Kitchen Tips

Microwave your lemon for 30 seconds before juicing. You’ll get double the juice out.

Microwave your garlic for about 8 seconds, the peel will slip right off (just pinch it).

Don’t store potatoes with onions, moisture from potatoes can cause onions to sprout.

Did you know you can freeze applesauce? Buy the big jars & separate them down to small serving sizes in containers (or even freeze in your ice cube trays), then pack them for lunch, they will usually be defrosted by the time lunch comes around.

This idea is a variation of the previous one (learned both making baby food years ago). We make pizza nearly every week and buy our sauce in the giant cans at Sam’s Club for about four bucks. We freeze all of it in ice cube trays and put the cubes in large freezer bags (1 can = 2 gallon-size bags). We use 4-5 cubes per pizza.

Put your unfilled pie crust in the freezer for 10 minutes before baking to reduce shrinkage and to hold fluted edges in place.

I dip my apple wedges in 7-up (or any lemon lime soda – regular or diet) to keep them from browning. The citric acid in the pop keeps them from browning for several hours and doesn’t leave them sour like lemon juice.

If you only need a small amount of tomato paste, take the remainder and freeze in a plastic ice cube tray. When frozen, they can be put into a small freezer bag. Be sure to label the bag. Once cube equals about 1-1/2 Tablespoons.