Kitchen Essentials for the New Cook

Have you decided to cook more at home in the New Year? Before you start collecting recipes, it's a good idea to evaluate your kitchen. Having the proper equipment to prep, cook, and store food is essential for success. I like keeping cooking simple and enjoyable, so you don't need fancy equipment or hundreds of gadgets to create a delicious meal. So, I've come up with a list of kitchen tools that I feel are necessary for any cook.

Chef's Knife: This is the knife you will reach for time and time again. It's essential for all types of cutting, chopping, mincing, dicing and more. It can be used for meats, poultry, vegetables, fruits and more.

Chopping Board: Using a cutting board provides a sturdy surface to cut and dice your food. Without it (and a knife) almost no prep can be done! I recommend getting two boards- one for meat, poultry, and fish, and another for fruits and vegetables. This reduces the risk of cross contamination.

Non-stick Pans: It's important to have one large non-stick pan for sautéing, stir-frying, and pan-searing meats, poultry, and fish. A small non-stick pan is great for eggs and single servings of protein. If you want to start with one, go with the larger one. 

Pots: Aim to have at least two pots- a small and a large. A small pot is needed for things like oatmeal and sauces, and a large one is needed for cooking things like pasta, vegetables, and soups.

Spatulas and a Wooden Spoon: Needed for stirring, mixing, folding, spooning, and serving.

Large Casserole Dish: If you plan on baking and roasting, a casserole dish is great for baked pastas and for baking meat and fish. 

Measuring cups and spoons: Needed for recipes- especially if you plan on baking!

Feel like splurging on a few extra items? Here are some great additions:

George Foreman Grill: A quick, healthy, and easy way to make juicy burgers, grilled chicken or fish, panini's, vegetables...almost anything!

Food Processor: A small food processor is great for chopping vegetables for recipes, turning cauliflower florets into cauliflower "rice", making oatmeal into oat flour for baking, or even making your own nut butter. I use my Ninja for making all of my pancakes!

Crock Pot: What's easier than having your food cook itself? Check out my Crock Pot recipes in my recipe section :)

Tips for Fluffy Pancakes

I've been getting a lot of questions about how I get my pancakes so thick and fluffy :) So here are some ingredients and tips to make your own!

Ingredients:

Baking Powder

Psyllium husk

Coconut flour 

Cauliflower 

You can order psyllium husk and coconut flour from Vitacost. It's an online health/grocery store where I order the majority of my ingredients from. Use this link for a discount off your first order:

Baking powder is a mix of baking soda and an acid. It is a leavening agent, which means its added to recipes in order to produce carbon dioxide to give rise to the finished product. Make sure your baking powder is fresh- old baking powder will make your product flat. No one wants flat pancakes! 

Psyllium husk helps to bind your pancakes and gives them extra texture and fluff! I use about 1/2 tablespoon to 1 tablespoon in my recipes. It's also a great source of fiber.

Coconut flour makes light, fluffy pancakes. It absorbs more liquid than other flours, so you'll need to add extra water, milk, etc. when cooking with this. It can be used alone or mixed with another type of flour to make delicious pancakes, breads, cakes, bars- anything!

Cauliflower in pancakes?! Yes, and I swear you don't taste it! Cauliflower makes your pancakes dense and cake-like. To incorporate cauliflower for that cake-like look and texture, simply process raw cauliflower in a food processor or blender, then place in a bowl and microwave for 40 seconds (I usually use about 1/3-1/2 cup for my recipes). Blend it with your other pancake ingredients until smooth.

Pancake Techniques:

While preparing your pancake ingredients, make sure you pre-heat your pan. I usually preheat my non-stick pan over medium high heat and spray with no n-stick spray (you can also use coconut oil or other oil). Make sure it's hot before you add your batter. Do not use high heat. Keep it on medium and be patient :)

DO NOT over mix. This will lead to flat, sad looking pancakes. 

Make sure your batter is thick. Thick batter= thick pancakes.

Hope this helps! More questions? Ask away!