Aug 06 2009
Kitchen Tips
If you love to cook, then your kitchen is most likely ‘your domain’ in your own home and the place where you are most creative. Cooking can be very much an art form and like any great artist, your tools are there to enhance your art and help you be more productive. Keeping your kitchen full of the right tools is one thing, but knowing how to use them is another and we hope to present some valuable kitchen tips here to help you with your art and create fabulous meals. Browse through the following kitchen tips and please drop us a line if you have a comment for more.
- An oldie, but a goodie – use cooking spray on plastic containers to prevent stains from tomato sauce, marinara, chili, or any sauce that might stain your tupperware.
- Measuring honey with a spoon is pretty easy but getting it off the spoon is another matter. Rub the spoon in margarine and the honey will come off.
- To keep milk past it’s expiration date add salt. A pinch of salt in a gallon will do it. The salt slows the rate of bacteria growth.
- Brown sugar will not harden if stored in the freezer.
- If you freeze wild rice it will last 3-4 months compared to a week in the refrigerator.
- Regarding tomato paste, it seems a whole can of tomato paste is many times too much for some recipes. Suggestion: take a piece of waxed paper, putting it on a cookie sheet and putting teaspoonfuls of the leftover paste on the paper – another sheet on top and freeze this. When frozen just peel them off and put them in a baggie and when you need a tsp. or tbs. of paste you have it without opening a whole can and there is no waste –OR– put small amounts in an ice tray and then just pop them out when you need them.
- Always use tongs to turn meat on the grill to avoid piercing the meat. This keeps most of the wonderful juices inside the meat.
- To easily remove burnt food off of a skillet, add a drop or two of dish soap and enough water to cover the bottom of the pan. Then set it on the stove and bring to a boil to remove the offending foods.
- Prevent heavy cleaning when using a BBQ grill, spray the grill with non-stick cooking spray before putting it over the hot coals and the food won’t stick nearly as much.
