Kitchen Tools

Is your cookware safe? Or is it off-gassing toxic chemicals that get into your food and body? This article examines the options out there so that you can make the best purchases for your health, the environment, and your cooking needs.

While processed grains like those made from white flour can lead to health problems, many whole grains might actually be good for you. So what makes something a whole grain? What kinds are available beyond wheat, rice, and corn? And how can you safely incorporate them into a healthy, convenient, and economical lifestyle?

Industrialized society moves material on a one-way trip — we buy it new, replace it soon, and throw it “away” when we don’t want it anymore. On a finite planet groaning under the weight of all our waste, this way of living isn’t sustainable. One model seeking to replace it is called Zero Waste. And we don’t have to wait for the whole world to embrace it — we can do our part to take care of the earth by implementing Zero Waste strategies in our homes and kitchens.

People around the world love Chinese food, especially stir-fried dishes served over noodles or rice. As traditional Chinese cuisine was adapted to appeal to Western tastes, however, many Chinese restaurants in the US ended up serving stir-fried dishes high in animal products, oil, sugar, and salt. The good news is, you can quickly and easily create stir-fries in your kitchen that are not only healthier than most takeout, but are also more delicious.

Smoothies can be a convenient and delicious way to get our daily fruit and veggie allotment, but they can also fill us with harmful quantities of sugar and unhealthy additives if we’re not mindful of what’s in them. In this article, you’ll discover how to have the best of both worlds — delicious, chilled sweetness, as well as smoothie ideas and all the health benefits of a diet rich in whole plant foods.

Humans have been preserving food by dehydrating it for thousands of years. And it’s still one of the easiest, cheapest, and healthiest ways of making some of your favorite fruits and veggies available all year round. In this article, we’ll look at the pros and cons of food dehydrating, explore different methods, help you decide whether this is something you want to do, and if it is, get you started on your own food dehydration projects.

Air fryers are the hottest kitchen appliance since, well, Instant Pots. They promise to give you the taste and crunch of fried foods with little to no oil, and their prices have been coming down for years. But are they healthy? Are there any downsides to using them? Are they convenient to use? And if you have limited kitchen space and finances, is an air fryer worth it?

The wellness world is awash in juice bars and smoothie kiosks, touting these beverages as healthy, delicious, and convenient delivery systems for the nutrients we need. But is there truth to these claims, or is it just marketing hype? Are smoothies and juices good for us, or does all that spinning and cutting turn our beloved fruits and veggies into just another processed food? In this article, we explore the pros and cons of blending and juicing

Plastic is a great example of a technological solution that created an even bigger problem. Plastic is cheap, versatile, useful, and convenient. And over the past hundred years, it’s changed our lives in ways almost too fundamental to register. But what are the costs to our health and to the environment? If you want to reduce the amount of plastic in your life (and in your body), where do you start, and how do you go about it?

Humans have been taking blades to fruits and vegetables for a long time, for both functional and decorative reasons. Lately, a new gadget called a spiralizer has made it easy for home cooks to achieve cuts that used to require special skills and lots of patience. In this article, we’ll examine the new worlds that spiralizing opens up to those looking to include lots of healthy plants in their diet.

Slow cookers made a big splash on the American home cooking scene in the 1970s and spawned dozens of cookbooks that showed how to make classic, home-cooked meals without spending hours in the kitchen. Fast forward to today, and slow cooking is making a comeback with new technologies — and an emphasis on healthy, plant-based options. In this article, you’ll learn the fascinating history of the slow cooker and get inspired to flex your slow cooking muscles with some delicious plant-based recipes.

Every year more than 30 million microwave ovens are sold. And there’s no question they can add a measure of convenience. But are they safe? And are they a good way to cook? Here’s what we know (and don’t know) about microwave ovens and the health effects of using them.