Power Kitchen 1

You don’t need a fancy kitchen to cook healthy and take care of yourself—just plan ahead. These tools will help make your pursuit of fresh and healthy food a little easier—even in your tiny Amsterdam or New York kitchen. With the right equipment, you can turn any kitchen into a Power Kitchen.

Blender

A blender is probably the most important tool in the Power Kitchen, no matter how small it may be. You’ll use it for your morning smoothie as well as for sauces, soups, and making the batter/dough for all sorts of sweets and snacks. For these Power Food recipes, I use an 800-watt blender.

Oven & Stove

You really do need an oven. Particularly if you want to make large quantities of certain things to store. The type of oven or stove is up to you. Whatever works. I prefer to cook on gas and use a convection oven, but there are many people who do just fine with an electric stove and a mini countertop toaster oven.

Freezer

It doesn’t need to be a big one, but a freezer is an integral part of a kitchen in which healthy food is prepared and stored. If you want to cook ahead for an entire week, it’s definitely best to have access to a freezer. Consider also freezing chopped fruit ready for your smoothies, slices of homemade bread, and fresh snacks.

Juicer

If you make a lot of juice, it’s nice to own a good juicer. A blender produces a coarser blend, which is great for smoothies, but for a true juice you’ll need either a slow juicer or a centrifugal juicer.

Scale

This is a must for anyone trying to get a handle on balanced eating, and for baking. I prefer to use a digital scale. They’re easier to use and quite precise.

Food Processor

A good food processor does the heavy lifting, so to speak. Grinding, chopping, mixing…. A food processor is great for making spreads, sauces, processing dates, or making your own nut butters. Sometimes you can get away with using a blender for these things, but processing harder ingredients, such as nuts and dried fruit, is easiest in a food processor.

Spiralizer

This amazing appliance allows you to cut long, thin noodle-like strips from a variety of vegetables, including zucchini, carrots, and cucumber, in no time at all. Use one to make your salads more exciting and to prep vegetables as replacements for wheat products. I like to make “pasta” out of zucchini, for example. And carrot “noodles” instead of the real thing in soups.