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It’s July and picnics and cookouts are in full
swing. Cooking and storing food are two of the things at the top of your
list. Here are a few tips for you to use:
If you have some tomato paste left over from your
favorite Italian pasta dish, put it in a glass jar and pour some
vegetable oil over the top. It will keep for weeks in your refrigerator
without molding. When you need to use the tomato paste, just pour the
oil off into another glass jar and use it for something else. The glass
jars store well in your refrigerator, as they take up less room than
square plastic containers. If you wash and use your glass jars, then
they don’t have to go to a landfill.
If you have to bake potatoes quickly, wrap them in
foil and place them on a rack in your pressure cooker. Add water up to
the rack and turn the heat on and your potatoes will be done in about 15
minutes.
Want good tasting hot dogs without firing up the
grill? Pour about two tablespoons of vegetable oil in the skillet of
your choice. Turn on medium heat and add the hot dogs. Brown them on
both sides. I split mine so that when they are placed on a bun, we can
put onions, relish, mustard, ketchup or cheese right into the hot dog.
It keeps the bun from getting soggy.
If you are making a recipe that calls for egg
whites, what do you do with the yolks? Separate the whites and yolks and
make your recipe. Put a pot of water on to boil and add the yolks when
the water is at a rolling boil. When they are hard boiled, remove from
the water with a slotted spoon. Put them in a bowl to cool. When almost
cool, smash them with a fork, add your favorite mayonnaise, salt,
pepper, chopped onions or relish and you have an already made sandwich
spread.
If you have some leftover pieces of steak from a
cookout, cut them into small pieces, wrap, and put them in the freezer.
Later, you can add them to spaghetti sauce or soup. You can probably
find a lot of uses for them. Use your imagination.
When you boil potatoes for potato salad, add a few
more to the pot. You can put them in the refrigerator and use them to
fry with peppers and/or onions. I put the green tails from our garden
onions in a plastic bag and put them in the freezer. I cut them up in
chili, soup, hamburgers and fried potatoes. They are also good ground up
on hot dogs and sandwiches. I don’t waste much at all.
So, there you are with a few food hints. Happy
cooking.
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