PRETTY SMART RAW FOOD IDEAS

WHAT’S IN MY KITCHEN

These are the tools and/or appliances that I need in my kitchen, in the order in which I acquired them.

SOLID STAINLESS STEEL CHINESE CHOPPING KNIFE
I use this for slicing big or small things, chopping, mincing… just about anything. It was my original “food processor”. I like the weight of this one, and, since it is all of a piece, the handle cannot come off. I have not found one like mine anywhere except for Pearl River Mart, in New York City, where I bought it.

VITA-MIX
I love my VitaMix. It was my second food processor after my knife. I lived for years with just the knife and the VitaMix. I originally bought it to make whole food smoothies. It can reduce just about anything to a puree. Another popular high-powered blender is the Blendtec

CUISINART FOOD PROCESSOR
I got a food processor after many years, because I wanted more versatility and the big bowl looked like it would be easier to to get stuff out, so I could process several things easily in one cooking session. Now I want a Cuisinart 3-cup Mini that I can leave on the counter and use for small jobs like mincing garlic, or making meals for one. It has everything, but is much smaller. I have a wonderful, highly affordable little Black & Decker 1-1/2 Cup Chopper which fits very nicely in a tiny space, is at least as powerful as my larger food processor, and is good at mincing garlic and personal serving sized amounts of vegetables (think chopped salad or apple sauce for one). I use it often.

CHAMPION JUICER
I love my Champion juicer. I can use it for juicing, of course, but my favorite use for it is to make “ice cream” from frozen bananas and other fruit. I also use it often to puree or “homogenize” nuts, seeds, vegetables, and fruit quickly and easily. The easy clean-up is an added plus.

SALADACCO SPIRAL SLICER
I enjoy making angel-hair “pasta” strings of zucchini, carrots, beets, daikon, and other vegetables. I have a Spirooli (now called World Cuisine), but it does not make the fine strings that the Saladacco does.

COFEE GRINDER
A coffee grinder makes grinding small nuts and seeds very easy… It really simplifies life.