Kitchen Tip Tuesday

How to Make Your Dog a "Helper" in the Kitchen/Free Dog Treat

We have a rather spoiled, VERY well loved dog who allows us to live in "his" house.  :o)  He enjoys being in the kitchen when I cook, I'm sure to keep me "company." 

I hate cleaning out cans/jars so they can be recycled.  He enjoys cleaning out cans for me.  A win, win.  I have a can opener that does not leave any sharp edges.  When I have a can or a jar that needs to be cleaned out and the contents are safe for dogs, I give him the can or jar and he very cheerfully cleans it out for me, then I just pick it up when he is done and put it in the recycling. 

Ways this is a helpful:

1. I don't have to do a chore I don't like.
2. I'm saving water.
3. It keeps my dog busy and out from under my feet.
4. I hate having anything left in the jar, now I can feel less guilty because I am providing nutrition to my dog.  (I still get as much out as I can with a spatula)
5. I often get my feet warmed up in return.

Now I just need to teach him to take the can/jar TO the recycling!

Here is a link to a website that has a list of not safe foods for dogs:  www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+1659&aid=1030

For more great Kitchen Tips, visit:  www.tammysrecipes.com/easy_avocado_dicing

Our crazy dog, Duke:

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

Iced Tea

Now that Spring is in the air, my hubby started wanting tea.  Not being a huge fan of all that sugar in my tea, I usually make mine with Stevia and add some lemon juice.  

I usually use 4 tea bags (black tea) for two quarts of iced tea.

Here are some ideas:

1. 
   
   I heat up the water for the tea in my tea kettle and throw the tea bags in a glass 2 cup measuring cup. I add the hot water, let it steep about ten minutes, pour the tea into the pitcher add any other ingredients, stir, and fill the pitcher the rest of the way up.
2. 
   
   Heating the water in the tea kettle allows me to make iced tea for hubby and myself.  I can also get a cup of hot tea out of it, so I am able to get two chores and a treat done all at once.  ;O)
3. 
   
   If you have some flavored tea you bought and it is flavorful, but not to your liking, throw one of those tea bags in with your others.  You won't be able to taste the not-to-your-liking tea hardly at all and it beats throwing the tea out.
4. 
   
   Instead of Stevia, which is rather spendy, I've been experimenting with fruit juice to sweeten my tea.  Fresh pineapple juice and orance juice have been quite tasty.  Make sure you aren't using juice with sugar added to it!

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

Quicker Grilling

I don't know about you all, but my hubby is the grill king in our family.  I think he would be very offended if I touched the grill.  Last night we had planned to grill boneless ribs.  I didn't have anything else set out and he ended up at the vet (check up only--Duke is healthy) longer than planned.  I already had potatoes in the oven, so I put the ribs in a casserole dish with lid and threw some marinade over them and let them cook at 350 for about 30 minutes, then he transferred them to the grill when it was ready.  They cooked much faster and we were able to eat much sooner.  They were tender and quite yummy!

For more great kitchen tips, visit:   http://www.tammysrecipes.com/node/3792

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

Easy egg chopping

I'm not sure where I read this, but it works great. If you need to chop boiled eggs for salad, put them in a round dish and use a pastry cutter to chop them up. SO quick and easy, wonder why I used a knife for all those years!!!

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Kitchen Tip Tuesday

Entertaining

When I have people over, I write out a list of everything I am going to serve, including drinks and even things like pickles. Before making it a habit to write out the list, I would inevitably find something in the fridge I was going to serve AFTER everyone had left!



Have a great Holiday Season!



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Kitchen Tip Tuesday

Holiday Baking Tips

1. ALWAYS wear an apron or clothes you don't care about. Inevitably, you will probably get something on you that will stain your clothes. I have several outfits I now have to wear for baking/cooking because I stained them previously while cooking/baking.
2. Use parchment paper. I realize this may not be frugal, but you CAN reuse the same pieces over and over. It makes it much easier. You don't have to spray your cookie sheets with cooking spray or butter them! You also don't get that left over cookie film to scrape off all the time.
3. Let your cookies sit for a couple of minutes before trying to move them to a cooling rack or waxed paper to cool.
4. Start baking early. The holiday season is hectic enough. Almost all goodies--fudge, cookies, peanut clusters, candy can be frozen and will thaw nicely.
5. Think ahead to what you will need goodies for, make a list and then divide up your goodies appropriately before you freeze them and then mark the container.
6. If you like to give away goodies as Christmas gifts, keep your eye out during the year for nice containers for cheap to give them away in. I like to buy china or tins at second hand stores. This year I was able to pick up a 4 place setting of Christmas dishes for $2.50 at a garage sale. I've put goodies on them and given them away as gifts.
7. Another cheap way to package goodies is in a ziploc bag placed inside a decorative lunch sack. They have them at Christmas time for a quarter, or better yet, you can buy lunch bags, decorate them yourself, punch holes for a ribbon and have just as pretty a container!
8. Listen to something you enjoy. My kids were gone while I was doing some of my baking, so I listened to Anne of Avonlea on my phone. It was more fun to bake "with Anne".
9. For more great kitchen tips, visit: www.tammysrecipes.com/node/3066

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

When you put a "prepared meal" or even the main part of a meal, like taco meat or meatballs and sauce in the freezer, write it on a 3x5 card and keep it in the front of your recipe box.

Cross off things as you use them and add to the card as you add to the freezer.

Since I don't seem to have as good of a memory as I used to this, this has helped me a lot and helped me not to waste food because I forgot it was in the freezer until it was covered by two inches of ice crystals.

I can also look at the 3x5 card when I am planning my menu for the week and decide if want to use anything from the freezer. This also helps if you need to take a meal to someone on short notice.

For more great kitchen tips, visit: http://www.tammysrecipes.com/node/3591

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

Apple Bread

This recipe is posted by request. :o) It was originally a Pear Bread recipe, but I decided to make it with apples since I had an abundance of them and it turned out pretty well. :o)
*makes two loaves

3 eggs

1 1/4 c. sugar

2/3 c. vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp. Almond extract

3 c. flour--I used whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 c. ground flax seed

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tbsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

4 c. finely chopped apples (I don't peel mine)

1c. chopped walnuts

1. Combine eggs, sugar, oil, and extracts. Mix well.

2. Combine flour, bkg. powder, cinnamon, bkg. soda, and salt. Mix well.

3. Stir flour mixture into egg mixture til moist.

4. Add apples and walnuts, mix well.

5. Pour into loaf pans.

6. Bake at 350 for 55-60 minutes.

7. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans.

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

Freezing Apples

We picked a bushel of apples on Thursday, so last night I had about 20 minutes free so I thought I'd start working on freezing some.

• I usually cut up the apples with a knife, but last night I remembered by apple wedger. I wedged the apples, which nicely decores them also.
• Then I put them in my food processor to slice or chop. I froze half in slices and half chopped.
• Using the apple wedger saved A LOT of time. I don't peel my apples. They end up sliced thin enough that no one complains and the peel has extra nutrients and fiber.
• I put them in freezer bags and marked the number of cups in the bags with a permanent marker.

I was able to get twenty cups of apples in the freezer in the twenty minutes. I couldn't believe how fast it went! With clean up--about 30 minutes.

For more great kitchen tips, visit: Tammy's Recipes at http://www.tammysrecipes.com/node/3545

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

Ground Beef

Since I work full time and don't get home until 5:30pm, I am always looking for ways to make dinner faster. I've started making something out of my ground beef as soon as I get it home from the store.

Some ideas are:

1. Meatloaf--I usually make up three meatloafs and then freeze them. I discovered last time that I can mix up the ingredients, then divide it into three ziploc freezer bags (I used to use a TON of plastic wrap--silly me!), squish the bags into three loaf pans and freeze them in the freezer--uncooked. (You want to freeze them in the pan so the meatloaf will fit in your pan when you go to cook it.) You can take the bag out of the pan after the meatloaf has frozen. When you want to cook the meatloaf, take it out of the bag--you may need to run some hot water over it to loosen is from the bag, put it in the pan to thaw. I usually put mine in the oven on time bake in the morning with aluminum foil (sprayed with pam so it doesn't stick) and set my oven for time bake so when I walk through the door you have meatloaf ready. :o) I also usually throw in some baked potatoes to cook with the meatloaf.
2. Make hamburgers and freeze.
3. Cook up a lot of taco meat and freeze it in amounts for meal time.--I add lentils or black beans to increase nutrition and stretch the meat.
4. Make up meatballs to freeze--these I cook before I freeze them. I cook them on the broiler pan in the oven. I make a double batch and there is not hardly a millimeter of space unused on my pan. I then freeze them in a ziploc bag.
5. Cook up a bunch of the beef and leave plain to use in recipes. I have found that I can cook up enough ground beef in one skillet to divide out for three meals. I put enough water in the skillet to go about 1/2 way up on the pan, this decrease the fat content even more.

I hardly ever freeze ground beef anymore unless it has been made into something or cooked. It really doesn't take that much time, but it sure make meal prep easier! :o)

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

Kids and Chores

We have a chore wheel at our house. One side has dinner chores--Help with dinner, set table, clear table, and help with dishes. The other side has various daily chores, such as clean a bathroom, vacuum a room, sweep a floor, etc. The chores are listed on the outside of the wheel and the kids names are on smaller wheel on each side in the middle of the larger one, held together with a brad, this allows me to turn the wheel so the chores rotate. If you use paper that coordinates with your kitchen, it can end up looking kind of nice on the fridge.

Chores can help your house run more smoothly and teach your kid responsibility. BE PATIENT with the kids, however. Realize up front that they are not going to complete tasks as well as you would. They are younger and less experienced than you. They also will probably take longer than you to complete the chore. When I first started having the kids do chores, I did not tell them they missed a spot, etc. As they have gotten older, I occassionally will add another step or ask them if they think that is how it should look. (If they are being lazy, I do address that-usually by asking them if they did their best.)

Last night, it was "Z's" turn to do the dishes. I had gone upstairs, when I came down, it was apparent that he had enjoyed using the sprayer on the sink A LOT!!! There was about 1/4 inch of water in my utensil holder that is about 18 in. away from the sink, my toaster and stove appeared to have gotten a shower, the cabinet above the sink was dripping with water, the counter had standing water on it and I noticed the pair of socks I had just put on were rather soggy!!! I mopped up the water--at least everything near the sink is now fairly clean from the shower! I did suggest to "Z" that he might want to keep the water turned on low before he uses the water sprayer in the future, but I really am grateful he did the dishes without complaining. He actually seemed to enjoy himself. :o) Oh, yeah, the front of him seemed to have gotten a shower too.

Another thing I've started doing, due to the rapid way that dish soap was disappearing, I keep an old bottle and add water half way up, then add dish soap the rest of the way up. If you add the water first, it decreases the sudsing! You can also get a pump type dispenser to help decrease how much soap they use.

I've been trying to remember the poem (couldn't find it) that goes something like this:

Be thankful for the dirty dishes, for you have food to eat.

Be thankful for the dirty clothes for you have clothes to wear.

Be thankful for the toys strewn about for you have children to fill your home, etc.

Looking for a way to be thankful for a mess/chore makes the chore much less burdensome and you may even find yourself smiling while you do it. :o)

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

Stretching Beef

As everyone knows, beef has been/is expensive! I have developed a few ways of stretching beef that has not brought complaints from my family.

1. Add rice to ground beef to make it go further--you could use this in all types of recipes that call for meat--I try to do about half and half.
2. You can add beans and rice to the beef in mexican dishes. I like to do this and then freeze half of it for a crazy day.
3. Italian beef. I sometimes will cook a beef roast and a pork roast (both bought on sale) together. Add: Beef broth from the freezer (I don't use the broth when I cook the two together because I'm not a fan of pork broth)--about 1-1/2 cups depending on the amount of meat, 1 tbsp each of italian seasoning, basil, and garlic, two tbsp minced onion, 1 1/2 tsp. minced garlic, 1 tsp. each salt and fennel. You can adjust herbs to your preference. Cook in crockpot on low all day.
4. Mooing Pork. I basically will use the same recipe above with just a pork roast if I don't have a beef roast. It tastes a lot like italian beef. :o)
   

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

Mayonnaise Substitutes

Last week we wanted potato salad, but were VERY low on mayonnaise. We used half mayo and half plain yogurt and it tasted really good. We could have also used sour cream, but yogurt is cheaper and healthier. :o) I'm looking forward to trying this in more salads. You could probably use a combination of mayo and yogurt for sandwich spreads also to cut the calories and fat. Of course, mustard is always the best choice for sandwiches since it has almost no calories and no fat! Now to convince my hubby and kids!

***Has anyone else thought about what a weird word mayonnaise is?! I had to open Microsoft Word and type it in to make sure I spelled it right. I think I might use the abbreviation a bit too much! ;O)

For more great kitchen tips, visit Tammys Recipes at:

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Kitchen Tip Tuesday

How to keep eggs from cracking while you boil them

Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to the water. This works really well. I'm told it will also keep a poached egg compact in the water instead of spreading out. I haven't tried the vinegar with poached eggs as I never cook them.

For more great kitchen tips, visit: http://www.tammysrecipes.com/

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

So Long Smells

How to eliminate smells from your plastic ware:

• You can put water in the dish and add baking soda or vinegar and soak it overnight.
• My favorite--put it in the freezer overnight. I know it sounds strange, but it works.

How to eliminate smells, such as garlic or onion from your hands:

• You can rub them against your stainless steel sink. If you have a cast iron sink, you can use stainless steel cookware. :o)
• Rub vinegar over them and then wash them.

Freebies: Be careful about multitasking too much in the kitchen, it can be costly as I found out this weekend by scorching a big pot of cream of mushroom soup! :o( Admit your human and spend a little more time in the kitchen or enlist kid help--they are awesome stirers! :o)

For more great kitchen tips, visit: http://www.tammysrecipes.com/node/3415

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

Grating Chocolate

I had a recipe to make this morning that called for you to grate semisweet chocolate bars. Since my memory was that I had the chocolate when in reality it was unsweetened chocolate, I went digging and found semisweet chocolate chips. I realized that trying to grate them on a regular stand type grate was not an option unless I wanted injured fingers! I've tried using a minichopper before, but the chocolate is not at all uniform--mainly big chunks and powder. So......

I decided to try my rotary cheese grater (that has the crank--I didn't know what the official name was 'til I googled it)!!! This worked great!! The chocolate came out finely grated. It looked great sprinkled on top my Strawberry cheesecake trifle. :o)

For more great kitchen tips visit: http://www.tammysrecipes.com/node/3407

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

Making Your Own Creamer

For those of us who are coffee drinkers, there may have been a naughty person who introduced us to coffee creamers. They ARE rather yummy, but expensive and not that great for you! I have started to make my own.
Take whatever milk you typically drink. Then add a sweetener to your taste. (I use Stevia.) Then add extracts, cocoa, whatever you like. I usually make up about 8oz. of creamer at a time. I then add about a teaspoon or so of extracts such as:
Almond

Coconut

Mint

Any Combination of above

I also add cocoa sometimes

Two of my favorite combinations:

Almond and coconut extract and cocoa=Almond Joy

Mint extract and cocoa=Chocolate mint.

For more great Kitchen Tips visit Tammy's Recipes at: http://www.tammysrecipes.com/node/3388

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

Keeping Watermelon Fresh

To keep watermelon fresh longer:

1. Store it in your salad spinner with lid, then you can lift out the basket with the watermelon and dump out the water in the bottom of the bowl. I try to do this in the morning and at supper time.
2. If you don't have a salad spinner, you can do the same, just use the lid to keep the watermelon in and dump off the water.
3. If you won't be able to eat it before it goes bad, you can also throw it in the freezer!

For more great Kitchen Tips Visit: http://www.tammysrecipes.com/node/3376

Butternut bread with Cream Cheese Filling

KITCHEN TIP TUESDAY

INGREDIENTS
2 c. pureed butternut squash*
4 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
½ cup applesauce
¼ cup ground flaxseed
2/3 cup water
1 tsp. almond extract (optional)
1 1/3 cups white sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
*You can use pureed pumpkin in place of the butternut squash.

CREAM CHEESE FILLING
8 oz. cream cheese (room temperature)
1 tbsp. flour
1 egg
¼ c. sugar
1 tsp. almond extract

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 7x3 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. 3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended.
4. In a medium mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, flour, and egg; beat until smooth and creamy.
5. Pour half of the pumpkin bread batter evenly into the two prepared loaf pans. Spoon cream cheese mixture on top of pumpkin batter layer and then pour on the remaining pumpkin batter.
6. Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cream of ...........Soup

Kitchen Tip Tuesday

Condensed Cream of Chicken (or whatever) Soup

Thanks to my friend Sarah for this great recipe. I love it!

1 1/2 c. chicken broth

1/4 tsp. each of salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and parsley

1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning

1/8 tsp. pepper

1 1/2 c. milk

3/4 c. flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour and it turned out fine)

**You can add mushrooms, celery, etc. to make whatever type of "cream of" soup you like. :o)

1. 
   
   Boil broth, 1/2 c. milk, and seasoning for 1-2 minutes.
2. 
   
   In bowl (or Tupperware shaker) mix 1 c. milk and flour.
3. 
   
   Add flour mixture to boiling mixture and whisk until mixture boils and thickens.

*I tripled this recipe (because that is how much broth I had left after I cooked a chicken). I added 8 oz. of chopped mushrooms and it turned out great! I froze the soup in 2 cup containers and have thawed it out to use in recipes and it worked very well. I'm so excited to have a recipe that doesn't turn out watery! It is a thick soup!

For more great kitchen tips, visit: http://www.tammysrecipes.com/node/3348