One of the reader questions was about what tools or gadgets do I use most in my kitchen, so here goes:

Disposable piping bags. These things are lifesavers. I buy the kind that comes in a 100 pack and it lasts me for months. I uses them for not only the obvious icing but the I use them to fill cupcakes evenly (especially mini ones) as well as anything I want to have look a little more professional.

Next is my nutmeg grinder. I use it everyday. Everyday. I bought mine when I was 24 years old, now I am 39…do the math. Yes, they cost $30 and that probably seems like a lot. But considering how long I have had it I am looking at $2 a year so far. And for something I use and has lasted that long for $2 a year, that’s nothing! Nutmeg to me is the under used spice of the world. I added it to baked goods yes, but lots of savory items as well.

Baking Spray: You know the stuff I am talking about…with built in flour. This has been one of the better inventions for me. I hated buttering and then flouring pans. It’s the lazy girls way to bake!

Kitchen Aide Mixer: This is a duh one but most people do not know that I own two! Yes two, and truthfully if I had the storage and the $$$ I would go for three. They get used that much. I use my professional series one the most, but have always kept the first one that my ex-boyfriend and all around awesome guy D gave me back also when I was 24 (I sense a pattern). It’s what they now call the Artisian mixer in a color they don’t make anymore so that’s kind of cool. I have two because of the fact that I live in fear that one will break (which I have done) and I wont have one. They are that important to me. I know, I need help. But think about how much I bake! I also have an extra bowl set as well, as often a recipe calls for beating egg whites and you need a clean bowl for that quickly. I don’t bother with the attachments as they will cause the motor to burn out way too quickly in my opinion. This is the one I have and the color I have as well:

And last but not least for this post, the good ol pastry scraper. This is a great multi use tool. I use it for lifting dough, to cutting dough, to scraping flour off the counter into the trash. I’ve had the same one for years…and yes I have multiple.

So you are probably looking at that and saying that doesn’t look very appetizing Peabody. I know. But it helps answer a reader question so I thought I would post it.
“I know you have tried many different ways of eating–I think you mentioned you once tried going vegan–or at least mostly vegan. What was that like and how do you balance your regular eating (including you allergies) with your love of food and baking?”
You are correct that for a while I was eating mostly Vegan, raw Vegan in fact. In order to get me off some medication I didn’t want to be on, my naturopathic doctor suggested eating raw Vegan until 5 pm every night to give me more energy, which it did. However, after a while my body was not getting the nutrients it needed and so I they put me back to eating the way I was. Though I eat many of the things I now that I did while eating raw Vegan.

How do I balance? Well for one thing, I work out pretty much every day and that helps. I usually start each day (or it’s my morning snack) with what most people call a Green Monster. It’s what is in the picture. It’s a smoothie which today’s smoothie contained a couple handfuls of spinach, ½ frozen banana, a scoop of powdered wheat grass, strawberries, 1 tsp. flaxseed oil, unsweetened almond milk, and some mango puree from Trader Joe’s. The fruit changes all the time but the rest remains the same, though sometimes I use unsweetened coconut milk, just depends on what I have. Now before you say gross, you don’t taste the spinach. I know the color can be off putting, but you get used to it. Or do what I did at first and put it in a cup you can’t see through and use a straw. When I first started making them I would have to choke it down and throw honey or sweetener in there. But now, after two years of drinking them, I can throw them back like they are nothing, with no sweetener of any kind…and through a clear glass as well.

Breakfast is usually either a smoothie or multigrain oatmeal. If I already had my smoothie for breakfast then my mid-morning snack is usually a mini low carb tortilla with about a TBSP of cinnamon-raisin peanut butter. Lunch is either soup or salad, with every now and then a sandwich. Afternoon all depends on what I do, sometimes I don’t have time to eat. Or if I am baking then I usually take a bite of two out of what I make. And there is my key. I take a bite of what I make to see what it taste like and if it is blog worthy. If it’s really good, I probably eat a full serving. Usually though, I have my bff take it to work, or give it to the neighbors or my hockey teams. Dinner is random but last night it was zucchini layers with pasta sauce baked kind of like a lasagna. The night before that was leftover pulled pork and coleslaw. I also have a juicer and use that often randomly throughout the day. As far as allergies go, I try hard not to have dairy, though will eat it in my baked goods. I stay away from it directly, like no glasses of milk, milk on cereal, cow based cheese (I do okay with goats and sheep).

So there you have a very boring look into what I eat.