Off The Grid – Irene Pastore Fitness

Off The Grid: Vegetable Spiralizer

January 16, 2013

No Power – No Worries – You can still eat healthy!

A manually powered kitchen tool that spiralizes vegetables. It comes with three blades. It’s easy to clean, and to store. Inexpensive. No batteries required, completely manual. Fun to use. Fast preparation.

If you’re in a power outage – no worries. You can still have fresh spaghetti, provided you have zucchini.

FAST NO COOK ZUCCHINI SPAGHETTI
A Noodle Experience Without Grains

Aside from power outages, this clever kitchen tool comes in handy when you’re in a hurry. Just put a zucchini through the spiralizer. Within seconds you’ll have a large serving of fresh zucchini spaghetti.

Cover your zucchini pasta with your favorite sauce. Break open a jar of Rao’s, Trader Joe’s, or Whole Foods Four Cheese tomato sauce. Since the cheese is already in the sauce, you don’t have to grate parmesan, or romano onto your veggie pasta.

If you have time, you can add sautéed mushrooms, garlic or onions to this pasta dish. Zucchini is a bland vegetable, so don’t hesitate spicing things up with cayenne, black pepper, or chile pepper.

Zucchini pasta, is grain-free, so it’s good for anyone who wants to avoid grains.

SPIRALIZED RAW CARROTS
A Fun Way To Eat Your Veggies

If you don’t like eating raw carrot sticks, spiralize a carrot stick instead. A sprialized carrot is thin and crunchy. Drizzle your favorite dressing over the raw carrots. Experiment with other raw veggies, mix them together in a salad bowl, add dressing, and enjoy.

The spiralizer is not a toy. The blades are very sharp, so don’t let your children use it.

Off The Grid: Quick Holiday Cappuccino

December 12, 2012

Off The Grid means no electricity. If you really want to get down to basics, it means no batteries either. All the work is manual.

Traditional Cappuccino is an espresso coffee drink. Black coffee is poured into a cup, and then hot milk is added, and then another layer of hot milk foam is placed on the top. To enhance flavor, powdered cinnamon, chocolate chips, chocolate powder, or carob powder might be used to top the foamed milk.

Froth, or foam are the bubbles formed at the top of milk after processing.

Veering away from tradition, and for the sake of saving time, here are three ways to make your Quick Holiday Cappuccino.

THREE WAYS TO FROTH COLD MILK

Equipment: A glass jar with a snug lid. Hand powered shake method.

Pour milk into a glass jar, leaving space for bubbles to form. Shake vigorously for about one minute. Open lid, and spoon some of the foamed milk into coffee. If the milk foam isn’t sufficient, shake some more, or use a different type of milk.

Equipment: Hand-powered milk frother.

Purchase a hand-powered milk frother. Follow directions that come with your frother. There are various models, from low to high priced. Some are made from stainless steel, others from glass.

Equipment: Battery- powered milk frother.

Battery-powered frothers are off grid, but you’ll need to keep batteries on hand to use your frother.

MILK TYPES FOR FOAMING

Not all milk will foam. Some types of milk will foam, but won’t have much body. Experiment with your favorite milk, to see what you like.

Cold evaporated milk will produce foam, and body.
Cold rice, hemp, or almond milk will not foam well, or have body.
Cold skim milk will foam, but won’t have much body.
Cold heavy cream will foam, and have body.
Cold soy milk will foam, but won’t have much body.

SOY MILK CAPPUCCINO RECIPE

1 Cup unflavored soymilk
2 Teaspoons maple syrup, brown sugar or honey
2 Teaspoons grain beverage powder or unsweetened cocoa
powder
1/4 Teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch ground cinnamon
Optional garnish: Chocolate shavings, Cinnamon, Chocolate Powder, Carob Powder.

Directions

Heat soy milk in saucepan until just below boiling. Remove from heat. Stir in remaining ingredients. Beat with egg beater until frothy. Garnish with chocolate shavings, cinnamon, chocolate powder, or carob powder.

Off The Grid Vegetable Juicer

December 1, 2012

When Hurricane Sandy hit New York City, in late October 2012, a lot of us lost power. So I decided to start an Off The Grid category for anyone interested in learning more about household appliances that are either battery, or manually operated.

In addition, Off The Grid posts will help you find out where to buy these products, without too much searching. Continue reading “Off The Grid Vegetable Juicer”

Hand Powered Appliances: Get Off The Grid And Get Some Exercise

November 11, 2012

Instead of using a noisy leaf blower, rake leaves manually. You’ll feel better getting exercise.

Power outages are not much fun. Keeping body and soul alive during a time when you have no lights, no fridge, no phone, no heat or hot water, takes it toll on your emotional and physical well-being.

During Hurricane Sandy, there were parts of New York City that had no cell phone service.

For sure, there will be a next time when the power goes out. You can start getting off the grid, by making lifestyle changes in the everyday products you use.

In addition to saving you money, manually powered appliances give you more exercise. Continue reading “Hand Powered Appliances: Get Off The Grid And Get Some Exercise”

Emergency Kitchen Tool: The Rotary Egg Beater

November 10, 2012

The Rotary Egg Beater, was a staple kitchen tool, until the electric beater came along. Hand powered kitchen tools gave your arm, shoulder and fingers a workout. Now, all you need to do is hold an electric beater in your hand while it does all the work. Or you can watch a blender, crush, mix and frappe without much effort on your part.

**Good Old Fashioned**
**Rotary Egg Beater**

Before the advent of electric kitchen appliances, everyone used kitchen tools that were powered by elbow grease.

Electrically powered blenders, food processors, peelers, mixers, make food preparation fast and easy.

Hand powered kitchen tools provide exercise for your wrists, fingers, and arms. Continue reading “Emergency Kitchen Tool: The Rotary Egg Beater”

Irene Pastore Fitness