My Top Kitchen Loves

Arthritis can be a pain in the bum, especially in the kitchen. Thankfully I have some awesome helpers.

Top Kitchen Loves

1. Crock-pot: Normally reserved for the most suburban of housewives, the crock-pot is possibly the best invention ever. It means when I get home after a 12-hour work day I can have homecooked food without spending too much time actually cooking. It also means on errand days I can do errands without worrying about the spoons I have to save for meals. An unexpected side effect: I create meals where originally I had nothing. Just after getting the crock-pot, I found myself with one of several things that were seemingly unrelated but not enough to make a substantial meal for two people. I found a crock-pot recipe for a sweet potato stew that used up all my single food items.


2. Electric jar/can opener: No one with arthritis should be without these. (After buying ones for me, my mom bought her own.) Granted, I don't use jars or cans very often but when I do it is inevetable that I am in the middle of a bad joint day. Getting to step aside while these beauties work and not have to either wrestle with it for 15 minutes or ask my boyfriend for help is a pleasure akin to eating the best chocolate.


3. Blender: After going through a raw food diet fascination phase in which I drank banana milkshakes daily, I realized how truly awesome blenders are. Blended food is, theoretically, easier to digest (we do feed it to babies after all) and I was looking to find something to up my fruit/veggie intake that wouldn't make me sick. This something is blended food. Specifically smoothies because I just can't bring myself to to eat blended wheat grass and sprouts. I'm now frantically saving for Vita-mix.


4. Food Processor: Going back to the blended food thing, most of the beans I eat are in blended form. As I find I do better on a low protein diet, I like to consume my beans as a condiment/appetizer/tapas kind of way instead of a meal staple and the food processor is a gift from the heavens. Hummus and a fantastic recipe for lentil pate I created are wonderful snacks when I'm healthy and a good way to bulk up my vegan nutrition when I have been nauseous or vomiting.


5. Tea pot: Never underestimate the kind of orgasmic wonder that a hot cup of tea or herbal tissane or lemon juice & water can bring to someone with both arthritis and Raynaud's. Sometimes I just make it to warm my hands, not because I actually want tea.