Recipes for Non-Cooks

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Chilling Cooked Pasta

If you are planning to serve a pasta salad at your July 4th barbecue, here is how to quickly chill the cooked pasta:

First drain the cooked pasta in a colander. Place the colander into a bigger bowl filled halfway with ice water. When chilled, lift the colander out of the ice water, drain, and it’s ready to use.

To keep a head of lettuce from wilting, wrap it in a towel and put it in a large baggie or plastic grocery bag, then place that in the refrigerator's vegetable drawer. If you have a precut bag of lettuce and you don't use the entire bag, stuff a paper towel in the bag with the leftover lettuce, fold over the top of the bag and tape it shut and put that in the refrigerator's vegetable drawer. Both the head of lettuce and the bag of lettuce will keep fresh for over a week if stored in such a manner.

Softening Brown Sugar

If brown sugar hardens, place a piece of foil or plastic wrap directly on the sugar. Set a piece of crumpled, dampened paper towel on the foil. Cover container tightly. The sugar will absorb the moisture from the paper towel and become soft. Remove the paper towel when it has dried out. To soften brown sugar quickly, place open bag of brown sugar in microwave oven. Set 1 cup of water next to the bag in the microwave. Microwave on High (100%) 2 to 3 minutes, checking often, until brown sugar is softened.

Kitchen Cleaning Tips

Use those leftover slivers of soap to cut expenses! Cut a small pocket in a sponge and place small slivers of leftover soap into it for a sudsy washing sponge.
Hold a scouring pad underneath a sponge when scrubbing. This will give you a better grip and protect your hands.
Save time on the dinner dishes. Before serving dinner, run a sink full of very hot soapy water. When everyone is finished eating dinner, tell them to wash and rinse their own plate.
Use a paint scraper or putty knife to remove baked on or cemented goo from stovetops, countertops or floors.
Use a toothbrush to scrub hard to reach surfaces such as behind and on faucets.
Baking soda makes an excellent scouring powder.
By keeping a spoon rest on the stove, you'll avoid a lot of messy clean-ups.
Place sticky (honey, syrup, molasses and oil) containers on plastic lids in the cupboard or fridge to avoid sticky messes.
To get odors out of plastic containers, place crumpled newspaper inside the container and seal it overnight.
Keep a wand filled with dish detergent near the kitchen sink and when you have a few spare minutes, wash a few dishes with the wand. This may help you cut down on doing full loads of dishes.

From Stella at http://recipecircus.com

Microwaved Baked Potato

Baking a potato in the microwave generally dries it out. If you put the potato or potatoes in a plastic bag, the bag will keep the potato moist. Do not close the bag if using a Ziploc type. Any plastic bag will do. Caution should be used in taking potatoes out of the microwave. While the bag keeps the potato moist, it also keeps the steam, which is VERY hot.

Reduce bacon shrinkage by running the bacon under water before frying. This should reduce shrinkage by about 50 percent.
Before opening a new package of bacon, roll it up like a jelly roll, then unroll. Slices won't stick to each other.

From Linda Carnation

If you don't have buttermilk on hand, sour your own milk. Measure 1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice into a measuring cup. Fill up to 1 cup mark with lukewarm milk. Let stand for 5 minutes before using.

From Marloah at http://recipecircus.com

Coffee and Coffee Cans Uses

+Dye fabric brown inexpensively. Soak the fabric in a bucket of strong black coffee. This technique is also a good way to cover-up an irremovable coffee stain on a white table cloth.

+ Fertilize a garden or houseplants. Work coffee grounds into the topsoil.

+ Repair scratched woodwork. Mix a teaspoon instant coffee with two teaspoons water. Apply to the scratch with a cotton ball.

+ Start a charcoal fire. Remove the top and bottom of an empty coffee can and punch a few holes in the sides of the can. Stand the can in your barbecue grill, fill it with charcoal briquettes, add lighter fluid, and light. When the coals glow, remove the hot can with tongs and set in a safe place.

+ Prevent dampness in closets. Fill an empty coffee can with charcoal briquettes, punch holes in the plastic cover, and set on the floor in the back of the closet.

+ Repel ants. Sprinkle dried coffee grounds outside doors and cracks. Coffee deters ants.

+ Relieve a hangover. Drink a couple of cups of coffee. Coffee acts as a vasoconstrictor, reducing the swelling of blood vessels that causes headache.

+ Spread grass seed or fertilizer. Punch holes in the bottom of an empty can of coffee, fill with grass seed or fertilizer, cover with the plastic lid, and shake the can as you walk through your garden.

+ Transport live fishing bait. Keep worms in a coffee can filled with moist coffee grounds.

+ Keep toilet paper waterproof while camping. Carry a roll of toilet paper inside an empty coffee can.

+ Protect baby tomato plants. Remove the top and bottom from coffee cans, place a can over each plant, and step on the can to set firmly in the soil. Remove cans when plants are a few weeks old.

+ Grow better melons. Raise melons off the ground by resting them on top of upside-down empty coffee cans pushed into the soil. The metal cans accumulate heat, making the fruit ripen earlier and repelling insects.

+ Keep paintbrush bristles from bending while soaking in solvent. Put solvent in an empty coffee can, cut an X in the plastic lid, and push the brush handle up through the slit so the brush hangs in the can rather than resting on its bristles.

From Simply Tim Ezine

Coffee and Coffee Cans, More Uses

+ Highlight brown or red hair. Rinse your hair with coffee for a rich and shiny color.

+ Deodorize the refrigerator and freezer. Place a bowl filled with coffee grounds on the back shelf.

+ Patch woodwork. Mix dry instant coffee with spackling paste until you achieve the desired brown tone, fill the crack or hole, and smooth with a damp cloth.

+ Clean a restaurant grill. Pour left-over brewed coffee over a hot or cold grill and wipe clean.

+ Wrap cookies and candies. Cover an empty coffee can with wrapping paper, fill with cookies or candy, cover with the plastic lid, then wrap.

+ Cover spots on black suede. Sponge on a little black coffee.

+ Make emergency lights. Wrap reflector tape around a couple of empty coffee cans and store in the trunk of your car for emergencies.

+ Make stilts. String rope through holes punched in the closed ends of two empty coffee cans.

+ Store nails, screws, bolts, and washers. Coffee cans make perfect storage containers.

+ Improvise a Jell-O mold. Use an empty coffee can.

+ Store cat box filler in the trunk of your car for emergencies. Cat box filler, stored in empty coffee cans, can be used for traction under the wheels of a car stuck in snow or ice.

+ Flavor spaghetti. Add one-quarter to one-half teaspoon of instant coffee to spaghetti sauce. Coffee gives store- bought spaghetti sauce brown coloring and a less acidic flavor.

+ Add a sprinkle of (instant) coffee as a secret chili ingredient (as well as a dash of cinnamon).

From Simply Tim Ezine

When cooking, have plenty of cloth towels on hand because cloth towels are versatile tools. Most chefs avoid single-purpose tools, preferring to use a knife (a good example of a multiple-purpose tool) rather than a citrus zester, garlic press, herb chopper, and other specialized tools. Cloth towels are inexpensive, easily laundered, and a professional chef usually makes sure that two or three are within reach at all times. A professional kitchen can go through dozens of towels in a single day. They are handy for cleaning cooking surfaces and kitchen tools, mopping up spills, wiping hands, prepping plates before delivery, and handling hot objects. How many things can you do with a pot holder? From http://www.worldwiderecipes.com

Important Announcement The MSN Groups service will close in February 2009. You can move your group to Multiply, MSN’s partner for online groups. Learn More
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