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Things that I find essential in my kitchen:
1. A good chef's knife.
In the world of WeightWatchers, you're (hopefully) going to be eating a lot of vegetables. Chopping them with a less than stellar knife can be frustrating! A good chef's knife should cut through most veggies very easily.
2. A good cutting board or prep table.
The last thing you want is nowhere to cut up your vegetables or prepare your food. I personally have two cutting boards - one large wooden one, and a smaller, plastic one. Both come in handy, especially in a kitchen like mine (aka, VERY TINY).
3. PAM Olive Oil cooking spray
I use this stuff for almost everything. Nearly everything that I cook in a skillet gets a spray of this beforehand. Not only is it (close to) zero calories, it also gives you a nice even coating of olive oil. PAM also makes sprays for grilling and baking, too.
4. A food scale.
I measure EVERYTHING. In my experience, the moment you start to estimate is the moment you start eating extra points. Even if you're actually underestimating, is it worth the stress of not knowing for sure? I don't think so (and yeah, maybe I'm crazy, but I DO stress about that stuff =P). I love my WW scale. It's $40 from the online WW store and worth every penny. Not only does it measure grams and ounces, but it stores basic foods in it's memory bank. I can put a bowl on the scale, zero the scale, type in "grapes" and then start putting my grapes in the bowl. One point..... two points..... three points! Stop! It will know how many ounces of grapes are how many points, so you can easily see how many points you're eating. REALLY convenient.
5. Other measuring essentials!
I'm talking about tablespoons, teaspoons, liquid measuring cups, dry measuring cups - all of the above. When in doubt, measure!
What about you guys - what essentials do you have in your kitchen?
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1 - check
ReplyDelete2 - check
3 - check - OK not Pam as I don't think we have it in the UK. I use Bertolli olive oil spray. It's not low fat but a couple of squirts is usually all that's needed, and it takes 15 squirts to fill a half teaspoon measure for half a WW point.
4 - check - I measure everything too. It's habit now.
5 - check
I'll add a stick blender for soups and smoothies, and a mini chopper for mincing spices, nuts, herbs, or throwing together a quick and easy paté.
I have a kitchen scale, but I love the idea of the Weight Watchers one that counts the points off for you. Thats freakin awesome!
ReplyDeleteOne thing I love is my Misto. You put olive oil in it and it sprays it out like PAM. I use alot less oils in my cooking now, and I like that its pure olive oil (or whatever you put in it). I thought about trying an oil based salad dressing in it.