This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Carapelli. All opinions are 100% mine.

I recently had an opportunity to do an olive oil tasting, which is kind of like a wine tasting or coffee tasting, only with olive oil as the subject being tested.

An olive oil tasting can actually be a fantastic occasion for entertaining! You could create a Night in Tuscany event, during which you can teach your guests how to do a proper olive oil tasting, followed by a food showcase with olive oil (think bread dipping with a variety of breads, olive oil sautéed veggie skewers, and more).

However you choose to present your olive oil tasting, you’ll have to know how to do it properly first.

I tasted Carapelli’s Premium 100% Italian extra virgin olive oil, which is imported from Italy. This is a cold pressed intense olive oil great for cooking, baking, and dipping.

The Correct Olive Oil Tasting Method

During an olive oil tasting, you’ll use the 4 S method: Swirl, Sniff, Slurp, and Swallow. Note that most olive oil tastings are done with a blue glass (so you can’t see the color of the oil), but if you don’t have one, a clear glass will work just as well.

First, I filled my glass with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, then I warmed the oil with my hand (cover the glass with one hand and hold the other on the bottom).

The swirl is done to release the oil’s esters (you’ve probably seen this done during wine tastings). I swirled it and felt like a real professional taster!

The sniff comes next. I took a deep breath in from the glass but had a hard time identifying a real aroma. To me the scent just smelled like familiar olive oil, which I use a lot in cooking.

Next, you finally get to drink the olive oil. The next 2 S words go together: slurp and swallow. To slurp the olive oil you have to suck in a little air as you drink so that it makes a slurping noise. Slurping is done to emulsify the oil.

Right now the oil will be in your mouth and you should be noting the flavor, texture, and taste. My olive oil tasted bitter, a little peppery, and very much like sunflower seeds.

When you swallow the olive oil, it should leave no aftertaste in your mouth but in the back of your throat you may notice feelings. My oil had no aftertaste but felt very peppery in my throat and was stinging. It reminded me very much of when I used to have to drink olive oil before performances when I was a singer and had a sore throat from too much practice.

The 3 characteristics you want to look for in your olive oil are fruitiness (which tells you the fruit was unspoiled), bitterness on the back of your tongue (which tells you the flavors are balanced), and pungency (which tells you that the oil is fresh).

It’s Time for You to Try Tasting Olive Oil!

I know you’re so inspired now that you’ve just got to try out an olive oil tasting for yourself (or your guests). Lucky for you, Carapelli has provided us with a coupon to try their fantastic extra virgin olive oils.

Carapelli is Italy’s market leader in extra virgin olive oil and have their office in Florence (time to daydream about a trip to Italy after the olive oil tasting is over!) Enjoy your tasting and have fun with the Italian theme for your event!

Right now, you can click here to get a $1.00 OFF coupon at www.CarapelliUSA.com.

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Sunkist S’alternative. All opinions are 100% mine.

If you’ve ever counted calories with an online food diary tool, you were probably as surprised as I was by one unexpected thing: sodium.  Yes, by logging in the normal foods I regularly eat each day, I found that most days I was over on my recommended sodium intake.  I wasn’t just over by a little bit either – I was sometimes at close to 2 times what the recommended amount is for a woman my age!

That was when I really started looking into just how much sodium there is hidden in foods we normally eat.  I started paying attention to the labels when shopping and comparing foods by how much sodium was in each serving.

The hidden salts were everywhere, and it seemed like even in unprocessed foods it was hard to find low- or no-sodium ingredients to cook with.  (Plus, then I remembered how we sit at the dinner table and salt our food!)

Most of us know by now that eating high levels of sodium can contribute to health problems such as high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes, cancer, osteoporosis and many more (Bibbins-Domingo, 2010 study).  We want our food to taste good but not have dangerous levels of salt that can hurt our family’s health.  What’s the solution?

The S’Alternative

Sunkist has been hard at work on this issue for concerned parents.  They’ve come up with an alternative, or S’Alternative, rather, that has a substitute for salt that’s all natural.  Lemons!

The Sunkist S’alternative is to use lemons as a sodium-free alternative to salt.  Fresh squeezed Sunkist lemon juice is a wonderful substitute for salt, because it not only reduces the overall sodium intake in your diet, but it also increases your potassium!

Sunkist has a Sodium Style Quiz on their facebook page that allows you to answer 7 questions about your eating habits to discover your sodium style.  I love the sodium style names (and cute cartoon lemon characters for each one – your kids will beg to do this quiz with you)!

You’ll either be a:

• serial salt offender
• shaker & baker
• sodium smarty
• mover, not a salt shaker

When I took the quiz my result was a Mover, Not a Salt Shaker.   Go take the Sunkist Sodium Quiz to find out your sodium style!

Top Salt-Savvy Tips

1. Read labels.  Look for “low sodium” and “no salt added” on food packaging (especially on canned vegetables, which can unknowingly add a lot of salt).
2. Don’t salt during cooking.  I know it goes against the way a lot of us cook, but you can skip the salt in many of your recipes and serve lemon slices with your plated food so each person can season to taste.
3. What’s in your water?  Call your water company to find out how much sodium is in the water.  You may need to opt for a store-bought drinking water.
4. Plan well.  If you have one salty food in your meal, add other no- or low-salt foods to complement.

Recipe for Sunkist Lemon Seafood Paella

(Makes 8 servings)

Ingredients:

• 1- 32 oz can low sodium vegetable broth
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 teaspoon saffron threads
• 1lb. of firm, fresh pieces of whitefish such as tilapia, bass, halibut and swordfish, cut into 16-21 pieces
• 1lb. or 16-21 mussels, cleaned and de-bearded
• 1lb. or 16-21 medium sized clams, rinsed
• cup chopped fresh parsley
• 3 Sunkist® lemons, zest and juice
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 _ cups minced onion
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 3 cups uncooked short-grain rice such as Valencian, Arborio, or Calrose
• 1 cup frozen green peas
• 1- 8oz jar of sliced, roasted red peppers

Instructions:

• To prepare broth, combine all the ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer (do not boil). Keep warm over low heat.
• To prepare paella, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large paella pan or large skillet over medium-high heat.
• Add fish pieces to pan and sauté 1 minute. Remove fish from pan, reserve and keep warm.
• Add onion to pan and sauté 5 minutes.
• Add the lemon zest, garlic and crushed red pepper and cook 5 minutes.
• Add rice and cook 1 minute longer, stirring constantly. Stir in broth, bring to a low boil and cook 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
• Stir in the peas and red pepper slices.
• Add mussels and clams to pan, nestling them into rice mixture. Cook 5 minutes or until shells open; discard any unopened shells.
• Stir in the reserved fish and chopped parsley and cook 5 minutes.
• Remove from the heat, stir in lemon juice and check for seasoning.
• Cover with a towel and let stand 10 minutes before stirring

Take control of the sodium intake in your diet today!  Take the quiz to find out how salt-savvy you are, then use Sunkist’s tips to make some basic changes to the way you cook and meal plan.

How do you compare to the average consumer according to the list below?  I feel like this would be a perfect “shopping list” for a newlywed couple to set up house with or for a college graduate moving into their first place on their own. 

Well, how did you do?  I had 80 out of the 100 most common foods / ingredients on the list.  Mostly what I am missing are dried herbs.  Some of them really surprised me, like the iced tea bags.  It was a little surprising that the top 2 items were ketchup and salt! What did you think about the list?  Let us know in the comments.

100 Most Common Foods: How Many Are in your Pantry? is linked to Wordless Wednesday, 5 Minutes 4 Mom, Works for Me Wednesday and 11th Heaven.  Disclosures about my relationship with Kraft Foods are here.

This got me to thinking:  how many of these 25 items do I have?  How many do you have?  Take a gander at the list below and count up how you compare to the average consumer.

Well, how did you measure up?  I had a whopping 23 out of the 25 items in my kitchen!  Now that’s some accurate market research.  What would you add to the list?  Let us know in the comments below.

25 Most Common Kitchen Items: How Many Do You Have? is linked to Wordless Wednesday, 5 Minutes 4 Mom, Works for Me Wednesday and 11th Heaven.  Disclosures about my relationship with Kraft Foods are here.

Buying ice cream in large containers or tubs (especially at warehouse  stores like Sam’s Club and Costco) can be an economical alternative to buying small containers at your regular grocery store. 

However, most families won’t use up the larger amount of ice cream very quickly, leading to freezer burn and the oh-so-familiar hardened ice cream surface!  Also, those giant tubs can be awkward and difficult to store in the freezer, taking up a lot of valuable space.

Tip: Make single serving ice cream bowls perfect for handing out to kids on their way outside to play!

Single servings of ice cream stored in small plastic reused food containers are great for several reasons.  They help you avoid freezer burn, they cut out the need to scoop ice cream every time you serve it, and they stack and store much more easily in the freezer. 

Beat the heat by sending the kids outside with single serve ice creams to eat and play where ice cream messes don’t matter!

An added bonus: every time the ice cream truck drives by, you can  resist giving in to begging for expensive ice creams and popsicles.  Have your single serving ice cream bowls ready to hand out as soon as the ice cream begging begins!

How to Make Single Serve Ice Cream Bowls: 

• Save empty plastic containers and lids from foods such as margarine, sour cream and yogurt. You can also use store-bought clear storage containers such as Gladware and Ziploc.
• Wash containers thoroughly.
• Fill each container with one serving of ice cream (use smaller containers for kid sized servings and larger containers for adult sized servings).
• Using a Sharpie permanent marker and masking tape or freezer tape, write out a label stating the flavor of ice cream and the date packaged.
• Put the lid on, affix the label to the outside, and pack into the freezer for later!

Get more Kitchen Tip Tuesdays at Tammy’s Recipes.  Kitchen Tip: Make Single Serving Ice Cream Bowls was originally published on HomeEverAfter.com on July 1, 2008.

Kitchen Tip: Make Ready-to-Use Frozen Pie Fillings From Scratch

Today’s kitchen tip will show you how to make fruit pie fillings from scratch that are frozen, space-saving, and ready to be used as needed.

If you’ve ever found a really good sale in the produce section, you know how tempting it can be to stock up.  Apples, raspberries, as well as many other fruits and berries, make fantastic pie fillings but can be tricky to use up before they go bad.  This especially holds true when purchased in large quantity.  

The steps below are really quite easy, and you can make as many pie fillings as you need without using a lot of space in your freezer (these frozen pie fillings will stack inside each other to save space).

To Make the Frozen Pie Fillings:

1.  Using your favorite fruits and/or berries, make the pie filling from your ingredients as you normally would.

2.  Get out a pie plate and roll of plastic food wrap.

3.  Cut a section of plastic wrap long enough to completely line the pie plate and have extra hanging off both sides that will double over and seal the top as well. 

4.  Center the plastic wrap in the pie plate and press it in to conform to the shape of the glass or metal.

5.  Pretending that the plastic wrap is actually the bottom of your pie crust, pour your pie filling into the pan just as you would when making the actual pie.

6.  Leaving the top of the pie unwrapped, place the pan in the freezer until the fruit mixture has frozen solid (usually a couple of hours).

7. Once the fruit pie filling is completely frozen, take the pan out of the freezer.

8.  Using the extra plastic wrap hanging off the sides of the pan,  lift the frozen filling up and out of the pan.

9.  Set the filling down on the counter.  Completely cover the top of the filling with the extra plastic wrap that is hanging over the sides.  The goal is to make sure that the fruit filling is completely sealed to protect it while in the freezer.

10.  Place the frozen, plastic-wrapped pie filling into the freezer to be used when needed. Repeat this process for as many pie fillings as you need to make.  All the frozen fillings will stack into each other in one tall tower, saving you tons of freezer space.

If you like this kitchen tip, please be sure to bookmark it at StumbleUpon,

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To Use the Frozen Pie Fillings:

1.  When ready to bake a pie, make a pie crust as you normally would.

2.  Line the bottom of a pie pan with the bottom crust.

3.  Remove a frozen ready-to-use fruit filling from the freezer.  Unwrap completely and discard the plastic wrap.

4.  Place the frozen filling into the pie pan on top of the crust.

5.  Continue making pie by adding the top crust and finishing the edges.

6.  Bake according to your regular recipe, but keep in mind that cooking time may have to be adjusted to compensate for the fruit being frozen.  An easy way around this is to let the uncooked pie sit out until the fruit has defrosted before baking.

7.  Cool, serve, and enjoy!

Originally published February 16, 2009. 

Thanks to Kitchen Tip Tuesday for having us over!  Apple pie photo (top) by dailyinvention.  Berry pie photo by Caitlinator.  Apple pie photo (with logo) by L. Marie.

Muffin Pan   +    Ice Cream Scoop=

No Mess Cupcake Bake!

The easiest way to fill a muffin pan filled with cupcake papers (or without) is to use an ice cream scoop.  This versatile kitchen tool’s shape will ensure that there are no spills around the edges.  As an added bonus, an ice cream scoop allows you to pour exactly the same amount into each muffin cup or paper.  Choose one scoop for cupcakes or 2 scoops for giant muffins (or for baking muffin tops).  All of your cupcakes or muffins will be exactly the same size, for a professional appearance without the messy cleanup!

This article is linked to Kitchen Tip Tuesdays.  Originally published July 8, 2008.

Label Leftovers with Wet Erase Markers

We all want to make sure our leftovers get used up, instead of thrown away after being buried in the refrigerator for weeks!  Wet erase markers are a great way to keep all the leftovers in your refrigerator labeled and dated. 

The difference between wet erase markers and dry erase markers is that wet erase must be wiped off with something wet, like a sponge or wet cloth, while dry erase rubs off if you touch it.  Using wet erase markers on food containers will keep the labels in place.

Keep a wet erase marker on the refrigerator door and label each container that goes inside.  Name the food and write the date, so you can be assured of a food’s freshness.  Your family will be more likely to eat leftovers if they know what they are!  When done with your labeled containers, simply run them under the faucet to rinse away the label before putting into the dishwasher.

You have to remember enough already; you shouldn’t be trying to remember what you made for dinner 3 days ago that is now occupying a container in your fridge!

Originally published June 10, 2008.  Visit Tammy’s Recipes for more Kitchen Tip Tuesdays tips.

Nessa is a full time wife and mama of two. She shares her love of family, cooking, and the frugal life on her blog Ramblings of a Texas Housewife . Catch up with her on Twitter @Nessa_TX .

During the summer months we do a lot of cooking outside. One of my favorite foods is chicken. I love it done BBQ style, grilled, or smoked. chicken is a great budget meat and very versatile.

I love it grilled with simple seasonings, slathered in BBQ sauce, or seasoned and tossed on the grill. I want to share with you some tricks I’ve learned for cooking a tasty bird.

Chicken Marinade Tips

For grilling, I usually throw the chicken in a gallon size zipper bag with my marinade of choice the night before cooking. You can buy jumbo packs of chicken then divide into meal size servings and put in large freezer bags with your favorite marinades. Toss these in the freezer, then when you want to cook them up, place in the fridge to thaw and it will marinate while it defrosts.

If we don’t use a marinade then we normally just season with salt, pepper, and garlic. It is simple and quite tasty.

BBQ Style Chicken

When it comes to BBQ style, it is very simple. We usually just grill it and baste often with BBQ sauce, either homemade or store bought. This is a simple, frugal meal that tastes delicious! Be sure to have plenty of napkins handy, as this one will get you a bit messy.

Recipe: How to Cook Smoked Chicken Outside

When smoking a chicken, I use a variety of spice blends. The only thing that never changes is my use of butter and onions. You can easily make a seasoning blend to suit your family’s tastes, just be creative and use spices you enjoy.

For this chicken I used sea salt, coarse black pepper, dill, and garlic.

	1.  Soften a stick of butter then mix desired seasonings into it.2.  Using your hands, loosen the skin all around the chicken, then shove your seasoned butter mix under the skin.
	Do this to both sides of the chicken, the legs, and all over. This will season the meat rather than just the skin. 3.  Then spread any left over butter and seasoning all over the outside of the bird.
	4.   In the cavity I place a stick of butter and half an onion, cut into quarters. 5.  Then place on the smoker.  This method is also great for grilling poultry.
	6.  As far as cooking times and temperatures go, it depends upon your cooking method. When smoking, I keep the temperature at about 250 degrees and it takes quite awhile.

My favorite piece of cooking equipment when it comes to outside cooking is a meat thermometer. Just cook until the thermometer reads done for chicken. You can’t go wrong this way!

Did you like this In the Kitchen with Nessa article?  Read about how to make Grilled Tuna Steaks. 

Find more cooking articles at Kitchen Tip Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Tempt my Tummy Tuesdays, and Homemaker Mondays.

How can you use fruits and vegetables in a hurry to keep them from going to go to waste?  In this method, you’ll either need to have a blender, food processor, or some similar kitchen tool. 

For large quantities, such as a whole bag of oranges or several bunches of bananas, I’ll use a larger food processor or blender.  In that case, cutting the fruit into smaller pieces usually isn’t necessary, which saves time.  When I’m doing small batches of fruits or vegetables, I prefer to use the Magic Bullet, which is a handy mini food processor.  (My husband and I bought this gadget years ago and it has come in handy over and over again!  I used it to make all of my homemade baby food.) 

A perfect way to save overripe fruits and vegetables at the last minute is to puree and freeze them to be incorporated into cooking later.  Freezer produce will have a much longer storage life than fruit stored either in the refrigerator or out on the countertop. 

If you like this kitchen tip, please be sure to bookmark it at StumbleUpon, then get more kitchen tips delivered to you for free.

To avoid fruits and vegetables from being wasted, use the following preservation trick with step by step instructions.

To prepare:

1.  Wash the fruits or vegetables.

2.  Cut up the fruit in half or into smaller pieces, depending on what kind of machine you’ll be using.

3.  Using a blender or food processor, puree the fruit under creamy and frothy.  Aim for the consistency of applesauce.

4.  Pour single size servings of a few ounces into small plastic containers with lids that are freezer-safe.  Don’t fill the containers all the way; the puree will expand when frozen, so make sure to leave a little extra room in the container.

5.  Seal containers tightly.

6.  Label each container on the outside with freezer tape or masking tape.  List the contents and today’s date.

When Ready to Use:

1.  Remove container from freezer and put into the refrigerator to thaw.

2.  Fruit can be microwaved (as long as the container is microwave-safe) to heat or finish defrosting.

3.  Mix the pureed fruit or vegetable into your favorite food or serve straight. 

Here are some different ways that pureed fruits and vegetables can be incorporated into your cooking:

• Hot Breakfast Cereal.  Mix apricots, apples, nectarines, peaches, and other fruits into oatmeal, cream of wheat, grits or porridge.
• Spaghetti and Pasta Sauce.  Mix pureed spinach, tomatoes, squash, or zucchini into spaghetti sauce. 
• Cream Sauces / Alfredo Sauces. Mix pureed cauliflower, broccoli, or acorn squash into your cream sauces for a heartier and more nutritious option.

Love kitchen tips?  You should read our kitchen tips on How to Protect Produce From Spoiling with Sponges and why you would want to  Freeze Extra Food in Ice Cube Trays.  Stay tuned for more helpful kitchen tips to make your life easier each Monday. 

Thanks to Kitchen Tip Tuesday for having us over!  Get more Homemaker Mondays at 11th Heaven. 

How to Keep Lettuce Longer

Food storage questions are common, especially since certain foods are difficult to keep fresh.  We frequently receive similar questions and concerns from homemakers about the same subject: how do you keep lettuce fresh?, how to keep lettuce longer, how to keep lettuce from turning brown, and how to keep your green lettuce – well, green!  Understandably, no one wants to throw away the hard-earned money they’ve spent on groceries.  We’re here to help with how to keep your lettuce longer!

Moisture is the number one enemy of your lettuce, spinach, and other green leafy cruciferous vegetables, plain and simple.  The secret to storing your lettuce properly so that it will not turn brown is controlling the moisture.

Many people choose lettuce at the grocery store and place it into a clear plastic bag from the produce section.  They then bring it home and place it in the refrigerator, still in the plastic bag, without special preparation.  A few days may pass, and then looking at the lettuce will be disappointing: brown lettuce, or worse- wilted, slimy, rotten lettuce.  There is most likely a wet layer on the inside of the bag, a tell-tale sign of improper storage. 

We’ve just described one of the top causes of uneaten lettuce being thrown in the trash: food storage gone wrong.  Unless you want brown lettuce, you’ll need to plan ahead and prepare your lettuce to live long enough in your refrigerator to be eaten!

The tip for how to keep lettuce fresh longer is this: Use paper to absorb moisture from your produce.  This helpful kitchen tip will allow you to keep spinach without it getting slimy as well.  The method below shares step by step instructions to keep lettuce from browning.

Kitchen Tip: How to Keep Lettuce Fresh Longer

1.  Remove lettuce from plastic wrapping or package, if there is one.

2.  Wrap the head of lettuce completely in one layer of paper towels, newspaper, or scrap printer paper.

3.  (Optional) Put the wrapped lettuce into a large plastic Ziploc bag.  Press excess air out of the bag, then seal the top.  This step is optional because you can go directly from step 2 to step 4 without making your lettuce brown much faster.

4.  Prepare your refrigerator’s produce drawer (crisper drawer) to store the lettuce and other leafy veggies.  Line drawer with paper towels (or newspaper or printer paper) on the bottom and around the edges.

5.  Place your lettuce in the drawer, wrapped and packaged from the previous steps, until ready to eat.

We recommend that you do NOT wash the lettuce until you are ready to eat it.  Even then, do not wash the entire head of lettuce.  Only tear off the leaves you’ll be using for that meal, wash and dry them.  Keep the remaining head of lettuce refrigerated according to the instructions above.

If you liked this kitchen tip on how to keep lettuce fresh longer, please link to this article for your readers!    Thank you for your support!  Check out Kitchen Tip Tuesday and Homemaker Mondays at 11th Heaven .  Photo by KATHRYN….

When you are buying unripe bananas at the grocery store, ask the cashier at checkout for a full-sized paper grocery bag.  Once home, put the green bananas into the paper bag.  Close the top of the paper bag and roll it down to keep it from opening back up.  Keep rolling the paper bag down until you reach the bananas.  The goal here is to make sure that there is as little empty space inside the paper bag as possible.  You can put more than one bunch of bananas in the bag at the same time.  In fact, this will even speed up the ripening process.

Why it Works

Here’s why this works: bananas (and many other fruits) give off a gas called ethylene gas.  Ethylene gas is a plant hormone that causes “growth”.  What this means for produce is that any fruits or vegetables exposed to ethylene gas will have accelerated ripening.  You can use ethylene gas to your advantage in certain cases, by allowing it to ripen fruits and vegetables that were picked before their prime.

Produce that gives off ethylene gas itself can be enclosed in a container or bag, and essentially trapped in the gas it produces to speed up ripening.  Fruits and vegetables that do not produce ethylene gas can also benefit from this method.  To ripen them, simply place them in a bag or container with an ethylene gas producing fruit or vegetable, such as bananas, apples, peaches, avocados, pineapples or tomatoes.

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Photo courtesy of stock.xchng.  Check out Kitchen Tip Tuesdays at Tammy’s Recipes.

It may be a great intention to make a frugal birthday or baby shower cake at home, that is- if the horses and flowers you draw on top of the cake really look like horses and flowers.  You want an inexpensive cake that agrees with your grocery budget, but that doesn’t look like your a school-aged child did the decorating!  If you are artistically challenged like me, but still don’t want to pay high prices for a bakery-decorated cake (bakery cakes can range from $12-$45- ouch!), this kitchen tip for decorating cakes is for you. 

Kitchen Tip: Use Cookie Cutters to Make Traceable Outlines

• Choose cookie cutters in the appropriate shape for your theme (baby items for a baby shower, crowns for a princess party, palm trees and stars for a Hawaiian luau, etc.).
• Bake and ice a cake as you normally would.
• Let the cake sit out uncovered for a few hours until the top layer of the icing starts to harden and form a light crust.
• Place the chosen cookie cutters on top of the icing and lightly press down about 1 1/2 centimeters, making an imprint of the shapes.
• Choose either a pastry tube with a decorating bag (shown at right) filled with colored icing, or different colors of store-bought icing gel (shown below) to decorate with.  

• Use the outlines you created from the cookie cutters to “trace the lines”.  Fill in the ridges of the outlines with colored icing or gel, then fill in the center of the shapes/animals with icing dyed with food coloring! 

Using the cookie cutters as “cheats” to create traceable outlines, cake decorating will be a snap – even if you’re not good at drawing.  Your shapes will come out perfect every time for a professional looking birthday, holiday, or baby shower cake on a budget!

Check out Tammy’s Recipes for more Kitchen Tip Tuesday tips!  Baby shower cake photo by yorkd.

Kitchen Tip: Remove Fat From Roasts, Stews and Other Crockpot Meals

We frugal chefs love a good pot roast, and for more reasons than just the low price.  It’s true that roast meat is cheap and easy on the grocery budget, but crockpot cooking is also hassle-free, time saving, and almost no work!  The first time around, anyway.  Allow me to explain.

You have a delicious pork roast, simmering in a slow cooker, surrounded by sliced vegetables peeking out ever-so-subtly through the surface of the golden broth.  It’s steamy, it’s delicious, and it’s piping hot when you set it on the table for dinner.  However, this gourmet frugal meal will look quite different after you pack it away as leftovers!  No matter what kind of container you store your crockpot meal in, once the food temperature has cooled in the refrigerator, you will be left with a hideous layer of thick hard fat!  Now doesn’t that sound appetizing?!

There are few options for removing the fat from roasts, stews, and other crock pot meals.  The manual labor way (which we’ve all done before, including me) is to take a fork, spoon, or knife, and scrape the fat off – one scoop at a time.  While that method does work, it has its flaws.  First, it’s very time consuming. Second, it’s almost impossible to remove all the fat this way, since as soon as you start scooping, small bits of fat will break away and disappear into the liquid. 

If that method is not for you, we’ve got good news!  This kitchen tip will have you working smarter instead of harder in no time:

Kitchen tip: Before putting your crockpot leftovers into the refrigerator, cut a piece of wax paper that is large enough to cover the entire surface of the food in the storage container you’re using.  Lay the wax paper over the top of the food, face down, and then put the lid on as you normally would.  As the food cools in the refrigerator, the fat will begin to solidify.  With the wax paper in place, the top side of the hardened fat will adhere to the wax paper. 

After the food has completely cooled, you can remove the lid, peel off the wax paper, and stuck to the paper will be the layer of fat you’re wishing to discard.  Magic! 

Then you can pat yourself on the back, knowing that this little tip not only save you time in the kitchen, but it also helped you give a healthier batch of leftovers to your family.

Like crockpot cooking? Check out: Why you should leave your crockpot lid on and how to make crockpot meals the night before.

Homemaker Barbi Says:  Time-saving kitchen tips have you working smarter, not harder!

For more great kitchen tips, check out Tammy’s Recipes for Kitchen Tip Tuesday! Photo courtesy of Flickr’s Avoir Chaud under CC license.

Keep Rolls Warm with a Basket Liner and Lid

Serving hot biscuits or rolls at your holiday dinner?  Wish they stayed warm longer? Here’s a tip that will help!

Presenting homemade rolls or bread in a festive basket with a cloth napkin is a nice way to make them look appealing and evoke cozy Christmas meal memories.  However, the open top and slits in the basket can cause the rolls to lose a lot of heat and cool off fast.

To help insulate your biscuit basket, line the inside of the basket with aluminum foil (tin foil) before you put in the cloth napkin and biscuits.  The foil acts as a barrier to keep the warmth from escaping, keeping your rolls warmer and softer for longer. 

The foil method will also work for the top. To form a basket covering (lid):

1. Lay a piece of aluminum foil over the top of your filled basket (make sure it extends past the basket about 5 inches on each side).
2. Lay a cloth napkin or kitchen towel on top of the foil.
3. Starting at one end, start rolling the foil and napkin under, towards the basket. Mold the rolled end to the basket.  Repeat this action for the other sides as well.
4. The rolling of both layers will stick the foil and napkin together so they don’t come apart and the foil isn’t visible.
5. When ready to eat, simply lift the “lid” off!

Check out Tammy’s Recipes for more Kitchen Tip Tuesday tips!

Use Popcorn to Save on Shipping and Save the Planet

The holidays are fast approaching and many of us will be packing up boxes of presents to mail out to loved ones.  Shipping materials can be expensive to purchase and usually are made of plastics that aren’t the friendliest on the environment.  There are many fillers that are used, such as styrofoam packing peanuts, plastic bubble wrap, plastic pellets, plastic bags filled with air, and newspaper.  Even used plastic grocery shopping bags can be used as stuffing in packages to keep items in place.

However, there is a better, cheaper, more environmentally friendly material to use as a packing material, and it’s in your kitchen.  Popcorn!

Kitchen Tip: Pop edible popcorn to use as packing material!

Why popcorn?  Popcorn is cheap, edible, and biodegradable.  Edible popcorn received as packing material in a shipped box can be easily reused or discarded without harming the environment.  After removing edible popcorn from a package, you can add it to a compost pile, put it into bird feeders, sprinkle it on the ground for squirrels and birds to eat, or string with colored thread for strands of old-fashioned Christmas decoration.  Go green this holiday season using environmentally friendly package stuffing!

How does it work?  Purchase large bags of popcorn at the store (typically, the larger the bag, the more you get for your money).  Don’t use microwave popcorn – it’s usually coated and expensive.  Pop your popcorn in an air popper (do not use butter or margarine).  Let popcorn cool fully before stuffing in packages, since the size of popcorn changes as the temperature changes (it shrinks as it cools).

Homemaker Barbi Says:  Instead of using expensive styrofoam packing peanuts or other shipping materials when mailing packages, turn to your kitchen for the right supplies.  Using edible popcorn as a packing material will intrigue the person receiving your package, and possibly encourage them to use it too!

Check out Tammy’s Recipes for more Kitchen Tip Tuesday tips!

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng.

Valuable energy (and dollars spent on utilities) can be wasted by using your oven improperly.  Even energy efficient models of appliances are designed to be efficient only when used correctly.

Kitchen Tip:  Use Your Oven’s Peep Hole!

Exterior doors on homes and apartments have peep holes for a very good reason – so you can see what’s on the other side without having to open the door.  Kitchen ovens have a “peep hole” also (a window on the front door) for the same reason! 

Perhaps the most common mistake people make with kitchen appliances is opening the oven door every time they want to check on the food that is cooking.  This unintentional blunder can drive up your utility bill and force you to cook foods for longer times than directed in your recipes.  Heat escaping the oven can also make extra work for air conditioners in the summer months.

According to Newmarket Hydro Ltd., a utility company with great energy conservation programs in Ontario, Canada, opening an oven door while in use causes 20% of the heat to escape.  Calculations vary, with some sources saying the temperature drops as much as 25° each time the door is opened!  That heat loss means food will actually be cooking at a lower temperature, requiring time to be added onto the directed cooking time.  It is more efficient to look through the window and only open the door when the food inside must be stirred or toothpick-tested.

Keep the oven door closed while cooking and use the conveniently located window on the front to view  food instead! 

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng.

Kitchen Tip: Don’t Let Your Produce Spoil!

It’s always a wonderful treat to find fresh produce on sale and stock up on the great find!  However, how often does that produce start to spoil and mold before it can be eaten?  A study by the University of Arizona in concert with the United States Department of Agriculture showed that each US family throws away an average of 470 pounds of food each year.  We also throw away 1/4 of all the produce purchased for our families! 

Make sure the food you buy gets eaten instead of being sent to the trash.  Protect some produce which is quick to mold (such as strawberries and raspberries) from spoilage with this simple tip.  When storing produce in drawers, crispers, or containers in the refrigerator, place a dry sponge in the container as well.  The sponge will absorb excess moisture that can be the culprit of early molding and spoiling. 

Bonus tip:  Remember that bananas should never be kept in the refrigerator, for the sake of all of your produce!  The ethylene gas they release acts as a speed-ripening agent on other fruits and veggies.  Keep them safely away from other produce to prevent spoilage.

Check out Tammy’s Recipes for more Kitchen Tip Tuesday tips!  Photo courtesy of stock.xchng.

Have you ever taken a bag of marshmallows out of your pantry or cabinet, only to find they were like little hard rocks?  Do you wonder what is the right way to store marshmallows so they don’t get hard? You’re not the only one!  While marshmallows aren’t food items most people stockpile, it can be frustrating to find them hardened when you do need to use them for a recipe.

Problem: “Marshmallows are difficult to keep from hardening, even with the bag unopened.  How should I store marshmallows to preserve the freshness?”

Solution: The proper way to store marshmallows to preserve their freshness and soft spongy texture is to keep them in the freezer.  When you are ready to use them, remove from the freezer and let them thaw out at room temperature.  After they have thawed, they’ll be just the same way that you bought them – soft!

Kitchen Tip: Make a Crockpot Dinner the Night Before

Using a crockpot to cook your dinner all day while you’re busy or at work is a great time saver! However, what if you don’t have time to cut up the food, add the ingredients to the crockpot and otherwise put together the meal in the morning? Do it the night before!

A great way to take advantage of your crockpot is to make your meal the evening before. Add all ingredients to the crockpot and make sure it is ready to cook. Then take the insert (this is the part of the crockpot that the food goes into; usually they have small handles to lift them out of the crockpot), put the lid on it and put it in the refrigerator. In the morning, remove it from the fridge, set it back into the crockpot, and turn on to cook all day.

Presto! A wonderful low-maintenance meal that took zero minutes out of your already busy morning to prepare. Happy crockpot cooking!

Thanks to Tammy’s Recipes for hosting Kitchen Tip Tuesdays! Visit her site to check out more great kitchen tips from around the blogworld.

At times, we may throw things away because there is only a small amount left. Now, you can make use of small amounts of leftovers by freezing them for later use. Just use your ice cube tray!

Opening a can of enchilada sauce but only need a few tablespoons? Freeze the rest! Want to freeze soup stock in small quantities so you can take out only what you need for a recipe? Freeze your stock in ice cube trays!

Here’s how it works:

1. Pour your leftover liquid into an ice cube tray.
2. Fill each cube only 1/2 to 2/3 full, since the liquid will expand once frozen.
3. Once tray has frozen, remove all cubes from tray.
4. Place frozen cubes into plastic ziploc freezer bag, and label outside with contents and the date frozen.

These handy small frozen cubes are perfect for making sure nothing goes to waste. Try this trick with some of my favorites: spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce, broths, soup stock, enchilada sauce and pureed fruits for baby food. This even works for coffee (made a full pot but couldn’t drink it all? Freeze it for tomorrow!).

Thanks to Tammy’s Recipes for hosting Kitchen Tip Tuesdays! Visit her site to check out more great kitchen tips from around the blogworld.

The best way to track your pantry items is to start when you bring them home from the grocery store. Keep a sharpie marker handy in the kitchen and date:
· the top of every can
· the side of every box
· the lids on condiment bottles/jars

Thanks to Tammy’s Recipes for hosting Kitchen Tip Tuesdays! Visit her site to check out more great kitchen tips from around the blogworld.

Thanks to Tammy’s Recipes for hosting Kitchen Tip Tuesdays! Visit her site to check out more great kitchen tips from around the blogworld.