Two Small Appliances Essential for Healthy and Frugal Living

The Nutri-Bullet (or Vitamix or Nutri-Ninja) and a Dehydrator.

There are so many things you can do with these two appliances, the possibilities are endless! You can create lots of healthy foods, store foods more effectively, be more creative with your cooking and even solve lots of problems around the house. In this blog post we will explore the many things you can do with these two appliances and I am sure there are many more uses that I am not even aware of. In that case it is helpful to look at some of my Pinterest boards and do some of your own Pinterest searching to find more.

Two years ago I got a Nutri-Bullet for Christmas and originally had no interest in it. I thought, why do I need this, I already own a nice glass Oster blender. I soon realized there is a huge difference between a blender and a Bullet or Vitamix, etc. A blender can only go so far. If you try to get anything finely ground in it, it comes out very pulpy. A smoothie with greens would leave a lot to be desired, because it would still contain many of the fibrous bits of greens in it and would taste undesirable. In a Bullet, etc. you get such a powerful motor, that the food you put in it is ground to a fine powder. If you put greens in a smoothie with this device you will have no idea they are in there (given you use the right combination of fruit to compliment them). 

I will let you in on a little secret, I hate green foods. I never eat salad, hate peas, green beans, anything green. I just think they taste terrible. I never thought I could eat healthy until I got this, and my dehydrator further added to that notion. I am eating healthier than I ever have and its really not that hard. One smoothie every other day (or even everyday, if you want to) and I feel like a new me; better complexion, healthier looking hair, peppier spirit and in general when you eat healthy you feel better, because you know its the right thing to do. You drink a smoothie and you don't get that why did I just eat that feeling of stomach grumbling, but you feel full and satisfied.

My Nutri-Bullet has allowed me to take anything that is nutritious, whether I like it or not and put it in a smoothie with my favorite fruits. Here are things I commonly include in my smoothies and here are more comprehensive lists of foods to put in a smoothie and the nutrients they contain and the benefits. I could tell you what I know, I am just a biologist, not a nutritionist, so my knowledge is limited, so this list will go a lot further than I can.

20 of the Healthiest Foods

Fruit and Vegetable Nutrient Density Chart

Pinterest Search for More

Here is a list of what I put in my smoothies (changes from time to time) and why:

• Baby Spinach (greens, chlorophyll)
• Broccoli, Radish or Alfalfa Sprouts (any sprouts will do, buy or grow yourself (sprouting is easy) they are packed with nutrition, 100x more nutrient than their full grown relatives)
• Flat-leaf Parsley (helps detox your body, so on days when you eat poorly, parsley can help regain some of that ground)
• Avacado
• Amazing Grass Superfood Powder (Chlorella and Spirulina algaes, packed with phytonutrients)
• http://www.amazinggrass.com/

• Chia seeds (helps balance glucose levels, helps you feel full and satisfied, packed with antioxidants)
• Raw pumpkin seeds (nutritional powerhouse, packed with antioxidants)
• Flax Seeds (both flax and chia are full of omega 3s, the kind of omegas you want, not 6s)
• Raw Sunflower seeds (much the same benefits as pumpkin)
• Raw almonds, cashews, brazil nuts, etc. (cashews help with stress and anxiety, almonds with detox and respiratory health, all are full of good fats and antioxidants)

• Valerian root powder (for stress and anxiety)
• Lysine (stress and anxiety and immune support, it helps keep cold sores from every appearing, who needs to treat reactively, when they can take care of their health proactively)
• Bee Pollen or Honey (both need to be locally produced to get the most bang for your buck when it comes to allergy support. They both help your body adapt to local plant/pollen allergens and honey adds a nice sweetness.)
• Lemon Balm (adds citrus notes and helps with stress and anxiety, I grow it myself)

• Orange/Yellow Veggies such as sweet potatoes, carrots or squash (beta carotene and other flavenoids and carotenoids)
• Bananas (frozen, lots of Potassium)
• Mango or Pineapple (frozen chunks)
• Papaya (lots of phytonutrients and antioxidants)
• Starfruit (the fleshy fruited/tree cousin of the shamrock/wood sorrel, believe it or not)
• Peaches or Pears
• Any fruit will do, I try to mix it up between domestic and tropical varieties, because each variety contains a unique blend of nutrients. Each plant produces specific nutrients to help combat the pests in its unique environment and when consumed we can take benefit of these nutrients (antioxidants, phytonutrients, plant sterols, flavenoids, carotenoids, etc) as they help fight some of the things going on in our body that try to thwart our health.
• And if you are really interested in fruits and their benefits and are a fruitaphile like me, you will enjoy this documentary, which you can find on Netflix, the Fruit Hunters.

• Blueberries
• Raspberries and Blackberries (a lot of these I find as wild edibles and they make making smoothies more cost effective)
• Cranberries
• Strawberries
• Cherries
• Cornelian Cherries (Cornus mas, another wild edible)
• Mulberries (usually wild edibles)
• Grapes
• Huckleberries and Serviceberries (more wild edibles)
• Plums
• Goji berries
• Cacao Nibs
• Artichoke powder (weight control)
• Superfood Powders (with ingredients like maca, chia, artichoke, noni, prickly pear cactus, aloe, goji, tumeric, acai, etc)

And after that I usually use organic apple juice, water, homemade lemonade or almond milk to add liquid. You want to choose foods for your smoothie across a wide range of color groups to get the most nutrients, however when you are creating your smoothies the possibilities are endless.

You can also make paper pulp, grind your own wheat berries for flour, make your own flax powder, grind your own dried herbs or orange peels, make pureed soups to heat up on the stove, and so much more.

So now we move on to the Christmas gift I chose the following year after receiving the Nutri-Bullet, a dehydrator. I had saw a friends dehydrator in action and thought I needed to get one of these for myself. I imagined the bounty from my garden and my trips foraging for wild edibles. Of course, I can a lot, but I needed another way to preserve my food. I also needed a way to create my own, healthier snacks. So, a dehydrator made perfect sense. (And since I do a lot of paper-making, it serves to dry paper, too. Maybe all my hobbies can be tied in with the dehydrator some how.)

Of course with the dehydrator is the basic creation of dried fruits and veggies. Examples include, dried tomatoes which would be great on crackers and cheese; banana chips; healthier potato and sweet potato chips; dried apples, dried papaya strips, raisins, plums (prunes), strawberries, mango, etc.

But then you can go even further and make fruit leather (fruit roll-ups, but much healthier- contains actual fruit and no ingredients that look they ought be on a shelf in my Chem 101 lab, lol). I made black raspberry leather from raspberries and apples (pectin is needed for this type of process, just like making jam). The black raspberries were in my freezer from the previous years glut from our garden. The apples were given to me by my mom, she did not think they had good flavor, but thought they might be good for cooking. Note  apples that are on the verge of getting old a mushy or just don't taste that good to you, do not have to be wasted, they can be used here. So all the fruit in this recipe was basically free to me and all I had to do was cut it up, if necessary and put it in my Nutri-Bullet and puree it and pour it onto the fruit leather sheet and stick it in the dehydrator. Key here again I used the Nutri-Bullet in combination with the dehydrator.

Moving on from fruit leather, try making crackers or granola bars. You can even make crackers from chickpeas or other beans, so they can be gluten free.

You can dry herbs or greens. Then use the Nutri-Bullet to pulverize them into a fine powder for storage in a quaint glass spice jar. I use the milling blade on the Bullet. I can also do the same process with orange peel. You could compost your orange peels or make your own dried orange peel spice either way, it should get reused. You can also dry spinach and other leafy greens to make your own green food powder for smoothies. You can buy spinach seeds online and grow your own baby spinach for this purpose. It would be relatively cheap. Johnnys Seeds or John Scheepers Seeds. Or if you do not have a milling device such as the Nutri-Bullet or want to save watts, you can use a good old mortar and pestle.

You can dry handmade paper that you made with the pulp you produced in your Bullet. They dry nicely without burning or curling and a lot faster than air-drying.

You can make jerky or even dog treats. I think Louie would love homemade dog treats from the dehydrator and with a little exploration I am sure I can find a recipe or two for my kitty girls as well.

You can even use it to dry delicate items such as clothing and children's toys. The key is that the dehydrator gets to lower temperatures than your oven can. Most ovens start at 200 degrees and go up. Dehydrators are from about 80-200 degrees. Just warm enough to dry things, but without burning them. There in lies the secret. Not only is it the temperature though, it is also a fan that circulates as it dehydrates. I know recipes say if you do not have a dehydrator, you can do this in the oven, but its just not the same. It is a critical kitchen appliance to have. If you have very few small appliances, this should be one of them.

You can make Christmas tree garlands with orange slices and cranberries that have been dried.  Dry tomatoes for making powder or tomato paste fruit rolls to hydrate again later when needed. You can make meals for backpacking that take up little space. You can make potpourri or mulling spices. You can make loose leaf tea or add in herbs and spices like orange slices as well. You can dehydrate garlic and onions. The best part for me, is the idea that I can use more wild edibles and garden produce in my diet and it will save me even more on my food bill. I had already been using these things, now I just have more ways to save them. I am not just limited to jams, jellies, stewed tomatoes and the like any more. There are so many more ways to preserve and enjoy foods now.

Here are more ideas on how to use a dehydrator, many more than the conventional ideas you and I could think of on our own.

Ok, so I could go on about this subject forever. These are just my two favorite kitchen appliances. However, enough said. Take my word for it, look at my pinterest boards, get inspired and get your own Bullet, Vitamix, etc. and dehydrator. You will not be disappointed and you will save lots of money on food and it will be healthier at that. So you can, it seems, have your cake and eat it, too!

This is my dehydrator.