Tips Galore
Source of Recipe
Pro Hardware
1. Instead of using sugar in your tea, dissolve old-fashioned lemon drops or hard mint candy in the brew. They melt quickly and give the tea a clean tangy flavour.
2. The flavour of tea can be enhanced by placing a thoroughly dried orange peel in the tea tin.
Leftover apple, orange or lemon rind can be put in your tea. It adds flavour and aroma.
The flavour of ground coffee will keep better if you store opened coffee in tightly-covered container in the refrigerator.
If you use some form of purified water, coffee will taste better and the life of your coffee maker will be prolonged.
Pennies placed under the pot in the drip coffee maker will prevent scum from forming on the coffee and you won’t have to throw out any coffee.
To add flavour to coffee, add vanilla or almond extract to the water as the coffee brews.
Cool leftover coffee immediately, cover with tight lid and refrigerate. It warms up beautifully in the microwave.
Freeze leftover coffee in ice-cube trays. The cubes can be used in milk or eggnog. Coffee cubes are also great to place in too-hot coffee.
Scum won’t form on the top of hot chocolate if you beat the drink until frothy immediately after preparation.
Mix a 12-ounce can of frozen orange juice in a three-quart pitcher, add one cup of powdered orange drink mix. Fill the pitcher to the brim with cold water and stir until dissolved. The powder gives the drink sweetness and the frozen juice gives it body.
Freeze clusters of grapes to float in punches. They keep the punch cold and add a lovely garnish.
When you make punch, make ice cubes out of punch, then you can keep the punch cold without diluting it.
For cocktails, freeze lemon peel twists in party ice cubes - looks attractive and adds a tangy flavour.
When entertaining, serve hot cider and other hot drinks from a slow cooker on a low setting. This way, the liquid will remain warm as long as you wish.
Use canning funnels to fill a thermos bottle without spills.
To make butter go farther and spread easier, leave butter at room temperature, use electric beater and whip to twice its volume.
Soften hard butter for sandwiches by inverting a warmed soup bowl over it.
Prevent butter from burning when sauteing by adding a small amount of olive or vegetable oil. Butter alone burns easily, but the combination of the two does not. Vegetables and meats will be golden brown.
Blend cottage cheese in a blender until it’s smooth, then you can use it in dips, instead of sour cream.
Cottage cheese will keep twice as long if you store the carton upside down.
If you don’t want to make your own sour cream, add three or four drops of lemon juice to 3/4 cup whipping cream and leave it at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Before adding sour cream to a sauce which must boil, stir 1 tsp. of flour into the cream. The sauce can boil and the flour will prevent the sour cream from curdling.
When you buy bulk cheese, put it in a Tupperware container with a lid which can be burped. Place a paper towel which has been dampened with vinegar in the container. More vinegar can be added once a week to keep the cheese fresh for a month or longer.
Cheese wrapped in a cloth which has been dampened with vinegar will keep fresh and free from mold.
Mold on cheese can be prevented by storing the cheese in a covered container with a lump
or two of sugar. This also keeps the cheese moist.
After you cut a piece of cheese, butter the edge of the remainder which is to be stored. It will less likely to dry out and lose its consistency.
Grate leftover pieces of cheese together. Use for a cheese ball or serve over spaghetti.
Instead of throwing moldy cheese away, take a knife or cheese slicer, dip it in vinegar and slice off the mold. Dip the knife in vinegar after each slice made. The vinegar keeps the mold from coming back.
When boiling milk, first rinse pan with cold water to avoid boil overs.
To prevent milk from burning, sprinkle one tsp. of sugar over milk before heating. Do not stir.
Always keep powdered milk handy, in case you run out of fresh milk.
Always use skim milk powder in your cooking.
Use powdered skim milk in tea and coffee instead of edible oil products.
You can make your own sweetened condensed milk and save a small fortune. The following make 12 oz. and can be used in any recipe calling for this type of milk: Mix in blender for one minute 1/4 cup hot water and 3/4 cup granulated sugar. While continuing to blend slowly, add 1 1/4 cup dry skim milk powder. Refrigerate for 24 hours to develop the flavour. Do not store for more than one week.
Seven drops of lemon juice added to two cups of cream before whipping will cause it to whip up in less than half the normal time.
For best results when whipping fresh cream, chill the bowl, beaters and cream before whipping.
If cream refuses to whip, add one egg white.
Add honey to whipped cream instead of sugar. It adds a sweet flavour and whipped cream stays firm longer.
Icing sugar used, instead of granulated sugar, in making whipped cream will prevent separation if the cream has to sit for a while.
To stop whipped cream from separating, add 1/4 tsp. dissolved, unflavoured gelatin for every cup of cream.
When whipping cream, to avoid splatters set the bowl in the sink and whip. All the splatters are in the sink and there’s no mess to clean.
Spoon dabs of leftover whipped cream onto wax paper and place in the freezer. When they’re frozen, place in a plastic bag and keep in the freezer to use for dessert toppings. They will thaw in 10-15 minutes.
Whip evaporated milk instead of cream. Place can of evaporated milk in freezer until partially frozen. Pour contents into a cold bowl, add one tsp. lemon juice to 2/3 cup milk and whip.
To add fresh fruit flavour to yogurt, buy plain yogurt and mix with any fresh fruit in a blender.
To hard cook eggs, place in a pan of cold water to cover. Bring to a boil and remove the pan from the heat. Cover and let stand 20 minutes. Immediately rinse in cold water. The eggs will be tender, the yolk will be an even yellow and there will be no grey ring.
Keep yolks centred in eggs by stirring the water while cooking hard-boiled eggs.
When boiling eggs, add one tsp. vinegar to water, to prevent cracking.
Before boiling a cracked egg, rub moistened salt over the shell. This prevents the white from running out.
When eggs crack during boiling, add a little vinegar to the water to help seal the crack.
The yolks of eggs, left over when baking requiring whites only, can be dropped into a pan of boiling and salted water. When cooked, they are ready to add to a salad.
Hard-boiled eggs for use in egg salad are easily mashed with a pastry blender.
When slicing hard-cooked eggs, wet the knife before each cut to keep the yolk from crumbing.
Bread crumbs added to scrambled eggs will improve the flavour and make them go further.
For fluffier omelets, add a pinch of cornstarch before beating.
To ensure a white film over the yolk when frying eggs, add a few drops of water to the pan and cover with a lid.
To separate the whites of an egg from the yolk, break the egg into a funnel. The white will slip through, but the yolk will stay in the funnel.
If a bit of egg yolk gets into the whites you’ve just separated, touch the yolk with a damp cloth. It will pick up the yolk quickly and cleanly.
Egg whites will whip faster and to greater volume when brought to room temperature before beating.
Add one tsp. cold water for each egg white before beating and you will have double the volume.
One tsp. vinegar and one tsp. baking soda dissolved together will take the place of one egg when making a cake.
If you run one egg short in the middle of a recipe, substitute one tsp. cornstarch and one tsp. vinegar. The liquid in the recipe should then be increased by three or four tbsp. (Note: This will only work for one egg, no more.)
When cleaning green vegetables, add a handful of salt to the second water. The sand from the vegetables will sink to the bottom of the pan so another rinsing will make vegetables thoroughly clean.
A little vinegar added to the water in which you are soaking slightly-wilted vegetables will make them crisp and fresh.
Line bottom of the refrigerator vegetable compartment with paper towels. It absorbs moisture and keeps fruit and vegetables fresh longer.
Place a dry sponge in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator. It will help prevent mildew and food spoilage, as it absorbs excess moisture.
To keep a vegetable salad fresh, it must stand before serving, place an inverted saucer in bottom of bowl before filling with salad.
Wash salad vegetables before storing. It saves time and spoilage as they are easier to use when you are preparing a meal and you tend to use them more often.
Make your own salad dressings -- they are one-third the cost of brand-name dressings.
Keep crispness and nutrients in your vegetables by cooking them in a vegetable steamer.
To restore fresh flavour to frozen vegetables, pour boiling water over them to rinse away all traces of the frozen water.
To store asparagus in the refrigerator, for no more than a day or two, first trim the stem ends slightly and wrap the ends in wet paper towels.
Broccoli stalks of varying sizes can be cooked in the same length of time by making an X incision from top to bottom through stems.
Place a heel of bread on top of cabbage then cover and cook. There will be no odour.
To eliminate cabbage odour from cooking cabbage, drop a whole walnut into the boiling water.
When cooking cabbage, add a pinch of soda. It eliminates the odour and also keeps the cabbage green.
While cooking vegetables which give off an unpleasant odour, simmer a small pan of vinegar on top of the stove.
When baking cabbage rolls, instead of steaming cabbage before pulling the leaves apart, place whole head of cabbage in the freezer until frozen solid. Then allow cabbage to thaw and you will find the leaves are easy to pull apart and they are soft and easy to work with.
To keep cauliflower white add two to three tbsp. of milk to the cooking water.
Before storing in the refrigerator, soak celery in cold water to which lemon juice has been added. It won’t turn brown.
Make your own celery salt by drying celery leaves thoroughly. Crush them to a powder or rub them through a sieve and mix with salt.
For the best tasting corn on the cob, when removing outer leaves save the tender leaves next to the cob. Place these leaves on the bottom of the pot, add cobs, water to cover cobs and one tbsp. salt. Bring to a boil and simmer 20 minutes.
Garlic will peel more easily if you put it in hot water for a few minutes to loosen the skin.
Store garlic cloves in cooking oil. They will never dry out and the garlic-flavoured oil can be used for cooking.
To keep garlic longer, put the cloves in the freezer. When ready to use, peel and chop before the cloves thaw.
Lettuce will not go rusty if you remove its core. Bang the lettuce head on the kitchen counter and the core should twist out.
Lettuce keeps longer stored in a brown paper bag or on a paper towel in the produce drawer of your refrigerator.
Lettuce will not discolour so quickly if you line the bottom of your crisper with paper towels. The paper absorbs the excess moisture, keeping fruits and vegetables fresh for a longer period of time.
If lettuce has wilted, take out the core, soak in hot water, then quickly drain, and put in plastic bag and refrigerate. After it’s cold, you’ll have fresh lettuce.
Always tear lettuce -- cutting causes the edges to turn brown.
Cover fresh mushrooms with a dampened paper towel and refrigerate. They will keep fresh for several days.
When using mushrooms in any recipe, add a little lemon juice to bring out their flavour.
To keep eyes from running when peeling onions, soak the onions in cold water for five to ten minutes and keep them under the cold water tap while you peel them.
Before peeling or slicing onions, place them in the freezer for a while to eliminate watery eyes.
To avoid tears and save on facial tissues when peeling, cutting or slicing onions, place a small piece of bread on the tip of the knife blade.
When peeling onions, chew gum and there will be no tears.
Leftover onion will keep longer when the root end is left intact. Use the top part first.
Dry parsley in the microwave and store for future use.
Coat peppers with olive oil before stuffing and baking them. They will keep their original colour.
Trim 1/8 inch slice from both ends of cucumbers before making into pickles. The ends contain enzymes which may cause pickles to soften.
Save pickle juice. Slice unwaxed cucumbers into thin strips and refrigerate in the juice for four days. Then they are ready to enjoy.
Never throw away pickle juice after using all the pickles in a jar. It’s great for adding to devilled eggs, coleslaw and potato salad.
A piece of horseradish placed in a jar of pickles will keep the vinegar from losing its strength. The pickles will not be become soft or moldy.
Put a few apples in with your potatoes. It keeps the potatoes from sprouting.
Peeled potatoes will last three or four days in the refrigerator if a few drops of vinegar are added to the water.
Boil potatoes with the skins on. Skins will slide off easily when the potatoes are done and you will retain a lot of the natural food value of the potatoes.
To improve the flavour of old potatoes, add a little sugar to the water in which they are boiled.
To boil potatoes, add one tsp. vinegar to the boiling water so that they will not turn black.
If dinner is getting cold, keep potatoes warm by placing the pot in a pan of hot water.
For fluffy mashed potatoes, add 1/2 tsp. baking powder to the potatoes, milk and butter.
Let sit a few minutes before serving.
To add zip to mashed potatoes, add cooked onion and top with grated cheese or nutmeg.
You can cut the baking time of potatoes in half by letting them stand in boiling water for 15 minutes before popping them in the oven.
Re-heat leftover baked potatoes instead of discarding them. Dip the potatoes in warm water, then bake at 250 F until heated through.
Add a few drops of lemon juice to rice when cooking. It makes rice white and keeps the grains whole.
About five minutes before rice is cooked, place a small absorbent towel under the pot lid. Continue cooking. The rice will be dry and fluffy.
To reheat leftover rice, line a vegetable steamer with a basket-like coffee filter and warm over boiling water. The grains stay in the basket and do not get mushy.
Apples stored with green tomatoes will hasten the ripening process.
Tomatoes and cucumbers taste best when stored at room temperature.
Instead of adding sugar to sweeten homemade tomato sauce, grate a carrot into the sauce. Lower on calories too.
To prepare a quick and delicious sauce for vegetables, simply whisk a few tablespoons of mayonnaise into the cooking liquid from the vegetables and season to taste.
Having trouble finding the correct spice? Arrange spices in alphabetical order.
Put a few grains of rice in the salt shaker to keep moisture from caking the salt.
Save foil margarine wrappers to wrap potatoes for baking. They’ll be deliciously crunchy.
Place unripened fruit in a plastic bag along with ripe fruit. Ripe fruit exudes a natural gas which speeds up ripening of other fruit.
To ripen peaches, pears or tomatoes quickly, place in a brown paper bag with a ripe apple. Poke a hole in the bag and put in a cool, dark place. The apple will give off ethylene gas and cause the other fruit to ripen.
When cooking apples, a pinch of salt will make them more tender and add flavour.
To ripen green bananas, wrap them in a wet towel and place them in a brown paper bag.
If you have more bananas than you can eat, peel, mash them with a dash of lemon juice and freeze in airtight containers for up to six months. Use, defrosted, in recipes which call for ripe bananas.
If you are storing cantaloupes in the refrigerator, wrap or cover them so that the melon flavour and scent stay inside the fruit and are not transferred to other foods in the refrigerator.
To keep fruit from discolouring, sprinkle with lemon or pineapple juice.
When freezing fresh fruits or berries which don’t have to be blanched, place them on a cookie sheet and freeze. When frozen, remove them from the cookie sheet and place in freezer bags or containers and put back in freezer. This prevents the fruits and berries from becoming mushy and you can remove the amount you need, without having to thaw the whole container at once.
Lemons will keep in the refrigerator for a month if you put them in a sterilized jar and cover them with cold water. Seal tightly with rubber-ringed lid.
A cut lemon may be kept longer by smearing the cut surface with the white of an egg.
After using a lemon, store the remaining portion in the freezer.
If you only use a small piece of lemon or lime at a time, cut them into quarters and freeze them in a plastic freezer bag. They will always be available when you need them.
To get just a little juice out of a citrus fruit, puncture one end with a skewer and squeeze out as much as needed. Seal fruit in plastic wrap and refrigerate.
To get more juice out of a lemon, heat it in a microwave before squeezing.
Lemons and oranges submerged in hot water for 15 minutes, then rolled on a hard surface with your hand before squeezing, will yield almost twice the amount of juice.
Soak oranges in boiling water for five minutes before peeling. The peel and all white pulp will come off easily.
To almost double the amount of juice you get from oranges, store at room temperature.
Vitamin C in orange juice is destroyed by exposure to air. To prevent this, slowly stir water into frozen orange juice and store in covered container.
Save tangerine peels and dry by laying peels loosely on a cookie sheet with the insides facing up. When dry, buzz the dried pieces in a blender and use in recipes calling for orange peel.
Use a V-shaped juice can opener to remove stems from strawberries.
When adding pineapple to gelatin, always use cooked or canned pineapple. Raw pineapple prevents the gelatin from setting.
Freeze the juices from canned fruits and save until you have enough to combine with flavoured or unflavoured gelatin to make a desert or salad.
Rinse your gelatin mold in cold water, then coat with oil before putting salad ingredients into the mold. It will unmold easily.
Metal jelly molds chill faster than glass molds.
Grease the threads on syrup bottles to keep syrup from running down the bottle.
When using honey in a recipe, run hot water over your measuring spoon or measuring cup first. The honey will then slide out easily.
If honey has crystallized, place in microwave for 10-60 seconds (depending on amount). It will come out fresh and ready to use.
When you open a new bottle of ketchup, insert a straw and push to bottom of bottle. Remove the straw and you will find that the ketchup will flow easily.
Save all small bits of jams and jellies in one jar. Melt and use as a basting sauce for ham, chicken or lamb.
If you rub the bottom of your preserving kettle with a little oil, your jam will not burn. The oil leaves no taste.
If you do any preserving, save all of your empty jars with self-sealing lids. They will seal several times.
Add vinegar to hard-water in the water bath at canning time to avoid the hard water deposit on sealers.
When sealing jelly jars with wax, before the wax hardens put a piece of string down in the wax. When removing the wax, just pull the string.
If you have a damp storage area, wipe the outsides of your filled canning jars with white vinegar to keep mold away.
Use an empty, well-cleaned detergent bottle to store cooking oil. Just squirt the oil into the pan.
Add one tbsp. cooking oil to a bottle of cooking wine to prevent it from going sour.
Don’t throw away leftover wine or wine that has begun to go off. Boil it down by half, bottle and refrigerate, then use for cooking.
Buy spaghetti sauce on sale and use as sauce when making pizzas.
To prevent any boiling-over mishaps, grease the inside rim of the pot.
Add one tsp. of butter or margarine to macaroni, spaghetti, soup etc. to stop from boiling over.
Before opening a can of soup, shake can and open bottom end. Soup will slide out easily.
Finely grated cheese, added to thin soup, improves the flavour immensely.
Unpeeled potatoes add flavour, colour and nutrients to stews.
Save leftover vegetables in a container in the freezer and use them in soups.
To make soup go further, add noodles, macaroni, barley, rice or diced potatoes.
To cut meat costs, serve soups, stews, casseroles, etc. with lots of dried peas, beans and lentils.
To thicken soup, add one tbsp. (or more) of instant potato.
To thicken homemade soup, add a handful of rolled oats or wheat flakes.
If your homemade soup is too salty, drop a raw potato in the pot and remove potato before serving.
Fat on the top of soup or stew can be removed easily by dropping three or four ice cubes in the pot. The fat will stick to the ice cubes and the cubes can then be scooped out.
Take the grease off soup or gravy by swishing a lettuce leaf gently and slowly over the surface. The lettuce will absorb the grease.
Pour leftover soup into ice cube trays and freeze. Remove cubes and store in plastic bags. To use, just thaw as many cubes as needed.
Instead of expensive smoked salmon, substitute canned salmon mixed with freshly ground pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.
When using canned shrimp, pre-chill and they will hold their shape and texture better. Always rinse well in cold water before using.
It’s easier to skin a frozen fish than a fresh one, so you might find it convenient to freeze fresh fish before skinning.
Thaw frozen fish in milk and it will taste like fresh fish.
Use up all those broken crackers by rolling with a rolling pin and using the crumbs for coating fish and chops.
Add lemon juice to shortening when frying fish. This eliminates smoke and odour.
After cooking fish, wash the pan with vinegar to remove fishy odour.
To keep lard from splattering while frying, sprinkle in a little salt.
Spray your barbecue grill with vegetable oil before barbecuing to make cleanup easier.
After cleaning your wok, dry and spray with vegetable oil. This prevents rust.
Consider the cost per serving, not per pound, when buying meat. A boneless cut may be cheapest.
Separate bacon slices easily by heating the package in the microwave, on high, for 25-30 seconds.
Bacon slices will separate smoothly if you slip a pizza cutter between them.
Place a large sheet of tinfoil on a baking sheet. Cover it with bacon strips and broil for approximately 10 minutes. This saves cooking and cleanup time since you just throw the foil away.
Sausage will shrink less and not break open if boiled about five minutes before frying.
Prevent sausage from bursting open and spattering, by piercing the skins with a fork before and during cooking.
If you find ham too salty, bake partially, then drain off juices, pour a small bottle of ginger ale over ham and bake until done.
To tenderize meat, place in vinegar water for a few minutes.
To tenderize steak, rub steak with mixture of vinegar and oil. Allow to stand two hours.
To tenderize steak, brush it on both sides with lime juice a few hours before the steak is cooked.
Add a little strong tea to roasts and stews. It acts as a meat tenderizer and reduces cooking time.
Tenderize a tough piece of pot roast with tomatoes. Add the tomatoes to the usual vegetables and seasonings and the acid in the tomatoes will act as tenderizer.
Buy cheaper cuts of meat and tenderize with inexpensive wine for a gourmet flavour.
Let boiled meat go cold in its own broth if you want it to be tender when cold.
Beef liver will be tender if soaked in milk. Refrigerate for about two hours then bread and saute.
Instead of greasing your skillet with oil, sprinkle it with salt lightly and hamburgers will fry in their own juices.
To stretch ground beef, mix 1 1/2 cups of poultry dressing with one pound of ground beef. It adds flavour to meat loaf or hamburgers.
You can decrease the cooking time for hamburgers by making several holes in the centre of each patty.
Brown meatballs uniformly and with less mess by doing them on a cookie sheet in a 425 F.
oven.
Use soybeans instead of hamburger for making meatloaf.
If meatloaf is placed on a slice of bacon while baking, it won’t stick to the pan.
Try making meatloaf in muffin tins. It cooks more quickly and looks better.
The trick to cutting meat for Chinese dishes is to partially freeze the meat (or partially thaw frozen meat) and then slice it thinly across the grain.
When making a beef stew or gravy, add one tbsp. blackstrap molasses for colour and flavour.
If the gravy gives out before the roast does, don’t use expensive gravy mixes. Instead, use instant beef or chicken bouillon to stretch beef, chicken and turkey gravy. Add a teaspoon or two of the bouillon to a tumbler of water; add flour or cornstarch then mix with a fork and add what’s left of the gravy.
Cutting your own chicken pieces and chops from whole fryers and loins will easily save 30 to 50 per cent on your meat bill.
Defrost chicken by soaking in heavily salted cold water. The meat will be white and flavourful.
To make baked chicken easier and tastier, brush chicken pieces with mayonnaise, then coat with crushed, seasoned cracker crumbs and bake. The mayonnaise provides an excellent base and the crumbs stick better.
When stuffing a large turkey, line the cavity with cheesecloth, then stuff it. After the turkey is cooked, the stuffing is easy to get out and nothing is left clinging to the bones.
Use dental floss to truss turkey or chicken.
Save one-third the baking time, by placing chicken or turkey in a well-oiled brown paper bag. Seal end of bag with staples and bake in 400 F oven.
Baste turkey with a mixture of two cups water and 1/4 cup honey.
Don’t throw away chicken and turkey livers, hearts and gizzards. Simmer them in water, then cut up. Place water and cut up pieces in blender. Blend and add gravy.
For easier carving, cover a roast or turkey with tinfoil and let stand for about 30 minutes after cooking.
To enable you to have slow-cooking porridge oats in the morning, measure oats into a thermos flask the evening before. Pour on appropriate amount of boiling water and put on lid. Porridge is hot and ready to eat for breakfast.
Buy plain cereals rather than the “with fruit and nuts” variety. Add a handful of raisins, dried chopped apple, prunes, apricots, walnut chips, etc. to make a less costly mixture.
To keep dumplings light, prick them open when first taken from the kettle.
For light pancakes and waffles, replace the liquid in the batter with club soda.
Crepes can be made ahead of time, frozen in meal-size amounts and reheated in the microwave.
If you have pancakes left over, line each with wax paper so they don’t stick, place in plastic bag and freeze. When needed, pop into toaster.
If you have leftover eggnog, substitute it for milk called for in plain muffin recipes. It’s also good in pancakes.
You won’t need to invest in a lot of muffin tins if you arrange sealer bands on a cookie sheet then place paper muffin cups in each band.
When making cupcakes or muffins, use an ice cream scoop to get the right amount of batter in each muffin cup.
If you have trouble getting muffins out of the pan, place the bottom of the hot pan on a wet towel for about 30 seconds.
If you freeze baker’s yeast, it will last indefinitely.
Store an opened bag of flour in an airtight container or plastic bag to maintain moisture content.
Whole-wheat flour stays fresh in a freezer bag in the freezer.
When baking buns or bread, place rising dough in oven with light on -- temperature is perfect and area is free of drafts.
Cut fresh bread with a hot knife.
Warm hot dog buns in top of double boiler, while wieners cook in the bottom.
Stale rolls can be revived if you spray them lightly with cold water, place in a paper bag or wrap in foil and warm in a 375 F oven for about five minutes.
Re-heat stale buns and rolls by placing them in a wet brown paper bag and putting it in the oven at 350 F for seven to ten minutes.
Don’t throw away a stale loaf of bread. Wrap it in a damp cloth for about a minute, then place in preheated 350 F oven for about 20 minutes. Serve warm.
Save all leftover bread trimmings and crusts. Put them in a plastic bag and freeze. When you have accumulated enough, use for making bread crumbs, croutons or stuffings.
To freshen dry bread, rolls or doughnuts, place in a covered casserole and place casserole in pan of hot water. Heat thoroughly in the oven.
Make your own croutons. Butter both sides of two or three slices of bread, season as desired and cut into small cubes. Set cubes on cookie sheet and heat them in a 375 F oven
for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
If you run out of bread crumbs, you can use dry cereals by putting them through a blender or food processor.
To make bread crumbs, place pieces on dry bread into a plastic bag and roll with a rolling pin.
Make up bread crumbs ahead of time and store for months in plastic bag or container in the freezer.
Keep crackers in the sugar canister to keep sugar from caking.
To deter mold, wash your bread box with a mixture of two tbsp. vinegar to a quart of water.
You can easily determine whether you need a fresh supply of baking powder by pouring 1/4 cup of hot tap water over 1/2 tsp. of baking powder. If the mixture doesn’t bubble actively, it’s too old.
To store brown sugar, wrap it in a plastic bag and place in a coffee can which has a snap- on lid.
Brown sugar will keep soft if stored in a freezer.
Soften brown sugar by freezing it. It will be soft when thawed.
To moisten brown sugar, which has hardened, place apple slices in a container with the sugar and cover lightly.
Brown sugar can be softened by enclosing a slice of bread in the bag. It will be soft in approximately a day.
To soften hard brown sugar, place in sealed container with a couple of marshmallows.
One cup of white sugar and two tbsp. molasses make one cup of brown sugar.
For a brown sugar substitute, mix together 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 tsp. maple flavouring and 1/2 tsp. molasses.
If you do not have any squares of chocolate for baking, substitute, 45 ml cocoa plus 10 ml shortening for each square. It’s just as good and so much cheaper.
When making cookies, add one tsp. of jam or jelly. The cookies will have a better taste and will stay moist longer.
To make cakes, cookies, pancakes and waffles especially moist, add two tbsp. honey to the batter.
Always store coconut in airtight containers or sealed plastic bags to prevent drying out.
For tinted coconut, add a few drops of food colouring to a small amount of water. Pour over flaked or shredded coconut in a jar. Cover and shake until thoroughly coloured.
One tsp. of cornstarch will improve texture and flavour of fudge.
A little flour added to icing sugar makes it go a lot further.
Marshmallows will not dry out if stored in the freezer. Cut up with scissors when you want to use them.
When cutting marshmallows or gumdrops, dip scissors in hot water.
Crushed cornflakes can be used as a substitute for pecans.
Coarse bran may be used in place of chopped nuts when making chocolate brownies.
Keep nuts, especially Brazil nuts, in the freezer. They will come out of the shell easier and won’t break up.
Walnuts which have an “old” taste can be improved in flavour by pouring boiling water over them , then spreading in a shallow pan and heating in the oven. Stir often to prevent burning.
Keep peanut butter fresh by storing the jar upside down.
When you double a recipe, just use the original amount of salt.
For a quick and inexpensive ice cream sauce, melt one Fudgesicle for two servings.
To colour sugar for decorating cakes, cookies, etc., put one or two drops of food colouring in a small plastic bag. Add one or two tsp. of white sugar and tie top of bag securely. Work sugar and colouring together with fingers until sugar is evenly coloured.
A small two-inch paintbrush will last longer and stay more pliable than a pastry brush.
Rinse your measuring cup with oil, then rinse in hot water, before measuring sticky liquids. They will pour easily.
To make cake flour, sift together two tbsp. cornstarch to one cup of all-purpose flour.
When making quick breads, cakes and cookies, cut sugar by one-third to one-half. Bring out sweetness by using vanilla extract.
Creaming shortening and sugar is easier if a few drops of water are sprinkled on top of the mixture.
When making a cake, always add two tbsp. boiling water to the butter and sugar mixture. This makes a fine-textured cake.
When making a cake, or any recipe that calls for mixing dry ingredients together then adding them at a later point, put them all in a paper bag or plastic bag and shake to mix. You have no separate bowl to clean and no fuss or muss either.
If batter always rises up the mixer beaters, spray the beaters with a nonstick vegetable oil spray before using.
Roll raisins or dried fruit in flour before stirring them into cake batter to prevent them from sinking to the bottom.
To keep raisins from sinking to the bottom of your cake toss in butter or heat in oven for a moment before stirring into batter.
Leave cloves out of spice cake if you plan to freeze it. Cloves get stronger in cold storage.
Keep a mixture of equal parts flour and shortening at room temperature. Use to grease cake pans.
Line cake pans with margarine wrappers instead of wax paper.
Use the parchment from margarine and butter wrappers to grease cake and cookie pans.
Quick-cool angel food cake by inverting pan over a tray of ice cubes.
Sprinkle cake plate with granulated sugar to prevent cake from sticking when serving.
To keep icing from running off a cake, dust the cake with powdered sugar before icing.
When you’re ready to frost the cupcakes you’ve made to pack in lunches, don’t frost the tops. Slit the cupcakes in half, frost the centres and put back together. This way, the frosting won’t stick to the sandwich bag.
Use a clean squeeze-type ketchup or mustard container for decorating cakes.
Make a handy, disposable paper funnel for icing cakes by snipping off a corner of an envelope.
Before placing a tube cake in a cake server, put a glass or plastic bottle with water in the centre of the cake. This will keep the cake extra moist for a week or longer.
A slice of apple or potato under the cake plate dome will keep cake fresh.
When you are slicing only a few pieces from a freshly-baked cake, take the slices from the centre then slide the two halves together. The cake will stay fresh longer.
Attach a slice of bread, with toothpicks, to cut edge of a cake. This will keep cake fresh until it is cut again.
Slice leftover cake, wrap individual pieces and freeze. Put in school or work lunches and the cake will be thawed by noon.
Don’t throw away stale cake -- you can make a fine dessert with it. Soak pieces of the cake in rum, then mix into a thick vanilla pudding and chill. Cover with whip cream or decorate with silvered almonds or serve with fruit syrup.
If you’re running low on flour, substitute fine bread crumbs, plain or toasted, for all or part of the flour in cookies
Cookie dough that is to be rolled is much easier to handle after it has been chilled 10 to 30 minutes. This keeps the dough from sticking, even though it may be soft.
Sliced cookies from refrigerator dough will always be perfectly shaped if you freeze the dough in small frozen juice cans or plastic wrap cartons.
When rolling out dough on wax paper, aluminum foil or plastic wrap, wet the surface of the counter before smoothing the paper down and the water will keep the paper in place.
Don’t ruin a pan of cookies. Always bake one cookie first, even when using a familiar recipe, because the moisture content of the flour can vary greatly.
When sprinkling sugar on cookies, use a salt shaker or empty spice container.
Save meat trays and freeze muffins, cookies, portions or slices of cake on them. They can be stacked neatly in the freezer without crushing or crumbling.
For better pie crusts, make certain all ingredients are cold and do not overwork the dough. Cover the dough and refrigerate before rolling out.
To roll out pastry, use two squares of wax paper which have been lightly floured. Roll out the pie crust dough between these sheets. When the pie crust is the correct size, peel off the top sheet of wax paper; invert over the pie plate and peel off the bottom layer of
paper.
Keep a small plastic bag handy while making pie crust, kneading bread or mixing meat loaf. Use it to slip your hand into if you have to answer the phone, doorbell or open the refrigerator or cupboard door.
Pastry will be flakier if you include one tbsp. orange or lemon juice as part of the liquid.
To prevent a pie shell from blistering, place a few slices of bread in it before baking. Remove bread during the last few minutes of baking time. The bread can be used for croutons in soup.
To prevent the bottom pie crust from becoming soggy, grease pie plate with butter before putting in dough. The crust will be soft and flaky.
Sprinkle sugar on pie crust before adding cream filling. This will prevent a soggy crust.
Minute Tapioca is excellent for thickening fruit pies -- two tbsp. for a small pie and three tbsp. For a larger, deeper fruit pie.
Short pieces of drinking straws inserted into the centre of a pie will stop the juices from escaping or running over in your oven.
Place a layer of marshmallows in the bottom of pumpkin pie. The marshmallows will rise to the top, forming a fluffy topping.
Meringue will not shrink if spread on pie so that the meringue touches all edges of the pie crust.
Always bake a two-crust pie on the bottom shelf of the oven. They will bake the bottom thoroughly and the pie will brown lightly on top.
For fluffy meringue, add 1/4 tsp. white vinegar to three egg whites.
To keep the edge of a pie crust from getting too brown or burnt, cut out the centre of a foil pain to the exact size of the pie that you are baking and place it over the pie just as soon as it begins to darken.
To remove chiffon pie from pie plate with graham cracker crust intact, dip pan in warm water for a few seconds.
Use a buttered knife to slice soft pies easily.
Store popping corn in the freezer and use it directly from the freezer. You will get puffier, larger kernels of popcorn and more of the kernels will pop.
Keep popping corn in the refrigerator and you will get fewer unpopped kernels.
Preheat the hot-air popcorn popper and you will have very few unpopped kernels and fluffier popcorn.
Instead of buying baby food, purchase frozen vegetables and puree them in your food processor. Spoon into ice cube trays and freeze. Wrap in individual servings for future use. The same process can be followed by daily leftovers of meats and vegetables.
Make your own baby food and freeze it in disposable bottle liners. Measure the food into the sac inside the bottle, twist-tie it and slip it out the bottom of the bottle. Increase amounts of food in the sac as baby’s appetite increases. It’s a sanitary way of freezing baby food and it doesn’t take on any freezer odours. To use, just dip sac in warm water, slide food out and heat.
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