When I committed to being a vegan, I also decided to commit to buying some Kitchen Tools for Vegans. Of course you can be vegan without these tools, it just makes your life easier!
I am not suggesting any particular brand of tool, its important that you do your on-line research and be sure you read all the reviews before you make a selection that meets your needs.
The two tools that I use the most are my high speed blender and my food processor. I use the blender every day when we start our day with a wonderful fruit and veggie smoothie and then I probably use it a couple more times a day. We use the food processor at least once a week if not more. I love them both!
I make a lot of soups, sauces, use many types and forms of seeds and nuts, make raw food recipes and most of these recipes would benefit from some type of special cooking tool.
I clearly remember the first time I was attempting to make a raw vegan pie and trying to grind up the raw macadamia nuts for the pie crust. I tried my regular blender, a knife, a hand mixer and spent at least 2 hours trying to get them to a finer consistent form. I might have sworn once or twice in the process. Now with my food processor I can make that delicious crust in about 10 minutes. That is why some tools are helpful. Here’s the ones I use the most….
Kitchen Tools for Vegans
High Speed Blender
For the high speed blender I choose a Vitamix which is a bit of an investment for sure. You can do so much with a high speed blender that you can’t do with a regular blender.
I use if regularly to make my raw cashew sauce for desserts, sauces, pasta, cheese, stir fry and so much more. It makes everything super smooth and the texture of your food smooth as silk. You can actually make a soup, hot or cold right in your blender and save all those wonderful nutrients.
When I make soups on the stove, I usually take a blender full of the ingredients and put them in the high speed blender and mix to create a beautiful thick stock that I add back to the remaining soup on the stove. This makes your soup have a wonderful texture, with fantastic broth and lots of vegetable pieces too.
Of course this is a pretty big investment. The good thing is these types of blenders have a life time guarantee…you’ll get your moneys worth for sure.
Food Processor
I have a simple food processor from Costco. Its not that expensive and it has saved me hours and hours of work. I always make my own humus, and use if frequently to grind up nuts and seeds as well as mixing many sauces. I could use a couple lessons on how to use it, as I know I’m not getting all the benefits of this tool…yet!
Dehydrator
Well I did a lot of research on dehydrators and went with the Sedona. Even though it was a fairly new brand it had a lot of great features like a glass door so I can see what’s going on! The dehydrator will help you make many raw foods, such as raw kale chips, crackers, fruit leather and much more.
The benefit of this type of dehydrator is that is can cook you foods (they are not really raw) in temperatures of less than 105° – the temperature to be sure you food maintains all the wonderful nutrients and value of the food enzymes.
For an example, I will cook my kale chips at that temperature for about 8 hours, sometimes more, depending on what type and how much coating they have on them. You could cook them in the oven for 20 minutes and the unfortunate thing is you would lose so much of the beautiful nutrients in the process.
If you ever have an opportunity go to a raw food restaurant and try the food – do it! You will be amazed at how delicious everything tastes. Absolutely wonderful! This is a tool that I want to use more and more!
The Spiralizer
Gotta love that name…the spiralizer! This is so much fun to use. You can spiralize veggies and make raw pasta….serve that with a beautiful raw pesto or cashew sauce or combo of them both and you have a winner! I’ve bought one and now I would like a second one that does not make the noodles so fine. I am going to invest in another soon…they are pretty reasonable and you can find them at most health food stores.
Well folks, those are the main tools that I invested in when I choose the vegan lifestyle. They have made my journey much easier and the cooking way more fun!
If you have any questions, please send me a note.
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