More Kitchen Hints

How Much Stuffing in a Turkey and How do I Prepare the Leftovers?
For every pound of turkey, you can usually get about half a cup of stuffing in it: do not pack tight. Half a cup of stuffing is about one (small) serving, usually enough when served with a large meal. All stuffing should be removed from the cavity of the turkey within 2 hours after carving. Store it separate from the meat, covered in the refrigerator. Warm in oven or microwave completely covered.

Turkey can be delicious, but leftover…not my favorite. You can eat leftover turkey cold, as on a sandwich (good idea) or one way to help it along and put a little moisture back in it is to place pieces in a pot and cover them (barely) with milk. Cook on low heat (don’t let milk scald or burn) until turkey is hot.

Whipping Cream and Beating Egg Whites
I have friends that add a pinch of salt to cream before whipping to get it to whip better and also to egg whites to get them to beat faster and higher. If I’m whipping cream ahead of time, am in a big hurry, or assume I will have leftovers, I add a little unflavored gelatin (maybe half a packet or ½ tsp to a pint of cream) while I’m beating the cream. This makes it whip quickly and keeps it from separating afterwards.

A Few Egg-celent Facts
Eggs rarely spoil (before they’re cooked), but they do lose their freshness. Yolks flatten, whites become thin, bacteria can multiply, and eventually eggs dry up. Keeping them in their original carton retains moisture, protects them, and keeps eggs from picking up odors and flavors from other food. Refrigeration slows the aging process of eggs way down. Cartons are stamped with a date which is a suggested “use by” date. Eggs can be used after this time but will have lost some of their freshness. Eggs that float when put in a pan of water are not as fresh as those that sink.

Putting lots of salt in the water before boiling eggs helps shell them perfectly every time. Placing a few drops of vinegar in the water before boiling eggs will keep the eggs from spilling out into the water if they crack.

Cook all eggs until whites are set and yolks thickened. Cook scrambled eggs on low to medium heat until completely set.

Eggs can be frozen! (But not in the shell) Beat egg yolks and white together before freezing, or freeze whites alone. If you drop a raw egg, pouring salt on it makes it easier to clean up.

Cooling Drinks Without Diluting Them
No room to put the perfectly diluted pitcher of punch in the frig? To cool it off without watering it down, place a sealed bag (tie or zip-lock) of ice cubes into the pitcher. Or you can use one of your therapeutic “ice packs” or “blue ice” blocks (that you use in your ice chest). You must know there are NO leaks. Wash the frozen block (or bag) with warm soapy water, rinse well and then place it in your pitcher of punch to chill it quickly and keep it full of flavor.

Preventing Boil Over
Placing a wooden spoon across the top of a pot when boiling water will separate the steam and keep it from boiling over. To keep potatoes or noodles from boiling over, rub butter on the rim of the pan.

Getting Some Good-for-you Food Into Kids
You’re not a real parent if you haven’t tried bribing your child to get them to eat some healthy food. And you don’t have a normal child if it works well! Instead you have to sneak it in on them like this: Slip shredded zucchini and finely chopped nuts into muffins, cookies, bread or cake. Puree tofu and veggies and add these to pasta sauces and soups. Be creative and come up with your own ideas. What they don’t know can help them!

How Long Can I Store Flour?
All-purpose flour can be stored at room temperature for up to 12 months, and longer than that in the refrigerator. As summer heat returns keep in mind that temperatures higher than a comfortable room temperature invite bugs and mold. You can store flour indefinitely in the freezer although it may dry out after long storage and baking quality diminish. All flour should be stored in an airtight container; whole grain flour will not keep as long as the bleached all-purpose type (but is better for you). If flour is stored in the refrigerator, the flour should be brought to room temperature before using.

Mind Your B and G’s (Beans and Grains)
Beans and grains are great items to store to give your family the nutrition it needs in case of emergency. A little advice to kill any insect larvae that may be present is to place them in a jar or zip-lock bag with the air squeezed out, and put this in the freezer for a few days (at below-zero temperature).

To help reduce gas when cooking beans, add a couple teaspoons of fennel to the water you soak the beans in, then prepare as usual. Fennel is part of the parsley family—a natural deodorizer. Fennel leaves and seeds are used in cooking and can be found in the spice section.

Individualize Your Leftovers
Do you freeze leftovers to use at another time? Sometimes freezing the entire leftover in one container, for instance after a party, is not the best thing for your family later. Divide things according to the amount you’ll use at one time. For individual later-on servings put spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce, or soup in an ice cube tray. After it freezes, pop the cubes into a bag and leave in the freezer. Then simply heat one or more cubes to use as a single meal, or to add to your favorite dish.

Stop Sticky Pasta
I’m sure you’ve noticed that pasta gets sticky when it cools down, so the trick is to keep it hot from boiling water until it hits your mouth. Some ideas include warming your colander before you drain the pasta, warm up the serving bowl before you fill it with pasta, use a warm spoon to dish it up, or mix pasta with hot spaghetti sauce before serving.

Easily Cooked Cereal
My favorite way to cook oatmeal (or any whole grain cereal) is the easy way. I measure the amount of cold water called for (or I adjust according to what I like) in a large glass measuring cup—large to avoid spill-overs—and then put the amount of cereal I want on top. Pop this in the microwave from 2 to 10 minutes (depending upon the kind of cereal): stir and enjoy. Raisins are great to add as a sweetener along with the cereal before cooking. The difference between this method and what the package usually directs is the difference between lumpy and not lumpy cereal! (My kids hate the lumps)

Using the Right Fat For High Heat
When sautéing or cooking at high heat, do not use a fat that burns easily such as butter, extra virgin olive oil or nut oils. Instead use most vegetable oils, corn oil, safflower oil, pure olive oil, or canola oil. For deep frying the best oils to use include safflower, soybean, canola and corn. Others begin smoking at much lower temperatures and will make your experience most unpleasant!

Prevent Splattering
Ever drip a drop of water into some hot oil? It splatters like crazy, so it makes sense that in order to prevent splattering when you fry foods, make sure the food is completely dry before carefully putting it into the hot oil. Frozen potatoes (such as hash browns, etc.) can be hard to deal with since they usually have moisture on them. In that case using a flat screen that lays over the top of the pan, for the purpose of reducing splatters can be very helpful, and usually inexpensive to purchase.

You Can Learn a lot From the Label
Reading the product label is the best way to find out more then what is advertised on the box. Ingredients are listed in order by the quantity actually used when making the product. The ingredients used the most are listed first. So for example, if you are looking for avocado dip you will want to see avocadoes listed in the first part of the ingredient list, not the last part. If you are looking to cut fat from your diet, forget words such as lite or fat-free which have a broad usage allowance. By reading the label, you can get a better idea of what the fat to calorie ratio is as well as other valuable nutritional information.