Essential Healthy Kitchen Gadgets

I want to mention a couple of essential gadgets that I keep in my kitchen. 

First is my food scale. It makes it not only easier to bake accurately, it takes the guess work out of portion sizes. I've used mine nearly every day for the past 9 years. 

My food scale is digital. I like it because a big part of gaining, maintaining a healthy weight is about portion control. The best way to know your portion is to use a scale. So, say a serving size of meat is 2 - 3 oz. Tada, the scale to the rescue. 

A portion of pasta is 2oz. Once again, food scale to the rescue. It's a great device that takes less time to use than you'd imagine.

 The second one is my vegetable steamer/rice cooker. I've also had this simple to use gadget for the last 9 years or so. It makes wonderful rice and also delicious fresh vegetables quickly and easily.

When I got this steamer as a gift I didn't eat that many vegetables. I didn't know how to cook them. Fortunately, it came with a little booklet that explained how to cook many things. 

For example when I want to make green beans I trim them, put them in the steamer, rinse them (My steamer often doubles as a colander.) and then cook according to the timer in the book. In the case of common vegetables such as green beans it even says what to do directly on the steamer.

For example for 1 pound of green beans: Fill the basin to medium and cook for 18-20 minutes. It's just that easy.

My food scale and my steamer get used every day. I couldn't function without them. I will refer to both of these items often as weeks and months go by.