If you’ve ever had to grate a semi-soft cheese, you know it can be difficult to clean the grater afterward, and you know you lose a lot of cheese because it breaks up when you’re trying to press it through the grater. Use cooking spray to stop cheese from sticking to a grater and make the grating and the cleanup easier!
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Use 2 bags of different icing with one tip to make swirl icing! Fill two small disposable piping bags with different colored or flavored frosting. Use scissors to snip holes in the bottoms of both bags. Insert both bags into a large (16”) disposable piping bag fitted with a decorative tip, making sure the two bags are aligned by squeezing and twisting the large bag.
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Light and airy as a cloud, there’s nothing quite like a spoonful of freshly whipped cream. Get fluffier whipped cream when you chill the beater and bowl beforehand. Because you’re relying on the fat in the cream, you need to ensure it stays in a solid, albeit microscopically solid, state. Chilling your bowl, cream, and beaters beforehand means things will stay colder longer during the whipping process. Colder cream = loftier peaks. Using a lower speed to begin your whipping will also be helpful. The cream won’t warm too quickly and you’ll build up smaller bubbles, for a more stable foam.
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We’ve all been there. You go to start a recipe for your favorite chili or bean soup or from-scratch hummus and then it hits you: you forgot to soak the beans! Of course you can reach for canned beans at this point, but if freshly cooked beans are what you really want, then this tip is for you! Cut the soaking time for dried beans by microwaving them for 15 minutes.
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Buying a big bag of salad greens or lettuces is a great, economical way to get your veggie servings, but we’ve all dealt with the frustrations of opening the bag a few days later and seeing sad, wilted or even slimy leaves inside. What’s the best way to store salad greens so that they last the longest? Transfer bagged lettuce to a lidded container and place a paper towel over the top to keep leaves crisp longer.
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Are you tired of the mixing spoon falling into the pot? You have to try this! Prevent a mixing spoon from falling into a bowl full of food by attaching a rubber band.
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A simple trick: Get more juice out of citrus by microwaving the fruit for 10-15 seconds before squeezing. The fruit will be easier to squeeze and the process will reap more juice for whatever you’re cooking up. A lemon or lime taken straight from the refrigerator is harder to juice than one left at room temperature or warmed slightly.
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Speed up ripening! Be a total magician and morph a banana from green to yellow or a peach from crunchy to juicy all with the help of a paper bag. When fruit is tossed into the bag, concentrated ethylene gas helps it ripen faster.
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Get creative with covering food! They’re known for hair hackery, but shower caps are not limited to the bathroom. Cover leftovers with a fresh shower cap (right in their dishes) to keep bugs and unidentifiable particles from tainting food. They’re reusable and a helluva lot easier than repeatedly removing and replacing plastic wrap or tin foil.
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Clean fruit and veggies without harsh chemicals. Scrub fresh produce with a mixture of baking soda and water to remove grit, grime, and pesticides.
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De-crust a microwave. Soak a sponge in water, pop it in the microwave, and let it cruise around the turntable for a minute. This double-whammy hack loosens all that gross caked on stuff inside the microwave (making it easier to wipe away later) plus it helps disinfect the sponge too!
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Make an electric kettle glimmer. Lime scale often builds up on electric kettles, French presses, and other metal kitchen tools. To make them shimmer and shine like they’re brand new, scrub them with one part vinegar to one part water. If there are no electrical elements to what you’re cleaning, go ahead and soak the metal in the solution, or fill a kettle with the vinegar water and let it sit overnight.
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Bring new life to wooden spoons. When wooden spoons don’t exactly look (or smell) like they used to, boil them in a pot of water and leave them lying in the sun to dry.
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Keep wooden cutting boards looking new. Scrub a wooden cutting board with coarse salt and massage with half a lemon to clean away food particles and food smells. Rub the board with food-grade mineral oil (find it at a hardware store) to condition the wood once a month.
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Combat cross contamination. Have two cutting boards—one for raw meat, one for everything else. It’ll help separate uncooked meat juices (ewie) from raw fruit and veggies, keeping you and your family safe from cross contamination. If you’re extra ambitious, purchase two different colored boards so there’s no confusion.
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Keep recipes clean. Display a recipe or cookbook from your kitchen cabinet with a pants hanger. It’ll keep the pages in sight and out of the line of oil splatters or counter spills. Laptop stands are another effective tool to elevate heavier cookbooks off your workspace.
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Prolong the life of greens by wrapping them loosely in a damp paper towel and placing in a resealable plastic bag. That local arugula will last about four days longer.
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Want to know if your oil is hot enough for frying? Here’s a tip: Stick a wooden skewer or spoon in the oil. If bubbles form around the wood, then you are good to go.
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Fry eggs the Spanish way: Get a good quantity of olive oil hot. Before you add the egg, heat the spatula (if it’s metal) in the oil first. That way the egg won’t stick to it. Add the egg and fry it quickly, until it gets “puntillitas,” or slightly browned edges. Then, remove with the hot spatula.
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When a recipe calls for lemon zest, instead of grating it into a separate container or onto parchment paper, hold the zester over the mixing bowl and zest directly onto the butter or cream. The aromatic citrus oils that are sprayed into the bowl will give the dessert a zesty finish.
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Use good oil when cooking. Smell and taste it: If it doesn’t taste good alone, it won’t taste good in your food.
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When grinding your own beef for burgers, grind in some bacon.
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Make sure the handle of your sauté pan is turned away from you so you don’t hit it and knock it off the stove. It happens all the time.
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Don’t Go Inside. Trick-or-treaters always seem to run across a house or two where someone invites them to “come in”. Remind your little ones that they should never go inside anybody’s home while trick-or-treating. They can easily get the candy they seek from the porch or if the homeowner is persistent, inform them to simply turn and walk away.
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Knock On Doors That You Know. Encourage your children to only trick-or-treat at homes where they know the inhabitants. If they know everyone on the street, except for one house, they could ask the neighbors about that one house. If a home is dark or has no Halloween decorations, that is typically a good sign that they are not up for trick-or-treaters.
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Walking Tips. Be sure that your children understand simple traffic rules, such as stopping and looking both ways before crossing the street, and staying in a crosswalk if one is available. If you have to cross at a light, make sure you have the proper “walk” signal before you proceed. Inform your children that they should never assume that they have the right away when crossing the street, especially at night on Halloween.
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Never Go Alone. It is important that your children have an adult chaperon at all times while trick or treating. You should also discreetly add some emergency identification information such as the child’s name, address & phone number to their costume or on a bracelet in case your child happens to get separated from the group.
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Be Visible. If your kids will comply, choose costumes that are brightly colored so that they are easier to see in the dark. If they really want a dark costume, apply some reflective strips to their costume. You could also have them wear glow necklaces or carry glow sticks and flashlights.
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Steer Clear Of Masks. While masks are a fun part of many costumes, do your best to recreate the mask with face paint. Having a mask on can sometimes impair the vision of the child wearing it. With face paint, it is easier for your child to see where they are going and they won’t have to lift their mask to have a conversation with a fellow trick or treater. If your child absolutely must wear a Halloween mask, make sure it’s a snug fit, is ventilated and has large enough eyeholes so they can see all around them.
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Go Safe During Trick Or Treat Times. You don’t have to wait until it is pitch-black outside to go trick-or-treating. A good trick or treat time is right after an early dinner and just before dusk when you can keep better track of your children and you are able to see the others that you encounter on the street. Besides, if you are the first person there, you will have the best selection of candy!
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Make a Holiday schedule! Plan a cooking schedule for yourself. Take note of dishes that can be made a day or two ahead, those that can be frozen, and those that need to be cooked at the last minute.
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Planning a Holiday meal? Cook in advance! To save time and kitchen space on the day of the event, cook what you can ahead of time. Cookies, pies and cakes can be made a week in advance, frozen and thawed out the night before the big meal. Cranberry sauce, casseroles, side dishes and vegetables can all be prepared the day before and refrigerated.
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Skip the roast and grill steaks instead! Steaks require minimal cooking time compared to their whole-cut counterpart. Throw them on the grill for some extra depth of flavor, and elevate the meal to feast status by serving with a rich sauce.
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Downsize from the Holiday goose and try Cornish hens. Not only will these mini birds take a fraction of the time to cook, they’re perfectly sized for individual servings and they still offer special occasion flair.
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Skip vegetable casseroles and whip up a rich sauce instead. Top a cooked vegetable — boiled, roasted or grilled, as they all work — with a rich flavorful sauce, and do away with any elaborate or multistep prep previously required for decadent vegetable sides.
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Cut up vegetables before cooking to save on time! Fall vegetables that are a mainstay at the holiday table — think winter squash or root vegetables — take a while to cook, especially when left whole. Whether a dish requires boiling or roasting, the smaller the vegetables are cut, the less time it will take for each piece to cook through.
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Assemble salads in advance! Try a salad that uses escarole and frisee, for example, won’t wilt into a soggy mess. Or try this pro trick that doesn’t require assembling a salad a la minute: Start by adding some dressing to the bottom of the salad bowl, then top with the heartiest ingredients that aren’t prone to soaking up dressing, like cucumbers and tomatoes. Layer the fragile ingredients on top, such as the lettuce or herbs, and top that layer with garnishes like cheese or croutons. The salad will keep for a few hours without wilting or soaking up any dressing; at the table, toss the salad and season it with salt and more dressing, as needed.
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When adding ground spices to bread or cake batter, cream the spices with the butter and sugar instead of adding them with the other dry ingredients. The fat in the butter helps disperse the flavors of the spices for a much more intense taste.
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A runny-yolked fried egg adds instant richness to pasta, rice and grain dishes, even pizza.
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When sauteing onions, add a pinch of baking soda. It speeds browning and cuts cooking time practically in half.
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Replace the bread crumbs in pasta dishes with finely chopped nuts for extra flavor and a shot of protein. Try almonds on top of bechamel-based mac ‘n’ cheese.
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Avoid messy stains and get at a pomegranate’s arils faster by slicing it in half, then submerging it in a bowl of water. The seeds will sink while the pith floats, making them easy to separate.
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When you’re not sure what to do with an exotic veggie, roast it! Everything from sunchokes to rutabaga tastes great tossed with a little olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, and cooked in the oven at 400°F until tender.
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Store fresh herbs as you would fresh flowers: in a jar of water on your countertop. Pluck off what you need, change the water daily, and they’ll last two to three times longer than they would in the fridge. You’ll get the most extra mileage from flat-leaf parsley.
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Learn how to sharpen your knives and do it often. The most dangerous thing you can have in your kitchen is a dull knife. You’re more likely to cut yourself because you have to press harder.
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To cut avocado more easily, slice it while it’s still in the skin. Not using the whole thing? Leave the pit in the remaining avocado to prevent browning.
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When making a whole roast chicken, salt it, then chill it, uncovered, in the fridge for the day. This helps season the bird and dries out the skin so it crisps perfectly when cooked. Remove it from the fridge an hour before you plan to put it in the oven, and add herbs and aromatics like garlic or shallots.
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When making dough, freeze the butter and grate it into the dry ingredients. You’ll handle the cold dough less, resulting in more tender and flaky piecrusts, biscuits, or scones.
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Never throw away the rinds of cheese. Drop it into a pot of soup—any kind!—for added flavor. Remove it with a spoon and discard before serving.
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Read the recipe thoroughly, and then wing it. Use your senses—taste, touch, smell—pay attention, and play with the ingredients. You might make a few mistakes, but you’ll learn so much more.
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