Cool Tips

You will get almost twice the amount of juice out of a lemon or lime if you drop it into hot water for a few minutes before you squeeze it. Heating the fruit breaks down the inner membranes so that they release more juice. Or instead of heating the fruit, try rolling it on a hard surface to break down those membranes.

If you want just a few drops of lemon juice, poke a hole in one end of the fruit with a toothpick. Squeeze the desired amount from the hole, replace the toothpick, and store the lemon in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for future use.

You can have “sour cream”: on your baked potatoes without the extra calories by using cottage cheese instead. Run it through a blender or food processor to smooth it out, and flavor it with chives. Plain yogurt is a good sour cream substitute, as well and it comes smooth right from the container!

An avocado will ripen faster if placed in a plastic bag with a piece of banana peel.

If you bring home a big bunch of bananas that you now you’ll be separating and using singly, seperate them right away by cutting off the “knob” that joins them all together. Make sure that you cut them so that a 1-inch tip is left on each. This tip will dry up and seal itself in a day or two. Then when you are ready to use the bananas, you won’t have to bother breaking off one at a time, which can often result in splitting the top skin of several and exposing the open parts to bacteria

Did you know that if you don’t have a fresh egg for baking, and you don’t have any egg powder that you can simply substitue 1 tbsp. ground flax seed with 3 tbsp. water, mix it till stretchy, and VOILA!!!! You have a simple egg substitue! This was something I learned recently from my friend, Lisa Armstrong–thanks Lisa!

To grease your pans, and save money at the same time, simply save your butter wrappers in a baggie, and then use them to grease your pans when you;re ready!

You don’t have to throw away the cracked raw eggs you find in the carton; use them, but only for egg dishes that are thoroughly cooked, such as hard-cooked eggs, or in baked goods.

You can tell whether eggs are fresh or not by placing them in a deep pan of water. Any floaters should be thrown away. If you’ve cooked some eggs, and are not sure if they’re done, simply take one out and spin it. If it spins quickly, it’s done, if it spins slowly and then stops, it’s raw or needs more time.

When you need to store raw eggs without the help of a refrigerator, such as during a campling trip, coat the eggs with shortening. It will help to preserve them longer by sealing out air.

An egg poacher or fried egg mold can be made by removing the top and bottom of a clean tuna can.

A piece of bread or apple in the cookie jar keeps soft cookies from hardening.

When measuring oil and honey for a recipe, measure the oil first so that it coats the spoon or cup, making the honey that’s measured next slide out easily. When you’re baking with oil and eggs, crack your eggs in a measuring cup first and then pour them into your mixing bowl. The eggs will coat the measuring cup so that when you measure the oil it will slide out easily, leaving no oil behind in the cup.

To make a whole wheat bread rise higher and feel lighter, add 1 tbsp. of lemon juice to the dough as you’re mixing it. This will add lightness but will not influence the taste.

To make a sweetener-free bread, omit all honey and sugar from the recipe and add 1 tsp. of malt for every tablespoon of yeast called for. The malt provides the food that enables the yeast to grow.