My Favorite Kitchen Tools and Where to Buy Them

Many of you that attend my classes have been asking me about recommendations on kitchen tools and small appliances, so I am finally getting it together and listing all my recommendations here. Just hover and click on the gray shaded text for where to purchase!

A well-stocked kitchen has many benefits. Having the right equipment on hand makes for easy and efficient meal preparation, saving you precious time and money. The end result is a frustration-free, delicious meal for everyone to enjoy. You don’t have to have a large kitchen nor do you need to spend a fortune, just as long as you choose wisely. Here are some of my recommendations to get you started.

Cutting Boards

Ideally you should have at least two cutting boards. I have a large composite board 18”x12” that I use for fruits and vegetables and another meats and fish. The later should fit into your dishwasher so it can be sanitized between uses. Make sure it has a “well” to catch the juices, which saves time on clean-up. If you want to add a third cutting board, I would recommend an even smaller one, to use for jobs like slicing a lemon or lime, or chopping a couple cloves of garlic.

TIP: Place a moist towel under your board to keep it from slipping around.

·       Large Composite Board 18” x 12”

·       Small Composite Board 12” x 9”

Knives

People ask me all the time what kind of knife do you use and I usually reply “a sharp one!” Most home cooks don’t sharpen their knives on a regular basis. Sharpening, or more accurately honing or “straightening” your knife makes cutting quick and easy, plus a lot safer to use. I recommend you purchase only 2-3 essential knives. This should include a chef’s knife, a paring knife, and maybe a serrated knife for bread or fruits and vegetables with tougher skins. As far as brands, purchase what you can afford. Sure, it’s nice to have an expensive knife, but my recommendation is to start with an inexpensive 8 or 10-inch chef’s knife for its versatility, like this one.

·       Victorinox Fibrox Pro Chef’s Knife, 8-Inch

Top Kitchen Tools

Bamboo Spatulas

These hold the number one spot (3-way tie with slotted turner and tongs!) on my list of top kitchen tools. They are inexpensive and will last for years, plus they won’t scratch your nonstick pans. Use them for making soups, stews, risotto, browning ground beef, just about anything! I am always in search of these to purchase individually, as most of the time they come in sets with spoons. Purchase several of these, as they are both functional and beautiful.

Tongs

Use these to turn meat, stir vegetables in a pan, toss salads, or to remove fried foods from hot oil, and so much more. I don’t recommend the tongs with the rubber tips. From my experience they tend to lose their grip. Also, locking tongs will be much easier to store. If you purchase these stainless steel tongs, just be careful when using with non-stick cookware. These are a steal (no pun intended!).

Silicone spatula

Not just for baking these can be used for sautéing as well, since they can withstand high heat. These are my favorite because they have a rest so they stay off the counter-top, plus I can throw them in the dishwasher.

TIP: Store your most used tools, such as spatulas, turners, and tongs in a drawer near your cooktop, or even better, in a container on the counter for easy access.

Salad Spinner

If you enjoy salads and other greens, then a salad spinner is a must in your kitchen. You can wash in the bowl, strain, then spin out all the excess water that dilutes your dressing. Plus any greens left in the bowl stay crisp and fresh. Once again the OXO brand turns out a winner. I like this one for it’s large size but low profile, so it fits on the shelf of my fridge.

Garlic Press

Peel and mince all at once! The smaller the garlic pieces the stronger the garlic taste in your dish. And did you know pressed garlic releases more healthy compounds than chopped? I like this brand, plus it has a built in cleaner and I can put it in my dishwasher.

Slotted turner

I have used mine for over 10 years! These are affordable and will do the work great. You’ll want to grab a few of these.

Box grater

If you have large amounts of vegetables or cheese to grate, this is a time saver. Yes, this one is expensive. But don’t be put down off by the price. I have had it for 10 years and it’s still sharper than the new one I bought last week!

Peeler

A sharp peeler is like a sharp knife. It makes all the difference in food prep. Tip: don’t peel in just one direction. Go back and forth so you use both sides of the blade, plus you cut your peeling time in half! This is my favorite brand.

Cookware

Buying a large 20 piece cookware set may seem like a good idea at first because of the value, but that soon diminishes when you get it home, and are trying to figure out where to store it all. The following pots and pans should suit most of your needs:

Large pot with lid-use this for boiling pasta, making large batches of soups or stews, etc. This one will last a lifetime.

Medium saucepan with lid – use this for everything else you need a pot for.

14-inch nonstick pan – if you can only afford one piece of cooking equipment, this is it! Large, but works for everything.Frying chicken, searing fish, sautéing vegetables, making marinara sauce, stir frying, whatever! The non-stick surface works great for delicate foods and a bonus is that it’s chemical free.

One additional pan, just slightly smaller, would be great addition to your collection.

·       Large 6-quart pot with lid

·       Medium 2-quart saucepan with lid

·       14-inch nonstick pan

Bakeware

Sheet pans can be used for a variety of foods, such as roasting vegetables or meats, or baking treats such as cookies. And they are great for large-batch cooking. I have gone through many sheet pans through the years, mostly because I kept insisting on the non-stick versions. I have finally come to the conclusion that eventually these finishes will wear off and the extra money I spent on them was a waste. My solution is to purchase 2 standard heavy-weight half-sheet pans with a rolled rim. Line with parchment paper whenever you use it, so foods won’t stick and they will be easy to clean. These pans should last a lifetime. These are a great value.

Stainless steel mixing bowls – use these for both savory and sweet dishes and just about anything you need a bowl for, such as washing herbs, marinating meat, tossing salads, making cookies, etc. Be sure to purchase a set so they nest, which saves on space. These bowls will give you a variety of sizes that should meet all your needs.

• Sheet pans

• Stainless steel mixing bowls

Appliances

I have a small kitchen, so I’m not a fan of multiple appliances. I don’t bake much, so no need for a stand mixer. I do have a blender, but it’s old and I only use it for smoothies and protein shakes. If I had a smaller family then I would think about investing in a countertop oven, but for now I use my full size oven. These are the appliances I currently have and most of them are at least 20 years old!

Hand blender – My Cuisinart is still going strong. I use it to make homemade mayo and to blend my soups right in the pot. If you don’t already have one, I suggest this one.

Hand mixer – I use this mostly for when I bake, such as creaming butter and sugar for cookies, or making whipped cream or meringue. If my Kitchen aid mixer were to ever break down, this is what I would replace it with (I’m in love with the color!).

Electric pressure cooker – okay, this is BIG appliance, but I am okay with it because it’s such a time saver. I know a lot of you have this one. Maybe you got it as a gift, and maybe it’s still in the box, but now’s the time to start experimenting!

This machine takes tough cuts of meat and turns them into a tender and delicious meal. You can cook everything from savory to sweet and in a quarter of the time. These are available everywhere so shop around for the best price.

If you need help with cooking, personal chefs and home cooks are available on Foodom to help you at any time!

·       Hand blender

·       Hand mixer

·       Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker

Collecting kitchen equipment should be fun and rewarding. Hopefully I have provided you with some good basics to start with and as you gain experience in the kitchen, feel free to add items that fit your needs and budget. To this day I still have my Mom’s set of Pyrex mixing bowls which she bought when I was a baby. She has long since passed, but the memories of all the good food she created in them lives on!

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Eat your Carrots! They’re Good for your Eyes! (Or are they?)

It’s a phrase we’ve heard over and over again, at least I did growing up, probably from the age of 3 to adulthood, and maybe more when my parents needed reading glasses. 

Among the many health benefits of Vitamin A, that are backed by science include:

Prevention of night blindness and age-related decline of your eye sight

Keeps your immune system healthy

Supports bone health

Promotes reproductive health

Keeps your skin clear

The last one was of particular interest to me as I suffered from horrible acne as a youth and even into adulthood.  It was so bad that my parents took me to a dermatologist that prescribed me Accutane (a vitamin A derivative) when nothing else seemed to work.  For me it was a miracle cure.  When my boys hit their early teens I gave them cod liver oil on a daily basis and I can honestly say it really does work!

There are two types of Vitamin A.  There is retinol, which is derived from animal sources such as fish, liver, egg yolk, cream and butter from grass-fed cows.  Then there is beta-carotene that comes from plant sources like orange colored fruits and vegetables including carrots, tomatoes, pumpkin, mangoes, papaya, and cantaloupe.  While both forms are important for health, getting Vitamin A from plant sources is much more difficult for the body (read about bioavailability from my previous blog post: How to Get the Most Nutrition out of Spinach) and here’s why:

Carrots (or other carotene rich vegetables) don't actually contain vitamin A, but instead they contain the antioxidant carotenoid (a precursor) that your body can convert into vitamin A. This fat-soluble nutrient must first be converted to a form of Vitamin A that the body can use, which is retinol, and in order for your body to do this, enzymes need to break down the carotene.  Additionally, you need a healthy intestinal track and enough bile salts provided by your gall bladder to achieve this. At best you will need 6 times as much carotene to get 1 unit of retinol.

You can always up your consumption of carotene rich vegetables and fruits, but if you eat them raw you will need to eat a lot! You would need to eat 4.5 pounds of carrots to equal the amount of Vitamin A in 3 ounces of liver. In order to get the most nutrition from your fruits and vegetables, always add a bit of fat and be sure to cook your carotene rich vegetables. For example, you can chop carrots into 2-inch pieces and roast in the oven with olive oil. You can also thinly slice carrots and saute them in butter (made from the milk of grass-fed cows).This will up the level of absorption, plus it tastes delicious.

Getting the most nutrition from carotene rich vegetables doesn’t need to be complicated.  Just cook and enjoy!

How to Get the Most Nutrition Out of Spinach

Did you know that when you eat cooked spinach your body absorbs higher levels of the vitamins it contains such as A and E, fiber, zinc, thiamin, calcium, and iron? 

In this post, I’ll share with you how to make the nutrients in spinach more bioavailable to your body. This is one of my favorite nutrient-dense dark leafy greens, that is not only delicious but highly versatile.

Spinach is High in Antioxidants

Spinach is widely known to be high in antioxidants, which help protect the body by neutralizing unstable molecules called free radicals. Free radicals play an important role in many biological processes of the body, however when too many free radicals build up in the body, they can cause serious damage to cells. This damage may lead to conditions like cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

Bioavailability Matters

Bioavailability refers to the amount of nutrients your body is able to take in. So just because you consume foods rich in nutrients, it doesn’t mean that all of them make their way through your gastro­intestinal tract, to your bloodstream, and on to your cells. Furthermore, because iron from animal foods (heme iron) has a higher absorption rate in the body than iron from vegetable sources (non-heme iron), this can be an important consideration if you are vegetarian or vegan, and don’t eat animal sources of iron.

The Way You Cook Spinach Changes Its Bioavailability

When you eat spinach that has been cooked, not only can you eat more because it shrinks down, but your body can absorb higher levels of the vitamins it contains such as A and E, fiber, zinc, thiamin, calcium, and iron, plus carotenoids such as beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin.

Your method of cooking spinach is very important if you want to maximize its bioavailability. Boiling spinach results in the loss of water-soluble vitamins directly into the water. This loss can be as high as 70%, so you’d be better off drinking the water instead of eating the spinach. My favorite method is sauteing with garlic and olive oil. By cooking, plus adding fat to the spinach, the fat-soluble vitamins such as A and E are even more readily absorbed.

Here’s my simple method: 

1. Chop a clove or 2 of garlic and let it “rest” for 10 minutes (What? See why in a future blog!)

2. Add some extra virgin olive oil to your pan and turn the heat up to medium.

3. When your pan is hot add the garlic, letting it saute for 10-15 seconds or until it turns light golden.

4. Immediately add the spinach. Move the spinach around using tongs to lift and pull it up from the bottom, collecting some of the garlic. Once the spinach is wilted, season with sea salt if desired, and you’re done!

5. To aid in iron absorption add vitamin C, such as a squeeze of lemon juice over your sauteed spinach or eat your spinach with other vitamin C rich foods like bell peppers or citrus fruits.

Get creative and add cooked spinach to your own recipes such as omelettes, lasagna or pasta, smoothies, and salads.

If you enjoyed this post, please share it!  And if you are interested in learning more about nutrition and how you can create your own healthy meals, please contact me.  I’d love to chat with you!

Cooking During the Corona Virus Pandemic

During these unprecedented times, most of us are cooking more at home then we ever did before. Some of us are enjoying it and others not so much. Learning to cook is a skill that takes time, patience, and energy. If you are new to cooking you may be surprised at how much effort it takes to put a meal together, especially for a family.

Cooking starts with planning. Maybe you saw a recipe on the internet that sounded good or you picked up a cookbook you’ve had for years but rarely looked at. So now that you are inspired, you make your list and head to the store (with mask and gloves of course). Recently I wanted to make risotto, but when I got to the grocery store-no Arborio rice. At first this seemed odd to me. Who thinks of making risotto in the middle of a pandemic (besides me)? Of course, some of us are working from home and have some extra time, and others unfortunately, may be out of work altogether. So I suppose many of us have time on our hands so we might as well make something time consuming. Something we would never think of making on a weeknight.

Back to the rice, I decide on short grain Japanese sushi rice. It’s the closest thing I could find to Arborio, the Italian short grain rice . The important thing to remember here is to find similar ingredients. Don’t stress if you can’t find the exact item the recipe calls for. Do your best at finding a good sub. Consider it a fun experiment.

The next thing I went looking for was the parmesan cheese. Out of luck again! But I did find a pecorino romano, which is also a dry hard cheese, and it looks very similar to parmesan. If you wanted to make the risotto even more kid friendly, you could use a mild cheddar. (no, not typically used for risotto, but sure sounds yummy!). I already had an onion, olive oil, butter, and the vegetable stock, so the only other thing I needed besides the vegetables was the wine (mostly for me and a little for the risotto). I settled on a Sauvignon Blanc.

Now, what to put in my risotto? I love brocoli and asparagus, but to make it more kid friendly I opted for the broccoli. Finally after picking up a few other things that I needed I headed home. Once in the door, I washed my hands. Next I set everything out on my counter and separated the packaging, wiping things down with a paper towel drenched in alcohol. Anything that wasn’t perishable or I wasn’t going to use in the next 24 hours I placed in the garage.

Prep is next. I roasted a chicken to go with the risotto, so that took a bit of time. While the chicken roasted I cut up my vegetables, warmed my stock, and finally finished my risotto. It came out great, given the fact that I subbed 2 main ingredients. Everyone liked it, including the kids!

The not-so-fun part, at least for me is cleaning up the kitchen. And finally all the leftovers need to be put away. So, even for me, the whole process of making a home cooked meal can be time consuming.

Now I know some of you are enjoying this process. You are finding that cooking can be a fun and creative outlet that even kids can share in, however most of you are over it by now. It’s exhausting even when you have time. Internet recipes rarely turn out and if you are not versed at cooking, it’s hard to tell which recipes are good and which are not. If you fall in the later category, I suggest you call (not text) a good friend and ask him/or her to share a favorite family recipe. I think you will end up with much more than a good recipe, such as much needed human interaction, maybe a few good laughs, and hopefully the desire to give it one more try!

Tips for Fueling Your Fitness and Fat Loss Goals

Where do I start?

Fuel

Eighty percent of body composition is determined by diet, so it’s important to adjust your food intake and macronutrient (protein, fat, carbs) ratios to your activity level and fitness goals.  Try to eliminate your consumption of processed and fast foods, and replace with nutrient-dense foods such as grass-fed beef, liver, bone broth, pastured eggs and wild salmon.

Adjust your carb intake to 50-100 grams for fat loss, 100-150 for weight maintenance, and more for heavy exercisers. When choosing carbohydrates, opt for nutrient-dense plant-based carbohydrates such as kale, spinach, sea vegetables, blueberries and nuts over processed grains such as bread and pasta.  For very active individuals and children, feel free to include starchy root vegetables such as sweet potatoes, parsnips, or celery root.

When evaluating foods on their nutrient density, it is also vital to consider their bio availability—in other words, what nutrients your body can actually absorb.  For instance cooking carrots either by steaming, sauteing, or roasting, will increase your body's ability to convert precursors to vitamin A.  Then add a bit of fat (think butter or coconut oil) and you will obtain even more of this crucial vitamin!   

Fats have been demonized for the last 50 years, so it’s easy to forget that they provide benefits such as energy, building healthy cells (and brains), helping the body use fat soluble vitamins, and making hormones. In addition, enjoy fat for its satiating and hunger-suppressing properties. Replace Omega 6-heavy vegetable oils with healthy fats such as olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, and fats derived from pastured animal sources.

Fitness

Exercise is just as important as diet to your health—you can’t become physically fit through diet alone! Walk as often as you can and perform weight bearing exercises 2-3 times a week. Add yoga for balance, flexibility, and stress reduction. Although I enjoy going to the gym, I find gardening a great all-around activity.  I get great exercise, my own organically grown vegetables, a healthy dose of Vitamin D, stress relief, and exposure to “good” bacteria for my immune health!

One last thought—I realize that navigating through all the health information available can be confusing and often times contradictory, so take care to evaluate each one based on scientific research, keeping in mind that correlation does not equate to causation. Give your body a chance to adjust to any changes before making conclusions, then evaluate your health based on how you are feeling, along with a thorough review by your physician. Healthy habits take time to establish, so be patient and good things will follow!

Mayumi Tavalero