Top 10 Gadgets For A Healthy Kitchen
When it comes to healthy cooking, the right tools are just as important as the ingredients themselves. Like any good workspace, your kitchen needs the right equipment to get the job done. Here's a round-up of the top ten kitchen gadgets to make healthy eating a little easier.
1. Immersion blender
An immersion blender is an essential tool for quickly pureeing soups, blending smoothies and emulsifying dressings or sauces. The immersion blender, unlike its upright counterpart, gets two thumbs up for its ease of use and quick cleaning. An immersion blender can be used directly in a pan, bowl, or glass. Pureeing vegetable-based soups and fruit smoothies is a great way to boost your daily intake of important vitamin-rich fruits and vegetables.
2. Salad spinner
If the thought of washing and drying lettuce or spinach has you falling short of your dark green leafy vegetable intake, it's time to invest in a salad spinner. A good quality salad spinner removes sand and dirt from your greens and spins them dry so the dressing sticks to the leaves. As a result, you can cut back on dressing. It's also an easy way to boost your intake of leafy vegetables and boost your intake of vitamins A, C and K, folate and iron.
3. Cast iron frying pan
If you're looking for the ultimate non-stick frying pan, look no further than cast-iron. A well-seasoned cast iron pan rivals even the best non-stick cookware, which means you can cut the amount of oil you use when cooking. Forget expensive non-stick pans, cast iron is not only affordable, it lasts for decades and has an added health benefit that other pans don't have - it adds significant amounts of iron to your food - a bonus for most women. The only downside is that cast iron pans can be quite heavy, so look for a pan with handles on both sides if you can.
4. Oil spritzer
A refillable oil spritzer is an easy way to cut back on the amount of oil you use when cooking, without sacrificing the quality of your meal. Oil spritzers can add a light and even coating of oil to meat, vegetables and salads - saving unnecessary calories from a lot of added oil. Look for a spritzer that you can pump to build up pressure - it'll spray as well as an aerosol. Fill with heart-healthy olive oil, canola oil or flaxseed oil.
5. Herb savers
If you haven't discovered the benefits of cooking with fresh herbs now's the time. Cooking with fresh herbs has never been easier thanks to an innovative new container that preserves the freshness of herbs. Seasoning dishes with fresh herbs is an ideal way to add flavour without added fat or salt. The sturdy plastic container has a small water well in the bottom so your herbs can stand upright in the fridge and will last for up to three weeks. The possibilities are endless basil in pasta sauce, rosemary on roasted chicken and mint in your iced tea.
6. Citrus zester
Though small in size, a citrus zester is indispensable when it comes to adding flavour to dishes without extra calories or fat. Run the blade along the rind of a lemon, lime or orange and you get long, threadlike strips of peel that are full of fragrant oils, without the bitter white pith. The culinary possibilities of citrus zest are endless - add it to smoothies, stir-fries, soups, stews and muffins for a burst of flavour.
7. Food processor
Let's face it - a major obstacle to adding fruits and vegetables to your diet is the prep work that is required with all the peeling and dicing. Forget the knives, cutting board and messy clean-up - a food processor is the ultimate healthy eating tool. Not only does it let you slice, dice and chop fruits and vegetables with ease, some blades will even let you mix and knead muffins and quick breads.
8. Steamer
A steaming basket converts your stovetop pan into an easy-to-use steamer. Steaming is one of the healthiest ways to cook food because it relies on water, not oil to cook. Steaming has the added bonus of locking in vitamins and minerals, which would normally be lost during boiling, baking or grilling. Steamed vegetables are more likely to retain their shape and flavour you can even steam fish with your vegetables for a complete meal.
9. Slow cooker
A slow cooker, also known as a crock-pot, is an essential tool for cooking healthy dishes for anyone on the go. Just pop in the ingredients, turn it on and come back at the end of the day to a slow-cooked meal that is bursting with flavour. Adding lean meat, vegetables or whole grains with enough water or low sodium broth means your meal is slowly steamed maintaining its goodness.
10. Weighing scale
Proper portion sizes are a cornerstone to healthy eating, but even trained eyes can have trouble correctly estimating a proper serving. A scale takes the guesswork out of portion control and helps cut extra calories from oversized portions. Some specialty scales have nutrient information programmed into them - which means all you have to do is type in the food item and you have access to complete nutritional information.
When it comes to healthy cooking, the right tools are just as important as the ingredients themselves. Like any good workspace, your kitchen needs the right equipment to get the job done. Here's a round-up of the top ten kitchen gadgets to make healthy eating a little easier.
1. Immersion blender
An immersion blender is an essential tool for quickly pureeing soups, blending smoothies and emulsifying dressings or sauces. The immersion blender, unlike its upright counterpart, gets two thumbs up for its ease of use and quick cleaning. An immersion blender can be used directly in a pan, bowl, or glass. Pureeing vegetable-based soups and fruit smoothies is a great way to boost your daily intake of important vitamin-rich fruits and vegetables.
2. Salad spinner
If the thought of washing and drying lettuce or spinach has you falling short of your dark green leafy vegetable intake, it's time to invest in a salad spinner. A good quality salad spinner removes sand and dirt from your greens and spins them dry so the dressing sticks to the leaves. As a result, you can cut back on dressing. It's also an easy way to boost your intake of leafy vegetables and boost your intake of vitamins A, C and K, folate and iron.
3. Cast iron frying pan
If you're looking for the ultimate non-stick frying pan, look no further than cast-iron. A well-seasoned cast iron pan rivals even the best non-stick cookware, which means you can cut the amount of oil you use when cooking. Forget expensive non-stick pans, cast iron is not only affordable, it lasts for decades and has an added health benefit that other pans don't have - it adds significant amounts of iron to your food - a bonus for most women. The only downside is that cast iron pans can be quite heavy, so look for a pan with handles on both sides if you can.
4. Oil spritzer
A refillable oil spritzer is an easy way to cut back on the amount of oil you use when cooking, without sacrificing the quality of your meal. Oil spritzers can add a light and even coating of oil to meat, vegetables and salads - saving unnecessary calories from a lot of added oil. Look for a spritzer that you can pump to build up pressure - it'll spray as well as an aerosol. Fill with heart-healthy olive oil, canola oil or flaxseed oil.
5. Herb savers
If you haven't discovered the benefits of cooking with fresh herbs now's the time. Cooking with fresh herbs has never been easier thanks to an innovative new container that preserves the freshness of herbs. Seasoning dishes with fresh herbs is an ideal way to add flavour without added fat or salt. The sturdy plastic container has a small water well in the bottom so your herbs can stand upright in the fridge and will last for up to three weeks. The possibilities are endless basil in pasta sauce, rosemary on roasted chicken and mint in your iced tea.
6. Citrus zester
Though small in size, a citrus zester is indispensable when it comes to adding flavour to dishes without extra calories or fat. Run the blade along the rind of a lemon, lime or orange and you get long, threadlike strips of peel that are full of fragrant oils, without the bitter white pith. The culinary possibilities of citrus zest are endless - add it to smoothies, stir-fries, soups, stews and muffins for a burst of flavour.
7. Food processor
Let's face it - a major obstacle to adding fruits and vegetables to your diet is the prep work that is required with all the peeling and dicing. Forget the knives, cutting board and messy clean-up - a food processor is the ultimate healthy eating tool. Not only does it let you slice, dice and chop fruits and vegetables with ease, some blades will even let you mix and knead muffins and quick breads.
8. Steamer
A steaming basket converts your stovetop pan into an easy-to-use steamer. Steaming is one of the healthiest ways to cook food because it relies on water, not oil to cook. Steaming has the added bonus of locking in vitamins and minerals, which would normally be lost during boiling, baking or grilling. Steamed vegetables are more likely to retain their shape and flavour you can even steam fish with your vegetables for a complete meal.
9. Slow cooker
A slow cooker, also known as a crock-pot, is an essential tool for cooking healthy dishes for anyone on the go. Just pop in the ingredients, turn it on and come back at the end of the day to a slow-cooked meal that is bursting with flavour. Adding lean meat, vegetables or whole grains with enough water or low sodium broth means your meal is slowly steamed maintaining its goodness.
10. Weighing scale
Proper portion sizes are a cornerstone to healthy eating, but even trained eyes can have trouble correctly estimating a proper serving. A scale takes the guesswork out of portion control and helps cut extra calories from oversized portions. Some specialty scales have nutrient information programmed into them - which means all you have to do is type in the food item and you have access to complete nutritional information.