topic Re: Helpful kitchen tips in Kitchen

Helpful kitchen tips

Epicurean — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 18:42:19 GMT

It would be nice if every one told us there helpful hints.

two I discovered are,for cutting up fresh herbs. Sometimes the knife just squashes the herbs,so,I bunch mine up on a cutting board and cut back and forth with a pizza cutter. Second,I like to brown ground beef in the microwave when in a hurry,but the meat just clumps together. I found out breaking it up with a pastry blender really does the job fast.

will appreciate any ideas anyone else has figured out.

Re: Helpful kitchen tips

Wendy Lou Hoo — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 18:45:20 GMT

Everyone probably knows this already, but spray your crockpot with cooking spray (Pam) before putting food in. Cleanup will be much easier.

Re: Helpful kitchen tips

godi — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 18:47:03 GMT

Use your box grater to strip fresh herbs. I use the side with the bigger holes and it shreds it perfectly.

Re: Helpful kitchen tips

Fressa — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 18:50:28 GMT

I keep an empty canister next to the stove with my favorite cooking utensils. I reach for the same ones all the time so this saves me reaching or trying to open a drawer while I'm cooking.

Re: Helpful kitchen tips

Nightowlz — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 18:50:47 GMT

We keep diced up onions, jalapeno & bell peppers, celery etc in the freezer. When it comes time to cook something to eat prep time does not take as long.

Re: Helpful kitchen tips

chickenbutt — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 18:56:22 GMT

It's possible that I have an excessive number of utensils. Therefore, I have 5 utensil crocks (fortunately, I have a lot of counter space) and have the utensils categorized appropriately. One has spatulas, one spoonulas, one is all wisks, one is a bit of a mishmash, etc. That way I don't have to go through drawers or file through one utensil crock to try and find a given utensil.

My mind is so fuzzy lately that I cannot think of helpful tips so I need to think about that some more.

One thing I do is that if I'm making something that is fairly labor and ingredient intensive, like maybe a pot of soup or chili, I just make a HUGE amount so I feel like I'm getting my time and effort worth. After I've had a meal or two out of it I portion it out in L&L containers, freeze them, then pop them out and vac-seal them so I have a bunch more meals of it without having to eat the same thing day after day after day. (PS: Don't ever run hot water on your frozen L&L - learned that the hard way, years ago. It will break them)

Re: Helpful kitchen tips

KingstonsMom — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 19:02:39 GMT

When cracking eggs in a bowl for a recipe, if a small piece of shell ends up in the bowl, dip a larger piece of the eggshell into the bowl and the smaller piece of eggshell will migrate to the the bigger one for disposal.

Did that even make sense, sorry..... I tried, LOL!

Re: Helpful kitchen tips

mspatmac — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 19:23:33 GMT

The best tip I use myself is stay out of it as much as possible!

Re: Helpful kitchen tips

Peaches McPhee — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 19:58:14 GMT

Number the top and bottom of your plastic food containers. The "1" top goes to the "1" bottom, etc.

Re: Helpful kitchen tips

nana59 — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 20:16:38 GMT

@KingstonsMom wrote:
When cracking eggs in a bowl for a recipe, if a small piece of shell ends up in the bowl, dip a larger piece of the eggshell into the bowl and the smaller piece of eggshell will migrate to the the bigger one for disposal.

Did that even make sense, sorry..... I tried, LOL!

works every time!!

Re: Helpful kitchen tips

froggy — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 20:21:22 GMT

I like to make casseroles but there is almost always way too much for two people. So rather than cook the whole recipe and then freeze the other half, I have been dividing it up into two baking dishes to start with, then labeling an freezing the other half. This makes it much fresher the second time around.

I have found some 8 x 8 Pyrex baking dishes at Walmart that have plastic snap on covers. They also have easy grab handles.

Re: Helpful kitchen tips

PA Mom-mom — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 20:29:58 GMT

@Epicurean I keep a sharpie in the kitchen to label my opened chicken and beef stock with the date I opened it. It works for things like salsa too. That stuff gets stuck in the back in the fridge and may or may not be fresh.

Re: Helpful kitchen tips

jlkz — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 22:24:45 GMT

@chickenbutt

I make marinara sauce twice a year at home and once during our snowbird time in FL. It handles pasta and weekly dinners....sometimes tomato soup for lunch !

Batches run 25 - 35 pint size Zip Lock bags for the freezer.

( Whenever my best friend and I spend the day doing lunch and shopping, I send her home with a frozen pint and meatballs. We are usually fairly tired by then ! )

Re: Helpful kitchen tips

Ladybug724 — Mon, 29 Mar 2021 23:47:16 GMT

@KingstonsMom wrote:
When cracking eggs in a bowl for a recipe, if a small piece of shell ends up in the bowl, dip a larger piece of the eggshell into the bowl and the smaller piece of eggshell will migrate to the the bigger one for disposal.

Did that even make sense, sorry..... I tried, LOL!

It makes total sense! It works!

Re: Helpful kitchen tips

alicedee — Tue, 30 Mar 2021 00:03:49 GMT

I used to save empty cottage cheese or sour cream tubs to put drained grease in when cooking hamburger. But I got sick of all those tubs taking up space in my cupboards.

My friend shared this...take a square of aluminum foil and make a small "bowl" with it, lining the sink drain. Drain the grease into that foil "well". When it cools and hardens, it can be easily tossed in the trash.

Re: Helpful kitchen tips

alicedee — Tue, 30 Mar 2021 00:08:48 GMT

@jlkz wrote:
@chickenbutt
I make marinara sauce twice a year at home and once during our snowbird time in FL. It handles pasta and weekly dinners....sometimes tomato soup for lunch !

Batches run 25 - 35 pint size Zip Lock bags for the freezer.

( Whenever my best friend and I spend the day doing lunch and shopping, I send her home with a frozen pint and meatballs. We are usually fairly tired by then ! )

@jlkz Would you please share how you fill the Zip Lock bags? Whenever I try putting liquid-type stuff in bags, I end up with it running down the side and all over the "ziplock" part!

Re: Helpful kitchen tips

Epicurean — Tue, 30 Mar 2021 00:32:57 GMT

pa Mom-mom,I got a cheap plastic ice cube tray to pour my, leftover broth,stock,etc. after there frozen I put them in a bag then take whatever I out and thaw in microwave.

Great ideas ladies.Keep Em' coming!

Re: Helpful kitchen tips

Glittergal — Tue, 30 Mar 2021 02:54:49 GMT

I use garlic in everything. To save time and keep it fresh I peel it all at once and store it in a mason jar in the freezer. To peel it, I put a handful of cloves in a medium sized mason jar and shake vigorously. The cloves peel themselves--such a time saver!

Re: Helpful kitchen tips

jlkz — Tue, 30 Mar 2021 09:07:19 GMT

@alicedee

I have two ways of doing the freezer bag filling. I write the date on the bags with a Sharpie. I let the sauce cool over night in a tightly-lidded pot in the garage or lanai.

Using a small pot, I fill a tall plastic pitcher with the sauce.
It is very helpful to have a wet cloth to wipe up any drips.

At home: I lineup 6 glasses on the kitchen Island and fill to
the appropriate height. Use the wet cloth to

keep the outside of the glasses clean.

Sit the opened freezer bag on the counter and

pour in the contents of the glass...try to get the

glass deep into the bag.
Shake the glass to get everything out.

Wipe outside of the glass and return to lineup.

Wipe any drip from inside seal of bag.

Carefully make sure the seal is locked after ex-

pelling air.

At condo:
I cut off the top portion of a plastic water jug:

making sure you keep its handle intact.

Insert the jug opening into the freezer bag and

fill with the sauce. Use the wet cleanup cloth as

needed.

This may sound complicated, but once you start the process you will be surprised at how quickly it goes. I can empty a 20-quart pot in 30 minutes by myself.

HTH

Sorry for the font size change....it did it after I spell checked.

Re: Helpful kitchen tips

shoptilyadropagain — Tue, 30 Mar 2021 12:49:48 GMT

I don't eat a lot of celery but I had no idea that you can take a sharp knife to one end of a piece of celery and remove those long fibrous strands that are hard to chew and get caught in your teeth. Over the past year, I started watching three southern women who now have a cooking channel on facebook and all three of them have shown how to remove those tough strands. HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS?????? LOL!