and of course number 2 on that list behind sleep, was good nutrition.

Easier said than done, I know!

For this post, I want to highlight the tools in the kitchen that make life easier and help me prep meals faster. Please feel free to share what are your go to tools!

Without further adieu, here are my 5 Must haves and 4 Really, Really Helpful gadgets:

1.) A Sharp Knife:

• This is paramount, if you don’t have a good quality knife, I would strongly encourage you to get one. Not only will this make cutting foods easier but much safer too. Chopping, slicing and julienning should not be a workout or shed blood!

• I have 3 sizes a small paring knife good for small tasks like peeling ginger, or hulling strawberries. My most favourite and most often used is a 5” knife, this is my go to for pretty much everything. My 3rd knife is a larger Chef’s knife that is great for larger tasks and those with larger hands than me.

2.) A Vegetable Peeler:

• The peel of some vegetables can contain a lot of nutrients and should be eaten, however, some of the winter vegetables have bitter peels that aren’t tasty. For the tender summers veggies scrub the dirt off and enjoy the whole thing. For the others, use your vegetable peeler. The vegetable peeler has other uses like making chocolate curls, making long ribbons for a raw zucchini salad or thinly slicing hard cheeses.

3.) A Mandolin:

• Caution with this one, it is very sharp, ask me I know and my right pinky finger will never be the same. Despite, my mishap with it, I do love this tool. When making a salad you can thinly slice all your vegetables quickly and evenly. I love cabbage and use a mandolin to shred it into more digestible pieces.

• I have used a mandolin to slice tofu and works pretty good. I use my mandolin probably 4 times a week minimum, just a word of caution to use the guard that is provided and be careful when cleaning and putting it away.

4.) Instant Pot:

• I know this isn’t a gadget but it is one of the most used things in my kitchen. A well rounded, healthy diet has got to include beans and legumes. Cooking them from dried is always the best, and I know it can be a bit of a challenge with soaking and cooking. That is where the Instant Pot comes into play. This little pressure cooker is a game changer. Even those who are not vegan/plant based, it is well worth the investment. I can take a dried bean and have it fully cooked within 60 minutes, no soaking over night! Try this Farro salad

5.) A hand Grater/Micro-plain:

• I have a few of these as they can help with adding texture and interest into a meal or make preparing vegetables like a raw beet into a salad. Try my favourite shredded beet and carrot salad.

Those are my must haves: Here are a few items that aren’t totally necessary but really nice to have:

• Garlic press: most people already have these, they are handy and don’t take up much space, but if you are pressed for space I would just use my micro-plain.

• Tofu press: we don’t eat meat but we sure do eat tofu! I have an inexpensive bamboo tofu press that work great. Like many people the texture of tofu can be unappetizing, I hear you so, I buy extra firm tofu and press all of the water out. Freezing and unthawing tofu can also help with the texture. A tofu press just saves from balancing heavy objects on the tofu to squeeze out the water.

• Herb Grinder or formally my old coffee grinder: I use this to blend whole flaxseeds into flax meal rather than buying the pre-ground. Be certain to store ground flaxseed in the fridge to preserve the essential fatty acid. You can also grind dried herbs from your garden into fine powder.

• An non aerosol spray bottle for spritzing pans, grills vegetables etc with oil. The commercially available aerosols can contain propellents which are chemicals like propane, n-butane and carbon dioxide that push the oil out of the can. This aerosols can also can contain GMOs, and we all know to avoid these guys. A good alternative is to get a manual spray bottle and fill it with good quality olive oil.

Ok, well those are my go to tools of the kitchen that make my life a bit easier. Happy cooking all!

If you need any help please feel free to reach out, I am happy to help!

All the best,

Sarah

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