Pre-soaking Beans for Later Use?
I wash and sort the beans, cover them with water and bring to a rolling boil for 2 full minutes. Remove from heat and let them sit in the water for 1 hour. Drain and add fresh water to an inch above the beans and cook until tender.
Hot Tang Is Soothing For Colds
Growing up in the south, we would mix Tang with instant tea, or use it in brewed tea. It was very good.
Use Latex Gloves for Messy Kitchen Tasks
If you dont have the gloves, another trick is to put your hands inside regular baggies and when finished, just throw away. Keeps your hands and rings very clean.
Looking for Meat Tenderizers?
I soak chicken, pork or beef (not ground) in straight apple cider vinegar for about 30 minutes, rinse it off thoroughly and cook the meats as usual. This not only helps to tenderize the meats, but it removes bacteria that may be on the surface.
Add Peanut Butter to Oatmeal
I add regular butter to cream of wheat and oatmeal and it gives the cereals such a good flavor.
Making Banana Bread Moist?
You can use applesauce as a substitute for the fat and it will make it really moist.
Quick Tips Worth Remembering
Good tips! Thanks for posting. I will try the one for cleaning out the steam iron.
Fruit and Cake Mix Muffins
This is similar to Dump Cake. You just add a can of fruit, sweetened or unsweetened, to a box of cake mix. Mix it well and bake it according to package directions. You dont use eggs, oil or anything else, but you can add nuts and such, if you like. This can...
Chocolate Chips Turned White in Freezer?
The chocolate turns white and is called bloom. It does not affect the taste or quality. This is when the fats in the chocolate separate from the cocoa powder. Chocolate can get this bloom even when it has not been frozen.
Use Hard Boiled Egg Water For Houseplants
People can even drink the water from boiling eggs. Just let it cool and you get lots of minerals and calcium for free. Just make sure the shells are very clean before boiling the eggs.
Lower Fat Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
I have used the spray on the pan and not the bread and it has worked really well. I have used a light coating of olive oil, too, on the pan.
How to Refresh Honey
Another way to take the crystals out of honey, is to place the container with the lid off in a pan in about an inch of water. Heat it on the stove on very low heat. This may take awhile for the crystals to dissolve. Just make sure you dont get water into the...
Broccoli and Brussel Sprout Leaves?
I eat the leaves from broccoli a lot. Many leaves from vegetables are just as edible as the vegetable itself. Celery leaves are great in soups and broths.
Potato Flakes For Thick Potato Soup
Potato flakes can be used to thicken all kinds of soups. You can even use them in place of cornstarch or flour when making gravy.
Use A Rubber Mallet In The Kitchen
I also have ran the jar lid under very hot water to loosen it. I have also tapped the jar lightly on the counter and that loosens the lid without breaking the glass.
Add Potato Flakes To Thicken Chili
Potato flakes can be used to thicken soups and sauces, too. If you are out of flour or cornstarch, it can be used to thicken gravy.
Nestle's Quik for Flouring Pans
Using the cocoa on dark desserts prevents the white flour around the edges of the product, too. The finished product looks so much better!
Save Fast Food Plastic Cutlery
Plastic knives are great, too, for cutting brownies into squares. It keeps the brownies from looking messed up after cutting them.
Stretching Virgin Olive Oil with Canola Oil
Great idea, Bobbie! Canola and olive oil are both good for you and mixing the two helps drop the cost a lot from using just straight olive oil.
Vegetable Peeler For Fancy Chocolate Curls
Another tip, is to pick the chocolate curls up with a toothpick to transfer them to the cakes or other desserts.
How To Prevent Lettuce Rotting In The Fridge?
Another tip to prolong the freshness of lettuce is to remove the core (the hard thing at the end) before storing it. It is best not to wash greens until you are ready to use them.
Cereal Bar Recipe?
Susan, this link has a pretty good recipe. I substitute unsweetened apple sauce for the butter and left the eggs out. I also used whole wheat flour. The bars are very chewy. http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/oatmeal-bars-with-dates-n-walnuts?autonomy_kw=oatmeal...
Reusable Baggies
Another tip is to save the bags inside cereal boxes and use them for storing cookies, etc. for the freezer or any other storage use.
How to Know When a Cake is Done
Poke a toothpick or a raw spaghetti strand in the middle and it it comes out clean, the cake is done.
Best Way To Store Tomatoes?
Tomatoes can be frozen whole. Just wash and put in a paper bag. When you need to use one, just run it under cold water. The skin will come right off. Let it thaw out and use as any other tomato.
Need Recipes For "Unusual" Vegetables?
Wash beets and bake them just like potatoes. They are more nutritious because they are not cooked in water.
Recipe For Boxed Cake Frosting?
I remember the boxed icing and some places still sell it. Bakeries make their icing by mixing powdered sugar with shortening and food color. This makes a nice, stiff frosting.
Long Term Storage Of Chewing Gum?
I have gum that is years old and didnt do anything to store it, except to put the packages in a plastic bag. Freezing will make it break up and it will lose its chew.
Grocery Shop At Dollar Stores First
Our dollar store sells canned strawberries and they are very good! I have never seen them available anywhere, but at the dollar stores.
Light vs. Dark Kidney Beans?
Light and dark brown sugar is only due to the fact that more molasses is added to the sugar to make dark brown sugar.
Apple Cider Vinegar for Weight Loss?
It didnt help me lose weight, but it did give me canker sores from all of the acid in Braggs vinegar.
Try Salad Sandwiches
I eat salad and veggies in sandwiches a lot, too and it does work to get in the greens in your diet.
Waffles for Grilled Sandwiches
My mom used to cook extra pancakes and we would use them to make sandwiches. They are very good that way, too.
Cider Vinegar for Flavoring Meat
I marinate meats in vinegar not for the flavor, but to kill any bacteria that might be on the meat. Just soak it for about a half an hour, rinse well and you cant tell it ever was in vinegar.
Storing Potatoes In The Fridge?
I store mine in the fridge, because here in AZ it is too hot to keep them anywhere else. Mine have kept in the fridge for 2 months without sprouting.
