Photo by: laffy4k
Today I’ve got some random food tips. I couldn’t figure out how to stretch any of these into a full blog post on their own, so I’m just throwing them all together. If you’ve got any other good ones, let’s hear them down in the comments.
- Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.
- Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold. (I’m passing this one along even though I haven’t tested it. Seems reasonable, though.)
- Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking. (This one doesn’t make any sense to me. Anyone else heard this? Got an explanation for it?)
- Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic, and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic. Same with pepper.
- Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza.
- To reheat biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.
- For deviled eggs without the cleanup, put cooked egg yolks in a zip-top bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly. Cut the tip off the bag, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done.
- If you’re in a hurry and buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount.
- When you start your garden, after working the nutrients into the soil, put layers of wet newspaper around the plants, overlapping as you go. Cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic. They will not get through wet newspapers.
- To find a local source for grass-fed meat and dairy products, check out EatWild.com.
- And for local sourcees of produce, as well as more meat producers, check LocalHarvest.org.
Want more like this? For more recipes like this, that you can hold right in your hands, and write on, take notes, tear pages out if you want (Gosh, you're tough on books, aren't you?) you might be interested in How To Cook Like Your Grandmother, 2nd edition, Illustrated. Or to learn your way around the kitchen, check out Starting From Scratch: The Owner's Manual for Your Kitchen.
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16 Comments
We store our opened cheese chunks in a tupperware/similar container. All hard cheeses can go in one, soft cheeses should be in individual containers. Haven’t had cheese mold or go bad in a couple years!
These are some interesting tips that I haven’t heard before. I especially love the deviled eggs one and whipping the store-bought frosting—genius! I’m going to try the garden one this spring too. Thanks!
I’ve heard (possibly here, I can’t remember) that if you store your plastic cling wrap in the freezer, it won’t cling to itself when you unroll it (but will still cling to what you’re wrapping). Also, when using plastic wrap, it can tend to not want to stick to certain types of plastic and other containers; if that’s the case just wet your hands (or use a wet paper towel) and wipe around the edge of what you’re going to wrap- when you go to wrap with the plastic wrap, the water acts almost like a glue!
Great tips! I didn’t know about the banana one.
I have a caveat for using newspaper to suppress weeds. Make absolutely sure that the newspaper is covered with quite a bit of mulch (I’d say at least an inch) because otherwise, it makes an ideal home for rolly pollies, which while they’re cute, will eat every last one of your plants if given this perfect breeding environment. Sadly I speak from experience.
That reminds me of another good one. For garden mulch, use your grass clippings.
great tips…I knowt he banana and pizza tips work..got to trythe rest
I am trying to order both of your books. I was able to order the Grandmother book but I am unable to order the from scratch book. Please help? Susan
Susan, I just tried and the page is working. The site was down for about a half-hour (server problems at the webhost company) but is back up now.
If you’re still having trouble, email me at drew@cooklikeyourgrandmother.com
Learned this one from my Gramma: stick a chunk of bread in your mouth while chopping strong onions to keep from tearing up.
I haven’t tried this, but my mom says she holds a couple of matches between her teeth when she chops onions and it stops the tears. Something to do with the sulfur from the onions, I imagine.
You can also keep avocados fresher in the fridge by wrapping them in foil rather than a bag or plastic wrap.
Love your site!
You had asked if anyone knew of an easy way to clean a George Foreman grill. Use a few layers of really wet paper towels, put them on the grill while it is still hot and close until it cools down. It will be easy to wipe up the grill after that.
Yup, I had a few people send me that one via email. It’s going to be in the next newsletter.
“Just throw away bag when done” to avoid clean-up. That isn’t environmentally friendly at all, and I find it really contrast with the rest of the advice you give when it comes to meat (where to find free range, etc.). Very hypocritical.
Susana, you make a good point. I’m trying to come up with a quick justification and coming up blank.
I believe the peppers with different numbers of bumps thing is a gender difference. That’s what I’ve heard. If that’s true, then the taste/firmness is entirely plausible.
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