Helpful Food Hints
Source of Recipe
Web Recipes
List of Ingredients
~Savvy cooking
If a main dish or vegetable is too sweet, add a teaspoon of cider vinegar.
A quick gravy quickener-just add some instant potatoes.
~Eggs
If you shake an egg and you hear a rattle, the egg is most likely bad. A fresh egg will sink in water, a stale one will float.
For light, fluffy scrambled eggs, add a little water while beating the eggs. Add vinegar to the water when boiling eggs. The vinegar helps seal the egg and prevents the shell from breaking.
For long term storage, crack open the eggs and add individually to an ice cube tray. When completely frozen, put the egg cubes in a sealed freezer bag and use as needed.
When making scrambled eggs for a large crowd, add a pinch of baking powder and 2 tsp of water for each egg to make your meal go even further
Can't remember if an egg is fresh or hard boiled? Just spin the egg. If it wobbles, it's raw. If it spins easily, it's hard boiled. Fresh eggs have a rough and chalky shell. Old eggs are smooth and shiny.
~Veggies
Lettuce and celery will crisp up if you place them in a pan of cold water and add a couple of slices of potato.
When cooking carrots, peas, beets or corn add a small amount of sugar to the water to keep the flavor.
Never salt the water you cook corn in. It will only toughen the corn.
Store tomatoes with stems pointed down and they will stay fresher longer.
How to ripen fruit: Place green fruits in a perforated plastic bag. The holes will allow air to circulate while retaining the ethylene gas that fruits produce during ripening. Ripen green bananas by wrapping in a wet dish towel and placing in a paper bag.
~Brown sugar
To soften rock-hard brown sugar, add a slice of soft bread to the package and close tightly. In a few hours the sugar will be soft again. Or grate the sugar with a hand grater for immediate results.
~Instant white sauce
Blend together 1 cup soft butter and 1 cup flour. Spread it in an ice cube tray and chill well. Cut into 16 cubes before storing in a freezer bag.
For medium-thick sauce drop 1 cube in 1 cup milk and heat slowly, stirring as it thickens.
~To make your home smell like a bakery:
Add a few teaspoons of sugar and cinnamon to a pie plate and slowly burn over the stove. Fresher is better
~Vegetables & Fruits
Store celery and lettuce in paper bags, not plastic.
Remove the tops of carrots, beets, etc., before storing.
Freeze ripe bananas. Peel, wrap in plastic wrap and store in freezer bags.
Lemons will give you more juice if stored in a jar of water in the fridge.
~Dairy products
Store the cottage cheese container upside down and it will stay fresher longer!
Never pour room temperature milk or cream back into the original container.
~Breads, cookies, & crackers
Add a rib of celery to your bread bag, it will keep the bread fresher, longer.
Cookies stay fresher if you place crumpled tissue paper in the bottom of your cookie jar. Place 1/2 an apple in the cake box to keep cakes fresher, longer.
~Bacon
To separate frozen bacon, heat a spatula over the stove burner and slide under each slice. To prevent bacon from curling, dip the strips in cold water before cooking.
~Miscellaneous
To clean artificial flowers, pour some salt into a paper bag and add the flowers. After shaking vigorously, the salt will absorb all the dust and dirt. Neat huh?
To get a melted candle or just wax out of a candle holder just place in the freezer for about an hour or more, then you can peel the wax right out.
To cut down on fireplace soot, throw salt on the logs occasionally. It can reduce soot by two-thirds.
Use non stick vegetable spray to stop squeaks on door hinges, wheels, etc... Recipe
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