QOTW - What are some of your cooking tips?

[Guest guest]

Here is a great site with lots of tips on common issues in cooking/baking. I

learned a lot from reading it.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/FAQ/2654

 

Here are some of my tips,

Use a mandolin to quickly chop and slice up veggies to desires size,

We love the Borner V-shaped Madolin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAHdZIDUonQ & feature=related I use it for making

soups,

salads, casseroles, stir fries, slaws, etc. anytime I need diced(large or

small), sliced(thick or thin), julienne, shredded veggies

or fries and hashbrowns.

 

Amazon, Bed, Bath and Beyond and kitchen stores have them.

 

buy peeled garlic cloves(they come in large tubs at Sam's Club),

 

rinse rice, to clean and remove excess starch,

 

add a whole peeled potato to a dish if it is to salty and the potato will take

up the excess salt

 

saute fresh chopped cabbage in a small amount of Smart Balance Light, in a

covered frying pan and stir often. Add salt to taste and things like Ms. Dash.

This makes the cabbage taste wonderful and not like water logged tasteless

cabbage

 

add some diced collard greens to soup, in the last 10 minutes of cooking, to

retain it's color and not over cook the greens.

 

Add fresh or frozen spinach and fresh or frozen corn to any soup at the end of

cooking and remove from heat but keep lid on the pot. Stir the corn in

immediately upon adding it. This keeps the spinach bright green, not over

cooked and the corn from giving the corn a starchy flavor and it will retain

it's sweet flavor.. Also keeps the corn and spinach tasting much better.

 

 

to get garlic and onion smells off your hands, rug them on a stainless steel

spoon, under running water.

 

add salt to boiling water, before adding eggs and if an egg happens to crack in

the boiling process, the egg will immediately stop leaking out egg from the

shell. Boil eggs for 10 minutes and then put in ice water. Egg will peel

easily and be well done.

 

If the acidity in tomato sauce in lasagna bothers you, add some 1 pt sour cream

to 3 pts tomato/spaghetti sauce

to neutralize it. It is really yummy this way.

 

Add frozen peas in the last 4 minutes of cooking, in soups, so they

won't be overcooked and will retain their bright color and

sweetness.

 

To make the house smell wonderful, add a cup of very hot water to a small

potpourri crock-pot, and then stir in cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, a drop of

vanilla flavoring and dried apple slices.

 

Ok that is what has popped into my mind at the moment.

 

Judy