Tips & Tricks for the Kitchen

[flash]

To keep cheese longer from forming mold, store cheese in a sealed container with two lumps of sugar.

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Use lettuce leaves to remove fat from soups or stews. Place a few in the pot, the fat will cling to them, then just remove them.

[summermay]

When needing cut up hard boiled eggs for potato salad etc use your egg slicer. insert peeled hard boiled egg, slice, pick up whole and turn the other way,slice again. Instant chopped up egg, perfect for all your cold salad needs.

[couponfanatic]

For egg salad, get a long handled biscuit cutter. Put hard boiled eggs whole in the bowl, and use the biscuit cutter to chop them. If you like olives, it'll chop whole olives along with the eggs. Makes egg salad a breeze.
For potato salad, cube the potatoes before you cook them.
They cook faster and you don't have to wait for them to cool, or cut hot potatoes.

[queenofthehivemomof5]

Slice strawberries in your egg slicer. Wash and remove stem first.

My friend like the egg in her egg salad on the fine side so she grates her egg on a cheese grater.

Once you have unwrapped a stick of butter put the wrapper in a zipper style bag and throw in your freezer. When it is time to grease a cake pan use your butter wrappers.

If you are greasing a pan with crisco put your hand inside a sandwich baggie and grease the pan with crisco. When done remove bag and your hand is nice and clean.

For more flavorfull pasta add a generous amount of salt to the water right before adding the pasta.

To save energy when cooking pasta bring your water to a boil, add salt, then your pasta. Stir to prevent sticking. Once the water comes back to a boil turn off the heat and just let it sit 5 to 10 min till al dente. (This works for potoates too.

When baking always measure out your dry ingredients first then your wet so as to avoid using a wet cup or spoon to measure dry stuff.

When measuring honey, molassas, or corn syrup spray your measuring cup with some non stick cooking spray and the sticky stuff will slide right out.

put a little butter on your hand when pressing down warm rice crispie treats into the pan so they wont stick to your hands.

[ladywaterwind]

We use those fresh express shreds alot, to keep the lettuce fresh wrap paper towels around it and store in a ziploc/gladware/whatever container. It usually gives me about another week or 2 of freshness.

[daltregirl]

Keep smaller bottles to store leftover wine. The less space between the wine and the cork, the longer it will retain its freshness.

Ok - but who has leftover wine

[oregoncactus]

When you need to spray a pan with PAM-type spray, open the dishwasher door, put the pan down on the door, and spray. No messiness to clean up due to overspray.

Christi

[meagansmom]

When you need to grease a pan, use a sandwich bag as a "glove" dip out the shortening, grease the pan throw away the baggie, nice clean hands !!!

[Dhunny318]

Place homemade (or even store bought) bread in your microwave after you clean the kitchen at night. It works just like a bread box and prolongs the life of homemade bread.