A Few Easy Tips for the Kitchen

Over the years I've used many good ideas and tips from friends, my mom, magazines, and some I've simply discovered because of a need at the moment. 

1. A great way to save a little money is this idea from my friend, Jacquie, via her mother-in-law. Don't throw out the liner bags that cereals and crackers come in inside boxes. Empty out the crumbs, cut the end of the bag off and then cut the bag open. Wipe the bag off and use in the microwave in place of wax paper. The only thing that I have noticed is that moisture will accumulate on the paper, so you won't want to let your cooked item sit covered for long.

2. Something new for me last year was to use chopped garlic from a bottle. Again, this came from Jacquie. When they were packing to move across the country, and she had to clean out her pantry and refrigerator, she offered me the bottled garlic. I had never used the stuff. I am sold on the ease of going to a bottle rather than chopping my own garlic. Especially because with only my husband and I to cook for daily, I was forever throwing out bad garlic. If you haven't tried it, I would encourage you to.

3. My last tip for today concerns recipes and notes. I've found that a very helpful thing for me to do is to "star" the recipe title in the index of my cookbooks and magazines of those recipes that we favored. I use one "star" if the recipe was repeatable and two "stars" if it was wonderful. The two stared recipes are the ones that I then like to use when serving guests or to take to potlucks, etc. I also make notes if I changed anything or if I did something in the preparation that is different from the original recipe. This is a life saver if I haven't made the recipe in awhile.