Kitchen Tips

1. If you happen to over salt a pot of soup, just drop in a peeled potato. The potato will absorb the excess salt.
2. When boiling eggs, add a pinch of salt to keep the shells from cracking.
3. Never put citrus fruits (Oranges, Lemons, Limes etc) or tomatoes in the fridge, the low temperatures degrade the aroma and flavor of these fruits. (That’s why our tomatoes don’t last in the fridge).
4. To clean iron cookl-ware, don’t use detergents. Just scrub them with salt and a clean dry paper towel.
5. When storing empty airtight containers, throw in a pinch of salt to keep them from getting stinky.
6. If you are making gravy (stew) and accidentally burn it, add sugar a little at a time, tasting as you go to avoid ‘over sugaring it’. The sugar will cancel out the burned taste.
7. Burned a pot of rice? Just place a piece of white bread on top of the rice for 5-10 minutes to draw out the burned flavor. Be careful not to scrape the burned pieces off of the bottom of the pan when serving the rice.
8. Before you chop fresh red peppers, rub a little vegetable oil into your hands and your skin won’t absorb the spiciness.
9. If you aren’t sure how fresh your eggs are, place in about four inches of water. Eggs that stay on the bottom are fresh. If only one end tips up, the egg is less fresh and should be used soon. If it floats, it’s past the fresh stage.
10. To banish ants from the kitchen, find out where they are coming in and cover the hole with petroleum jelly (Vaseline). Ants won’t trek through the jelly, if they are coming under a door, draw a line on the floor with the chalk. The little bugs also won’t cross a line of chalk.
11. Don’t store your bananas in a bunch or in a fruit bowl with other fruits. Separate your bananas and place each in a different location. Bananas release gases which cause fruits (including other bananas) to ripen quickly. Separating them will keep them fresh longer.
12. To keep potatoes from budding in the bag, put an apple in with them.
13. If you manage to have some left over wine, cocktail drinks at the end of the evening, freeze it in ice cube trays for easy addition to sauces (white wine works wonders in sauces, I don’t joke with them) in the future.
14. After boiling pasta or potatoes, cool the water and use it to water your house plants. The water contains nutrients that your plants will love.
15. When defrosting meat from the freezer, pour some vinegar over it. Not only does it tenderize the meat; it will also bring down the freezing temperature of the meat and cause it to thaw quicker. Not every woman should have vinegar in her kitchen.
16. Do you cry while peeling off onions? Try this. After peeling off your onions, refrigerate the onions for at least 5 minutes, then dice it. You will be glad you did.
17. For aluminum pans that are looking dull, just boil some apple peels in them. This will brighten up the aluminum and make your house smell yummy.
18. If your salt is becoming lumpy, put a few grains of rice in with it to absorb excess moisture.
19. Always keep an aloe vera plant in your kitchen. It’s invaluable when you scrape your arm or burn your finger. Just break off a leaf and rub the gel from the inside on the injury.
20. When making a soup, sauce that ends up too fatty or greasy, drop in an ice cube. The ice will attract the fat, which you can then scoop out. This works wonders.
21. To reuse cooking oil without tasting whatever was cooked in the oil previously, cook a ¼ piece of ginger in the oil. It will remove any remaining flavours and odors.
22. If your milk always goes bad before you can finish it, try adding a pinch of salt to the carton when you first open it. It will stay fresh days longer.
23. If two drinking glasses becomes stuck together after stacking, it’s not impossible to unstick them. Just put ice in the inner glass and dunk the outer glass in warm water. The warm glass will expand and the cold glass will contract, making the glasses separate easily.