Day 18 - Eight Kitchen Tools that Keep You Thin

Today, after picking up my new magazines for the months of January and February, I read an interesting article that tells us about eight different kitchen tools that are handy for helping us to create healthy meals and snacks. I would love to share these with you! According to Susan Toepfer, writer for Health Magazine, "stocking your home with the right prep and cook tools is a key step in keeping those extra pounds away." While many of us already have a blender or food processor in our kitchens, other unpredictable tools can also help us to make our healthy meals easier! So here are the top eight kitchen tools to help encourage those unneeded pounds to stay away.

1. Immersion Blender: this is a handheld blender that helps you to whip up some smoothies right in the cup or purée soups right in the pot! A recommended immersion blender is the Cuisinart SmartStick Hand Blender, found on cuisinart.com for $30.
2. Steamer: these are wonderful for cooking vegetables without having to add oils. Plus, they help to keep most of the nutrients in our vegetables. You can also steam foods like fish with a steamer. Try Martha Stewart's Vegetable Steamer, which can be found for $10 on macys.com.
3. Oil Mister: This small bottle can be filled with canola or olive oil then use to spray onto your cooking pans. This saves a significant amount of oil, and calories, by covering an entire pan with just a teaspoon of oil as opposed to two or more tablespoons. Toepfer recommends the Prepara Tabletop Mister, which can be found for $20 on prepara.com.
4. Apple Divider: this incredible took can be used to core and cut apples into convenient wedges in one stroke. Then you can bag up all the slices and take them with you for a healthy snack! Which also helps encourage healthy snacking. You can find the OXO Good Grips Apple Divider for $10 on oxo.com.
5. Herb Mill: this mill can be used to cut up fresh herbs and makes measuring them out much easier. It encourages the use of fresh herbs, which give food more flavor and help to skip out on the extra salt in most dried herb packs. You can find the Microplane Herb Mill for $20 on us.microplane.com.
6. Grater/Zester: These are wonderful for grating up cheese, chocolate, or citrus zest. You can use it to add flavors to bakery treats, sauces for fish, or even for burgers. Best of all, citrus zest is calorie free and flavor popping. You can find the Microplane Classic Series Premium Zester/Grater for $15 on us.microplane.com.
7. Handheld Chopper: These choppers make it extremely easy to chop up veggies and encourage the use of them in your daily cooking. It will allow you to chop all kinds of vegetables and nuts into rough wedges so they are easy to use in recopies or as toppings! A good handheld chopper, the OXO Good Grips Chopper, can be found for $20 on oxo.com.
8. Kitchen Scissors: A good pair of kitchen scissors will come in very handy for cutting the fat off of chicken, trimming vegetables, and snipping herbs. You can find an excellent pair, the J.A. Henckels International Take Apart Kitchen Shears, for $23 on amazon.com.

With the use of these ingenious kitchen tools as well as other tips and tricks for food preparation, we can be more encouraged to eat healthier AND it will be made a lot easier for us too!

Today's Workout: Today is my last day off due to sickness. Today I went into work though and spend some time walking around and teaching lessons in a pool. So I recommend going for a walk (especially in the warmer weather we have today)!

Today's Food Tip: Since learning that proteins can come from many different sources and we can benefit from trying to get most of them from plants, I want to encourage you to try out a vegetarian meal every once in a while! Maybe even once a week. To get some ideas rolling, here is a recipe I found in the January/February issue of Women's Health:

Bomb-Diggity "Bologenese" (eat with any kind of pasta or with fresh arugula leaves)

You will need: 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/2 chopped medium onion, 3 chopped garlic cloves, 1/2 cup chopped mushrooms, 1/2 packaged crumbled tempeh (soy product), 1/4 cup red wine, 1 tsp butter spread, 1/2 diced zucchini, 1 peeled and diced eggplant, 1 chopped carrot, 1 tbsp chopped fresh basil, 1 tbsp chopped Italian parsley, 12 oz tomato sauce, 1 tsp dried oregano, 1 tsp dried chopped rosemary, 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes.

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, heat olive oil on medium high. Sauté the onions and garlic for 5 min.
2. Add mushrooms and tempeh to the skillet.
3. Add red wine and butter spread, then add salt and pepper to taste; stir.
4. Add zucchini, eggplant, carrot, basil, and parsley; stir well to combine. Cook 10 to 12 minutes until veggies soften.
5. Add tomato sauce and stir. Sprinkle in seasonings. Cook another five minutes.
6. If sauce is too thick, add more wine or water; cover and let simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
7. Remove from heat and serve over pasta. Garnish with basil and parsley, if desired.

Makes 4 Servings!

Today's Relaxation Activity: If you are like me and you love to shop, stop into your local superstore and just browse through the isles. Take a look at the new books that are out if you love to read, or the new music if you love to listen to some tunes! Whatever your pleasure, take a look at what is new and enjoy the time spent browsing!