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Kitchen Tricks, Tips, & Timesaving Ideas

1) Mix-Ins

• Mix bread crumbs with the broken potato chips in a nearly empty chips bag to make a chicken coating.

• Use Chex cereal instead of croutons on salads.

• Add plain, uncooked oatmeal as a filler in meat loaf instead of bread or crackers.

2) Fixings

• Substitute club soda for milk in pancakes to make them lighter and fluffier.

• Add a pinch of baking powder when mashing potatoes to make them fluffier.

• Add a pinch of salt to bacon when frying it to prevent it from curling.

3) Savings

• Put overripe bananas into the freezer to thaw later for banana bread.

• Juice citrus fruit by squeezing it with tongs.

• Cut stale bread into 1-inch cubes to make croutons. Toss with seasonings and oil and bake in a 325 degrees F oven until crisp.

4) Tastings

• Dust the baking pan with cocoa or sugar instead of flour when making chocolate cake.

• Add a pinch of cinnamon to chocolate chip cookie batter.

• Add a dash of cinnamon to chili to help to smooth out the flavors and round out the heat.

• Sprinkle hickory-smoked salt on vegetarian dishes and sauces for a meaty taste.

• Cut the heat in salsa with a little sugar.

5) Peelings

• Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar/vegetable oil or 1 tablespoon of salt to the boiling water and then dump the hot hard-boiled eggs into ice-cold water, and the shells will come off easily.

• Rinse peeled avocados under cold water to maintain color.

• Spray paper muffin cups with nonstick spray for easy peeling.

6) Boiling (to keep water from boiling over …)

• Before boiling, rub olive oil around the edge of a pan containing starchy foods.

• Add 1 tablespoon of oil to a pot of boiling potatoes.

• Lay a wooden spoon across a boiling pot.

7) Keeping (to increase shelf life or keep food from spoiling quickly …)

• Dip the cut end of an unpeeled banana in sugar to prevent browning.

• Put an apple into a bag of potatoes to keep the spuds from budding.

• Sprinkle lemon juice on sliced apples to keep from browning.

8) Ridding

• Place a small bowl of vinegar on top of the fridge to eliminate gnats.

• Put bay leaves into bags of flour to keep out bugs.

9) Cleaning

• Spray a spoon or measuring cup with nonstick cooking spray before measuring honey.

• Gather old “net” onion bags together with a rubber band and use to scrub dishes.

• To remove baked-on food from a frying pan, put a dryer sheet and warm water into the pan. Soak overnight and then wash the pan.