Home Kitchen Living
House kitchen tips and tricks for everyday living..
1. If you happen to over-salt a pot of soup, just
drop in a peeled 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(Oranges,Lemons, limes, 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 cookl-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 gravy(stew) and accidentally burn it, just pour it into a clean pan and continue cooking it. 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. Burned a pot of rice? Just place a piece of
white bread on top of the rice for 5-10 minutes to draw out the burned flavour. Be careful not to
scrape the burned 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 hands and your skin won’t absorb the spiciness.
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 hole with petroleum jelly(Vaseline). Ants won’t trek through the jelly. If they are coming under a door, draw a line on the floor with chalk. The little 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 a different location.
Bananas release gases which cause 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, freeze it in ice cube trays for easy addition to sauces
(white wine works wonders in sauces, 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 plants. 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.
#NOTE: Every woman should have vinegar in her kitchen.
16. Do you cry while peeling off onions, then try
this. After peeling off your onions, refrigerate the onions for atleast 5minutes, then dice it. You will be glad you did.
17. For aluminium pans that are looking dull, just boil some apple peels in them. This will brighten up the aluminum and make your house smell yummy.
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. It’s 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 a 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 1/4″ 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 stacking, it’s not impossible to unstick them. Just put ice in the inner glass and dunk the outer glass in warm water. The warm glass will expand and the cold glass will contract, making the glasses separate easily.
24. For splinters under the fingernail, soaking the affected finger in a bowl of milk with a piece of bread in it, it will help.
KITCHEN TIPS From Africa
1. Never store Onions and Potatoes together because both produce a gas that causes either of them to spoil quickly.
2. Put two or three orange leaves in your hot palm oil on the fire. Let the leaves turn black before removing it. By then your palm oil becomes pure groundnut oil also giving your food a nice taste.
3. To avoid feeling a peppering hotness on your hands after cutting pepper with bare hand scrub your hand with salt and red oil then wash it.
4. If you happen to over salt a pot of soup, just drop in a peeled potato. The potato will absorb the excess salt.
5. If your Soup or Stew goes sour while warming it, add little piece of Charcoal and remove after warming, the taste will come back.
6. Never put citrus fruits (oranges, lemon, lime, etc) or tomatoes in the fridge. The low temperature degrades the aroma and flavor of these fruits.
7. When storing empty airtight containers, throw in a pinch of salt to keep them from getting stinky.
8. If your salt is becoming lumpy, put a few grains of rice in with it to absorb excess moisture.
9. To reuse cooking oil without tasting whatever was cooked in the oil previously, cook a 1/4″ piece of ginger in the oil. It will remove any remaining flavors and odors.
Credit to owner. Hope you learnt something
9. To reuse cooking oil without tasting whatever was cooked in the oil previously, cook a 1/4″ piece of ginger in the oil. It will remove any remaining flavors and odors.
Credit to owner. Hope you learnt something
FACTS ABOUT CUCUMBERS YOU MUST KNOW
1. Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day, just one cucumber contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc.
2. Feeling tired in the afternoon, put down the caffeinated soda and pick up a cucumber. Cucumbers are a good source of B vitamins and Carbohydrates that can provide that quick pick-me-up that can last for hours.
3. Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower? Try rubbing a cucumber slice along the mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, spa-like fragrance.
4. Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds? Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area.
5. Looking for a fast and easy way to remove cellulite before going out or to the pool? Try rubbing a slice or two of cucumbers along your problem area for a few minutes, the phytochemicals in the cucumber cause the collagen in your skin to tighten, firming up the outer layer and reducing the visibility of cellulite. Works great on wrinkles too!!!
6. Want to avoid a hangover or terrible headache? Eat a few cucumber slices before going to bed and wake up refreshed and headache free. Cucumbers contain enough sugar, B vitamins and electrolytes to replenish essential nutrients the body lost, keeping everything in equilibrium, avoiding both a hangover and headache!!
7. Looking to fight off that afternoon or evening snacking binge? Cucumbers have been used for centuries and often used by European trappers, traders and explores for quick meals to thwart off starvation.
8. Have an important meeting or job interview and you realize that you don’t have enough time to polish your shoes? Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the shoe, its chemicals will provide a quick and durable shine that not only looks great but also repels water.
9. Out of WD 40 and need to fix a squeaky hinge? Take a cucumber slice and rub it along the problematic hinge, and voila, the squeak is gone!
10. Stressed out and don’t have time for massage, facial or visit to the spa? Cut up an entire cucumber and place it in a boiling pot of water, the chemicals and nutrients from the cucumber will react with the boiling water and be released in the steam, creating a soothing, relaxing aroma that has been shown the reduce stress in new mothers and college students during final exams.
11. Just finish a business lunch and realize you don’t have gum or mints? Take a slice of cucumber and press it to the roof of your mouth with your tongue for 30 seconds to eliminate bad breath, the phytochemicals will kill the bacteria in your mouth responsible for causing bad breath.
12. Looking for a ‘green’ way to clean your taps, sinks or stainless steel? Take a slice of cucumber and rub it on the surface you want to clean, not only will it remove years of tarnish and bring back the shine, but is won’t leave streaks and won’t harm you fingers or fingernails while you clean.
13. Using a pen and made a mistake? Take the outside of the cucumber and slowly use it to erase the pen writing, also works great on crayons and markers that the kids have used to decorate the walls!!
Source: Yummy Stuff
USES OF SALT IN THE KITCHEN
1. To remove the odour from your hands after cutting onions, chicken or fish, just wash your hands with salt and water, then you will have no more smell.
2. To avoid the feeling of the hotness of pepper on your hands after cutting/slicing it with your hands, rub them with salt and vegetable oil or red oil and wash them.
3. When pepper mistakenly enter your eye, put a pinch of salt in your mouth, the hotness of the pepper will disappear and you will see the magic.
4. When storing empty containers or bottle, throw in a pinch of salt to help them from getting stinky.
5. Sprinkling some salt on your fresh peppers while pounding it, helps to make it pound quickly.
6. Soaking bitter leaves in salt and hot water, helps to remove extra bitterness before cooking with it.
7. If your liquid milk always spoil before you finish it, You can add pinch of salt when you first open it, it will help the milk to stay fresh longer.
8. Salt and detergent mixture can help you to kill ants and cockroaches disturbing you in the kitchen.
9. Placing your overripe tomatoes in a cold and salty water overnight, will help to make them fresh and firm.
10. If you cut lemon and you do not want to use it finish, sprinkle salt on it, it would stay fresh for 3 days. Make sure you rinse it before using it again.
11. Salt can be used as a preservative method for preserving meat, fish or vegetables. It helps to prevent bacteria growth.
12. Grease fires or small fire can be put out with the use of salt.