Kitchen Tips - Fun and Practical

My first tip is to always play with your food. Well, maybe not always, but have fun when you do.

Pilot brought his plate from the table the other day and said, "this is for you."

Before I even took it, I sighed and thought, "yes, another dirty dish. Of course it is for me. Whoa me, the slave of the kitchen, the cooker, the baker, the dishwasher, etc..........."

Yeah right! I am not all those things, I try to have everyone help at our house. But I really was thinking, "why are you handing me your dirty plate? Don't you know where the sink is or even better, where the dishwasher is?"

Then he handed me the plate and I looked at it. He had made a heart with some of his drippy BBQ sauce. He loves me! and was thinking of me when he was doodling in his sauce. I love that boy!

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My second tip is re-packaging milk to freeze.

I bought 2 gallons of 2% milk when it was on Pull Date Clearance from my grocery store for $.99 each. Too good to pass up. But we don't drink 2% and no one wanted to use it. So it has sat in the fridge since May 7th. I know, I can't believe it doesn't smell horrible yet!

The thing is I opened the last jug today and yes, it is just starting to turn, I think. But it can still be used for cooking and baking with no problem.

So I decided to freeze this bottle. However, when I freeze a whole gallon bottle, I find that the bottle is so big that it takes quite a while for it to thaw. I hate that.

So this time, I poured 2 cups of milk into 8 freezer quart bags. Put them in a basket and tossed them in the freezer.

Now when I need some milk, I can pull out a bag and it will thaw quickly because it is freezing flat and there is only a small amount in the bag. I can even thaw it under a warm water bath because of the freezer bag.

Don't forget to label and date your freezer foods, so that you can both identify the item and know when you froze it.

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My last tip for today is a little bit of Re-packaging.

I have these water bottles that I picked up in St. Louis over a year ago.

They were bottled in Norway. Since I have a connection with Norway, I wanted to keep the bottles. They are glass and so they are not great for carrying around.

But I finally decided to re-package some of my small pasta and rice into them. So here is what I have so far:

I have brown rice, large Acini de Pepe, small Acini de Pepe and some small angel noodles.

When I use up the Small angel-hair noodles, I am going to put barley in this one. I love to use barley, but forget to use it because it is in a solid colored tupperware container and I can't see it. So this would really help remind me of the barley.

Maybe even dried onions flakes or Italian Seasoning, the stuff I use a lot of. In any case, you can see I have finally put them to good use.


Thanks to Bloggland for helping me get to my projects!!

I think I am going to put Sea Salt for grinding in one and Black or multi peppercorns in the other that are still empty.

I will probably move them to a cupboard. But for now I want to see them. These guys are sitting on the back of my stove for the time being. They are clear and cute. And now they serve a purpose.

Thanks for stopping and taking a look. Have a great day!

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Jump back on over to Tammy's for More Kitchen Tips Tuesday!



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