Kitchen tips & tricks

Some hopefully helpful tips and tricks to help you save time and eat well!

It's okay to improvise. Following a recipe is sometimes important, but so is taking risks. I've been making oatbran muffins from the same basic recipe for close to 10 years. Over time I learned I could make replacements, using what I had on hand, and the recipe became no fail. The same thing goes for soups, stews, etc. Case in point: tonight I had my heart set on making black bean soup. As I assembled the ingredients I realized our all star was missing. But we did have chickpeas. The result was a deliciously smoky and spicy chickpea soup.

giant pot of tomato sauce

 Freezer bags are your friends. I use them constantly for batch freezing soups, stews, sauces, etc. For items such as canned tomato paste or even ground meat, add the food to the bag then "score it" by folding it into portions. Once frozen you will have a perfectly measured out portion without using multiple bags. When I freeze baked items, such as muffins, I use a drinking straw to suck the air out of the bag then quickly seal it before popping it into the freezer.

Save the end pieces from bread loaves. These make great breadcrumbs. I saved the end piece from each bread loaf we went through for well over a year. I kept them, tightly sealed, in a freezer bag. When we needed breadcrumbs, I simply toasted a frozen end piece then put it in the coffee grinder (we have one we use for spices, etc.) — voila! instant whole grain bread crumbs. Recently, while I was simmering something on the stovetop for hours, I realized I had a little time on my hands. I must have spent over an hour toasting all of the end pieces and grinding them up, but now we have a giant bag of homemade breadcrumbs in the freezer all ready to go.

More is usually less. This is the case in many recipes calling for sauteeing in butter/oil/ghee.
   

turkey tortilla soup

Leftover night is a weekday rockstar. We love leftovers, especially when things can be repurposed — turkey tortilla soup, anyone? Many things simply taste better the second time around. We also find with meals that take all day to roast, simmer or stew it's easier to make 6-8 portions with the intention of freezing meals for a later time. Of course, we usually end up calling friends over for a last-minute feast, but that's just how we roll.

Garlic = goodness. The easiest way to mince garlic cloves? Use a microplane zester, it's super fast and you don't have to dirty a knife. If you don't have a microplane, liberally salt freshly peeled garlic cloves — this keeps the minced garlic from sticking to your knife. A newly learned trick from the chefs — if you don't have time to roast garlic, simmer it on the stovetop immersed in extra virgin olive oil "until it's done." The result is the buttery consistency that is heaven when squished out of its papery skin and onto a crusty bread. Roasted garlic has many other uses, of course!
 

BLT salad

Try new things and experiment with tastes, textures and flavors. I use this philosophy in so many ways in the kitchen — from adding pumpkin or beet puree to pancakes, to using baby food in my homemade muffins, to recently trying spaghetti squash for the first time. I also love this tip when it comes to salads. I have salad for lunch 5-6 days a week and love coming up with new ideas. Salad should not be limited to the ubiquitous garden variety  — tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, etc. Sure that is great seasonally, but I love adding seasonal, local ingredients and fruit to salads, and I love roasted beets with everything from goat cheese to tangerines.

(Almost) everything is better with bacon. Need I say more?