Iron clothes when they’re damp. The moisture helps release wrinkles, so press your peskiest pieces right out of the dryer (or use the spray feature on your iron).
Archive for category: DYB Tips
Reduce the heat of chiles by removing the seeds. Make four straight cuts down the sides. This will create four long slivers, and the cluster of seeds will remain in the center of the chile. The result will be less heat and more great flavor.
Never waste your hard earned money on gluten-free bread crumbs! They’re so easy to make at home, and so much tastier than store-bought! Being gluten-free comes with many annoyances. Make your life easier with this tip! Crush Rice Chex in a plastic bag with a rolling pin for instant gluten-free “panko” bread crumbs.
If you’ve ever had to grate a semi-soft cheese, you know it can be difficult to clean the grater afterward, and you know you lose a lot of cheese because it breaks up when you’re trying to press it through the grater. Use cooking spray to stop cheese from sticking to a grater and make […]
To get nice, crispy caramelization on roasted vegetables, simulate the intense heat of an industrial oven: Bring your oven up as hot as it goes, then put an empty roasting or sheet pan inside for 10 to 15 minutes. Toss the vegetables — try carrots or Brussels sprouts — with olive oil, salt and pepper, […]
Not everything is about cooking! Here is a tip for the laundry day! Clean out your washing machine and remove soap residue by running an empty cycle with a cup of white vinegar.
When baking cookies, be sure your dough is thoroughly chilled when it goes on your baking pan. This will allow the leavening ingredients to work before the butter flattens out and your cookies lose their textural distinctions.
Doing any kind of preserving means a lot of time at the cutting board but even if you’re just prepping dinner, a cutting board that slips around as you chop is risky business! Put a wet towel or paper towel under your cutting board to prevent it from sliding while using it.
Dry your salad greens using a kitchen towel. Salad spinners? So bulky and annoying. Instead, pile your just-washed greens into a clean dish towel, gather it by the ends, and swing that sucker around until your salad is dry (or your arm is tired).
During the fall and winter season we often find ourselves making, creating and cooking delicious meals that involve YUMMY homemade sauces. More often than not, we have a bunch of sauce leftovers and we just hate to throw them away. Ice cube trays are perfect for freezing small sauce portions for later use. Use different […]
Oil-salt-roast- in that order! When roasting vegetables, toss them in oil, then season them with salt and pepper and toss again. This way, the seasoning actually sticks to your food.
Cut brownies without the crumbs! There’s nothing worse than pulling out a pan of perfect-smelling brownies only to destroy the entire pan when it comes time to slice. For perfectly square, clean-cut brownies (or other bars) grease a baking pan, line it with two strips of parchment (one from left to right, one from front […]
When grilling flank or skirt steak, marinate it for 10 minutes after cooking instead of before. It adds amazing, full flavor in a tenth of the time.
Shoes off, music on, favorite beverage in hand — enjoy your time in the kitchen.
De-funk hairbrushes and combs. Combat build-up from hair products with a sudsy solution of a few drops of dish soap mixed with warm water.
Clean your microwave easily. Clean a crusty microwave with a soaked sponge (and sanitize a sponge this same way). Soak a sponge in water and cook in microwave for one minute. Careful, it will be too hot to handle with bare hands. The moisture will loosen grime on your microwave and make it easier to […]
Use drawer inserts. One of the problems with keeping a kitchen drawer organized is the ineffective use of space. Too many times people just throw all the kitchen utensils and tools in haphazardly. Use drawer inserts to make it easy to sort utensils, cooking tools and more, allowing each to be more accessible.
Cool your food before putting in the fridge or freezer. If you don’t, the temperature in the refrigerator will rise. And the only thing that benefits is mold.
Enjoy scrambled eggs on a busy weekday schedule by baking them into muffin tins. A perfect portable week day solution.
When making meatballs or meatloaf, you need to know how the mixture tastes before you cook it. Make a little patty and fry it in a pan like a mini hamburger. Then you can taste it and adjust the seasoning.
Cool down coffee without diluting it. Fill an ice cube tray with leftover coffee (cooled to room temp) and let the cubes set in the freezer. You can even customize the cubes by adding milk and sweetener.
When you grill, pull your steaks out of the refrigerator one hour ahead of time so they can come to room temperature.
There’s no need to purchase a special polish for stainless steel, aluminum and chrome! Remove stains off stainless steel by rubbing lemon on it or soaking in lemon juice. For extra cleaning power, mix lemon juice with either salt and baking soda!
Separate yolks from whites easily! Separate eggs by gently squeezing a plastic water bottle over a cracked egg. When the bottle re-inflates with air, it will scoop the yolk right up.