Cooking Tips & Tricks: 16 Cooking Tips

Today I want to share with you 16 of my favorite cooking tips. They are random and I hope they help you enjoy your time in the kitchen even more!

1. We've all heard that we need to taste as we go. Right? It's the only way to know if the flavor needs to be adjusted. I do this. I taste the liquid I am cooking rice in. I taste each component of dinner separately and combined. Sometimes I just taste because I am really hungry and it tastes good. I will admit that I double dip when I am tasting things at my house. What is the point of using 12 different spoons to taste the same sauce? We share the same germs anyway. Well, I can't do this when I am cooking for other people. I think it is gross to think that before dinner got to your mouth, it touched mine first. It's even more important when your guests are watching you cook. Well, I learned a trick in culinary school that cuts down on tasting spoons and still keeps the food sanitary. We would use the spoon normally to taste the first time and turn it around and use the handle to taste the second time. This is perfect sample size for sauces because you are just trying to get a small taste.

2. Don't overcrowd your pans. I am guilty of overcrowding my pans when I am in a hurry. It is never worth the time and I know this, but I still did it every week until I got a bigger pan for Christmas. Changed my life. I can't tell you the difference in my cooking. My husband even notices the differences. Food is able to caramelize better instead of just steaming. The cooking is more consistent because there is more of a hot surface area. Plus I made three eggs yesterday at the same time. I didn't have to make just one at a time. Do you know how much time that saves? A lot. If you don't have a giant pan yet, please take the time to cook in batches. It's worth it. Trust me.

3. We hear this one all the time. Make sure you prep everything you need to cook with first and then start cooking. Oh, do we all have uninterrupted hours to cook every single meal? No? Then learn to multitask. In an ideal world, of course we would have everything prepared before we start cooking. Since life isn't always ideal, we learn to make do. For example, when I make stir fry, I always start by cutting the vegetables that will take the longest to cook and then cook things in batches. (See how this works out?) Let me give you a run down of how this could work.
 1. Put the pan on medium heat, add the oil, onion, and bell peppers when it is hot.
 2. Cut some carrots, stir the onions and bell peppers, cut some more carrots. If your pan is big
     enough, add the chopped carrots. If it isn't, take the onions and bell peppers out and put them in a
     bowl. Start cooking the carrots.
 3. Cut celery. Stir the stuff in the pan. Continue in this manner until you've added all of your
     vegetables.
4. I know you will be surprised by this, but I cut and cook the meat last. That way I don't have to
    worry about cleaning up after cooking chicken before I can even start cooking the vegetables.
    Before I cook the chicken, I put all of the mostly cooked vegetables in a bowl. After the chicken is
    cooked, I combine it all. Done.
If you find that you aren't cutting as fast as the food is cooking, there is a magical knob that turns the temperature of the pan down. Don't be afraid to use it.

4. Don't be afraid to alter recipes! This one seems so obvious to me. There are a million roasted potato recipes out there that include rosemary and since I don't like rosemary, I substitute something else like thyme, basil, or parsley. The person that wrote the recipe will not show up on your doorstep if you substitute green bell pepper for red or omit raisins. You get to make food that tastes good to you. Recipes are great guidelines, but as you learn to make substitutions, you make them your own. You are creating instead of copying. (Yes, you have my permission to edit any and all of my recipes. Take them as your own.)

5. I love making soup! It's such an easy way to clean out the fridge at the end of the week - leftover chicken, a couple of vegetables, and some chicken stock. You're done! To speed up the process, I always sauté the vegetables in butter before adding the liquid. It increases the flavor and reduces the simmer time. We call that a win-win where I come from.

6. I love cooking, but there are some days when I am just not in the mood. The only things that can motivate me are the knowledge that this is one of the ways I can serve my family and music. I love listening to music while I am in the kitchen. It makes the time pass by faster and helps keep me moving! Plus I can sing and dance around and that makes everything better!

7. I think that one of the worst parts of cooking is cleaning up afterwards. In my dancing around the kitchen, I usually spill once or twice, but I don't always clean up right away. It's always a big mistake. So my tip for you is to clean as you go. Even if it is just filling a dirty bowl with hot water, it will make your job so much easier! I find that if I rinse dishes and keep them in one side of my sink, it makes filling the dishwasher so easy and fast that I really don't mind doing it. I find that if I run the dishwasher at night and unload it during the day while I am cooking, it doesn't seem like I am just doing dishes all day. The same goes for spills - on the stove, in the fridge, on the floor - clean as you go and it will make "deep cleaning" super easy.

8. When I make cookies, I always keep the dough in the fridge between batches. You want the butter to stay cold so it gives the cookies a chance to rise a little in the oven. Otherwise, the butter just melts and you end up with flat cookies.

9. While you want cookies to be cold, you want the pan you are using on the stove to be hot. Once it is hot, add the oil/butter/duck fat and then add whatever you are cooking. (If you are using duck fat and making potatoes, please invite me over.) There is a reaction that takes place between food and heat that you don't want to miss out on by letting them come up to temperature together.

10. If you want to try something new, read a little about it and then TRY it! For me this week, it is about tempering chocolate. I am going to try a million times until I get it right. Learn from your mistakes, and don't be afraid of making mistakes. (That reminds me of a "delicious" meal I made my parents once. I was trying to make Thai food for the first time and found a recipe for chicken with peanut butter sauce. It was the grossest thing I ever made. While I haven't tried that recipe again, I love Thai food and am not afraid of trying out new recipes.)

11. I love making sauces. I think that I would call them my favorite thing to make. (Weird, I know. You can't just eat sauce by itself, but it completes meals. It is the thing that ties it all together.) I am going to do a separate post on sauces, but I wanted to share a secret with you. Chefs strain their sauces. Once. Maybe twice. That's why they are smooth and shiny and perfect. Straining a sauce takes about a minute and it is super impressive to have a beautiful sauce.

12. Ever fight to keep your cutting board in place? The tip I read most often about fixing this is using a wet towel. (Have you ever heard that bacteria thrives in damp, warm environments? Think about that the next time you put a breeding ground for bacteria under your cutting board...) Ok, well, technically that is true, but it works and you can throw the towel in to be washed right after you are finished with it. I have an easier way. Use the grip shelf liner. You know what I am taking about? The mesh non-stick rubbery stuff you put in your cabinets so your plates don't roll around? (haha!) It is perfect for underneath your cutting board. Cut off a square, confine your cutting board to one place while you use it, and then you can wash the liner! Just make sure to dry it and you can roll it up to use next time. Genius.

13. One of the questions I am most often asked about it knives. Which knife it the best? Which brand is the best? How many knives should I have? Well, I will tell you the answers.
  1. There is no such thing as the best brand. People have different opinions about which knives are
      the best. I like Mercer branded knives (you will be shocked at the prices compared to some of the
      big name brands) because that is what we used in school. After cutting for what could have been
      hundreds of hours, my hand is used to using them. I like the way they feel and have never had a
      problem keeping them sharp. If you think about it, Mercer is the brand given to most culinary
      students. Seems like they are more than sufficient for home cooks. So, first of all, you don't have
      to buy crazy expensive knives because of the brand.
  2. I will never recommend that you buy a full set of knives. It doesn't make any sense. I use a 10"
      chef's knife, an 8" serrated knife, and the occasional paring knife. I have a boning knife which is
      great if you break down fish, but I don't do that often. Beyond that, you can have steak knives on
      hand (these don't have to be expensive either, by the way), but I don't use any other knife. I
      always recommend having a steel to keep the edge on your knife. As long as you take care of
      them (hand wash only), keep them sharp and keep them out of the food disposal, you're set!

14. I think one of my favorite inventions is the freezer. You can preserve food in your house. Can you imagine trying to store food for longer than a couple of days without one? I am so grateful I live in a time when we can freeze food. Not kidding. I love the concept of buying in bulk, especially when we are talking about meat. When meat is on sale, I stock up my freezer so I never have to pay full price. For instance, chicken breasts at the grocery store I usually shop at cost between $2.69 and $2.99 per pound. Every 3 months or so, they will go on sale for $1.99. I stock up and freeze most of it to use in the next couple of months. The same happens with pork and beef roasts, pork chops, steaks, etc. The important thing to note is that you want to take it all out of the original packaging and put it into portion sizes in freezer bags. This will keep longer. Also, make a habit of labeling things. (For example, boneless pork shoulder 1/14 will tell you all you need to know about the meat hanging out in your freezer. Don't be afraid to freeze loaves of bread, cheese, deli meat, chocolate bars, cookies, and fruit/vegetables that are in season. Freeze pesto, homemade chicken stock, and ginger to keep them fresh. I am going to try making my own vegetable stock by freezing the unused portions of my vegetables and making stock when I have enough saved. I am pretty excited about this. The trick with defrosting anything is to put it in the fridge the night before you want to use it. It will become routine and will keep you motivated to cook since you already have something out and ready to be used. (Exception: I don't defrost bread in the fridge. I just put it out on the counter.)

15. Food Network (specifically Rachael Ray) made this tip famous. Using a garbage bowl. I laugh so hard when I hear them taking about this. "There needs to be a bowl specifically set aside to hold your garbage. Then you must clean it and store it." If only there was something we could put our garbage in to keep it contained. Oh wait, we do. It's called a garbage can. Plus I don't have to clean it every time I put something in it and I don't have to take up valuable storage for it. So, thanks for trying to be clever FN, but I think we can handle storing our trash without buying one of your branded bowls.

16. This final tip isn't about time saving or making food taste more delicious, but it is one of my favorites. When I know people are coming over, I fill a saucepan with water, add orange, lime, or lemon rinds. Then I add complementary spices like cinnamon sticks, cloves, rosemary (I don't eat it, but I like the smell, go figure!), or any other spice you have on hand. Bring it up to a boil and let it simmer. It makes your house smell SO good. you can put it into a sealed tupperware dish in the fridge and use it again 2 or 3 times. Just don't let it simmer so long that all the water evaporates. Just add new water each time. It's super easy and makes your house smell like a home.

I loved coming up with this list this week! I hope something here helps you out or makes you laugh! Enjoy your time in the kitchen! Feel free to share any of your favorite tips in the notes!

Cooking Tips & Tricks: Meat vs. Protein

Animals as food seem to be quite the controversy these days. You've probably heard about "Meatless Monday" trying to keep people from eating meat one day a week. My purpose today isn't to address the sides of the debate, but I do want to tell you how I see things.

I believe that one of the reasons animals were placed on earth is to provide food. I don't believe that animals should be mistreated in this process. We should treat them as humanely as possible and discourage waste. I also believe that we should eat meat sparingly so we don't have a need to mass produce animals to be used as food. That being said, I like meat. I think it is delicious. I don't eat organ meat because I think it tastes and/or looks gross. You can come up with your own opinions.

Meat I would recommend adding to your diet:

Seafood - I love seafood. When people tell me they don't like seafood, the first question I always ask is what they don't like about it. If it is the smell (and 99% of the time it is), I tell them to eat out when they get fish the first time (actually, every time until they start liking it). That keeps your house from smelling like fish and gives them the chance to smell other food while they eat their fish. If they don't like the texture, have them try something other than shrimp and calamari. White fish is usually a safe place to start. It can take on just about any flavor.

Poultry - Chicken and turkey are always mentioned when talking about lean meats. Light meat over the dark meat. It is super versatile and you can use ground in place of most recipes calling for ground beef or pork.

Beef - Lean cuts of beef include eye of round, bottom round, and top round steaks or roasts; top sirloin steaks; and sirloin tip side steaks. When I buy cuts of beef that aren't as lean, I do two things: cut off excess fat and cook it long enough to melt the fat. If you like ground beef, consider grinding your own - then you get to determine which pieces are included. (Note: You will need SOME fat in your ground beef, but isn't it nice to know that you get to determine how much?)

Pork - The leanest cuts of pork are the tenderloin, boneless loin roasts and chops, boneless ham, and Canadian bacon. Surprised that pork belly/bacon wasn't included? I'm not, but I do have a trick when looking for bacon. I actually look at it. Check out the window in the front AND back to determine how much fat is on it. Pick the packages with the least amount of fat. Easy as that! Even then, there are times that I will cook the bacon and still take off the big pieces of fat.

We don't eat game meat at my house. I think it was because my dad went deer hunting once. Bambi was hung up in the garage for a couple of days. It was pretty gross. My husband just doesn't like it. He didn't have to stare at Bambi out the window into the garage or walk past it to play in the back yard. I cooked with lamb, duck, rabbit, and veal in school but I didn't love any of it. I stick to the basics - they are easy to find and cheaper in my area.

Next, vegetarians and vegans find ways to add protein to their meals. Do we even need protein? Absolutely. Why? Good question. Protein is an important part of every cell in your body. Hair and nails are mostly made up of protein. Protein is used to build and repair tissue, to make hormones and other body chemicals, and is a building block in bones, muscle, skin, and blood. Proteins are the second most abundant molecule in the body. Water is the first. Protein doesn't have a reserve like fat does in our body so we have to continually replenish it.

I don't know how much protein you should be eating. That's up to you. You get to determine how much your body needs. I don't like to eat meat with every meal, but I do like to add protein every day in other forms. These are some of my favorites:

Milk - Remember the days when we actually drank milk? I like to drink mine with cold cereal, cookies, or graham crackers.

Cheese - So many varieties and options. Add them to béchamel to make delicious sauces. Eat them with apples, turkey slices, or alone.

Yogurt (especially Greek) - I am going to call this the second most versatile of the meatless proteins. Use plain Greek Yogurt in place of Mayonnaise in chicken and potato salads or deviled eggs, eat any flavor for breakfast or for a snack, add it to smoothies, freeze it in your ice cream maker for frozen yogurt, etc. This list is only limited by your creativity.

Eggs - Hello easy breakfasts! (fried, hard boiled, soft boiled, poached, baked, frittata, you get my point) Eggs can be added to salads, sandwiches, and fried rice. They are inexpensive to add into meals a couple of times a week.

Beans - I am going to call this the most versatile of the meatless proteins. There are so many variety and they can seamlessly take the place of meat in soups, salads, chili, and stir fry (soy beans work best for this one). Plus red beans and rice still tastes good without meat. Beans can also be used to make dips, baked for a snack, and used as a substitution in baking.

Soy - I know I already mentioned soy beans, but they are worth mentioning again. I love edamame. (Funny story about edamame - my husband and mom decided that my first daughter should be named Etta Mame. Poor girl is apparently not as bright as she should be and isn't attractive at all. The happy ending was that she ended up on the side of the hill for the coyotes to raise or eat. Saddest story ever.)

Quinoa - I like that quinoa is easy. Toss it in to simmering soup for about 20 minutes. It can be used in place of rice in most recipes. (No, I will not be making red beans and quinoa. I already gave up spicy sausage, there has to be a limit!)

Protein powder - This is my least favorite. I don't like the way protein powder tastes, but if I am making a smoothie, it is an easy way to add some protein.

Nuts/Nut butter - There are so many recipes incorporating nuts into recipes. My favorite? Peanut butter cookies. They are delicious! You can even add a tablespoon in with your smoothie.

I hope these have given you some ideas to add protein to your diet without adding meat. Another benefit is that most of these things are cheaper than buying meat so by cutting it out of a couple of meals a week, you can add $$ to your shoe fund. You're welcome. I will include meatless recipes as I make them!

(End of post pat on the back for making it through day one of the new format. I'm so proud of myself!)

That's What I Get!

My procrastination came back to bite me. I got sick before I started getting things done. I got some kind of sinus infection so I spent a LOT of time sleeping this last week. I was always tired and even fell asleep during an important Cardinal game this week. That doesn't happen ever. Luckily, I woke up to learn that they won. I didn't make anything spectacular to eat. If I am being honest, I didn't cook most days. My husband took over with most things - cooking, cleaning, laundry, running errands, etc. What a great guy. Seriously. The good news is that getting sick cured me of wanting to procrastinate. I have wanted to tackle my to do list all week! Can't wait!

I am still coughing and my ears won't pop, but I am feeling so much better! I even cooked yesterday! Twice! I made egg salad sandwich - I will definitely share my recipe with you someday. It is so good. I also made a quick stir fry last night. It's one of my go to meals because I almost always have veggies to use for it and it comes together so fast. I get the rice going first, cutting vegetables while it comes up to a boil, and by the time I take the rice out of the oven, the vegetables are just about perfect. That's not bad for 25 minutes of work.

A couple of tips to make stir fry come together faster - pull out all of the ingredients you want to use at the beginning, pick 4 or 5 vegetables you want to use each time (you don't always have to use every vegetable every time), and sharpen your knife before tackling a chopping job like this to make it go much faster. People often say that you should have all of your vegetables chopped before you start a stir fry. It's a good idea, but if you are short on time, cut things in order of how you want to add them to the pan and cook while you cut. I always start with onions and bell peppers because I want them softest. Carrots usually come next. Don't forget to stir it while you are cutting and adjust the heat if you have to.

Last of all the updates for today is that our new couch was delivered yesterday! It's so nice. I've already taken a nap on it and am a BIG fan. It's comfy and is making me excited to decorate our house. (I have never decorated a house before and am crazy nervous about it. My creative outlet has always been cooking or writing. Now I get to convert my creativity to make our home reflect who we are. Should be interesting.) So stay tuned for my decorating ideas and cooking will start up again soon. I also have an idea forming for some blog posts in October. Couldn't be more excited about it, but I am not going to give you details yet. You'll just have to wait.