Cool Time-Saving Cooking Tips
Cyndi Roberts, website author, says, "It's always nice to hear about an easier or faster way to do something—especially if that something is in the kitchen where we spend so much of our time!" That is so true. A quote from David Norris also applies here: "How you spend your time is more important than how you spend your money. Money mistakes can be corrected, but time is gone forever." That said, in this column, I share some of the best time-saving kitchen tips I've found recently—because anything we can do to save time in the kitchen will be like time added to our life.
1. Want spaghetti for supper, but no time to make the sauce? Let a can of Italian-style diced tomatoes come to your rescue. While the spaghetti noodles cook, blend the tomatoes and heat just before serving. Add more Italian seasoning if you wish. Prepare a salad to top off the meal.
2. Instead of taking time to make a white sauce for your veggies tonight, try mixing equal parts of mayo or Vegenaise and the water the veggies cooked in. Instant creamy flavor!
3. Using English muffins to make small pizzas is fast and easy, but have you tried using flour tortillas for pizza crust? Top tortillas with bottled pizza sauce and your favorite add-ons and bake at 425 for 8-10 minutes. Supper will be ready by the time you set the table!
4. To save time when you need shredded carrots for carrot cake, place small pieces of carrot in your blender, add the eggs the recipe calls for, and blend until carrots are desired size and consistency.
5. Snapping green beans is time-consuming. Use your kitchen shears to speed up the task; you can even cut more than one bean at a time.
6. Instantly core a head of iceberg lettuce by slamming it down on a cutting board with the core side down. The core will come right out.
7. Coat your cheese grater with nonstick spray for delightfully clean, easy shredding in half the time.
8. No need to take the time to peel potatoes before boiling them; the skin will just slide off once they’re cooked. Of course, don't touch the potatoes until they have time to cool. Burned hands would not be worth the saved time!
9. Avocados are slippery to cut up after the skin is off. To make it easier and faster, take half an avocado with the seed removed, but the skin still on, slice the avocado right in the skin to make neat cubes. Then scoop out the chunks with a spoon.
10. Minimize kitchen miles. So much time can be wasted walking back and forth to the refrigerator or the garbage can. Get all the ingredients you need from the refrigerator at one time and don't keep trotting over to the garbage. Instead, keep a bowl next to you for vegetable scraps, peelings, etc. and save many steps.
- By Arlene Bascom