SIMPLE KITCHEN TIPS

1.       If you happen to have over salted a pot of soup, just drop a peel of 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 (orange, lemon, lime, 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 cooking 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 stew, and accidentally burn it, just pour it into a clean pan and continue cooking it and 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.       Burn a pot of rice? Just place a piece of white bread on top of the rice for 5-10mins to draw out the burnt flavor. Be careful not to scrape the burnt 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 hand and your skin won’t absorb the species.

9.       If you aren’t sure how fresh your eggs are, place them 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 whole with petroleum jelly (Vaseline). Ants won’t trek through the jelly. If they are coming under the door, draw a line with chalk. The 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 different location. Bananas release gases which 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 leftover wine, cocktail drinks at the end of the evening, freezing it in ice trays for easy addition to sauces (white wine works wonders in sauce, 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 plant. 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. Every woman should have vinegar in her kitchen.

6.   No you cry while peeling off onions? Then 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 peel in them. This will brighten up the aluminum and make your house smell good.

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, its 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 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 flavors 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 become stuck together after staking, it’s not impossible to unstuck them. Just put ice in the inner glass and dunk the outer glass in warm water. The warm glass will expand and the cools glass will contract, making the glass separate easily.

24.   For splinters under the fingernail, soaking the affected finger in a bowl of milk with a piece of bread in it will help.