Cooking by the Numbers

There's an awesome kitchen cheat sheet set to download! It's an excellent resource to keep handy when you're measuring and cooking. Yes, it's in "British" measurement, but so are many recipes! The printable version is available here. I had a picture up before, but it turned my blog all ka-flooey. So we'll stick with just sharing the link. Go get it! Print it! Hang it up in your kitchen!

Taco Tip

The other day I was really tired, having gotten up at 3:30 AM to take Big Brother to school for his senior trip.  I was happy that there was some premade taco meat in the freezer.

When I went to heat it up, though, it seemed kind of dry.  So I added in about 1/3 cup of salsa.  It moistened the meat and gave it a really good flavor.  Next time, that's going to be standard!

Slow-simmered Chicken Stock

I'm spending the snow day today (we've got about 2 feet of snow out there and it's still coming down) making chicken stock.

The last two times I roasted chicken, I knew I wasn't going to have time to make stock from the carcass, so I popped the carcass into a ziplock bag and froze it.

This morning I dug out my deep stockpot (the one with the handy-dandy pasta-draining insert) and loaded up that colander with the two chicken carcasses, one cut-up onion, half a pound of baby carrots that were a little past their prime, some celery tops (including the leaves), a handful of dried parsley, some kosher salt, black pepper, 2 tablespoons of minced garlic, some rosemary and thyme.

It smells great in here.  The stock has been cooking for 4 hours now.

I'll let it cool a bit, then remove the colander with all the solid stuff, then chill the broth so I can remove the fat from the top.  Now I'll have the soup base all made for Monday evening's dinner.

Secrets of a Lazy Dishwasher

I'd label this "secrets of a lazy cook" but my laziness really comes in when it comes to cleanup, not to cooking itself.

I'm all about the shortcuts.

But I have some very nice pots and pans that are not dishwasher safe. Sometimes that's a real pain in the neck. It's so much nicer at the end of a meal to just toss everything in the dishwasher and be done with it.

It took me long enough, but I finally remembered that I have Corning Ware. I can cook on the stovetop with it. I can use it in the oven, or even the microwave. Best of all, it's dishwasher safe!

I'll definitely be using the Corning Ware for more than au gratin potatoes and baked beans.

Kitchen Tip of the Day

Microplane zesters are great for getting super-tiny bits of citrus zest that you can use in cooking or baking. But don't use your microplane zester over a tiny bowl (like the one shown in this picture) unless you WANT a big mess and a pile of wasted citrus zest.

Instead, lay the zester on a dinner plate. All the zest will land in the plate, not on your countertop.

Kitchen Tip-O-Rama!!

Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer hosts Works-for-Me Wednesday, and this week there's a theme: Kitchen Organization.

How could I resist? As of this writing, 263 bloggers have contributed links to their posts with favorite kitchen tips.

I've already put one of them to good use and I'm sure to find others. It's worth a little time to check out these tried and true tips.

My name is Barb, and I'm a tip-o-holic. Just try and stop me.