TIPS FROM PATRICIA'S KITCHEN

 I've been thinking about doing this post for several weeks. I've been hesitant because probably 90% of you who are reading it, already know and do the things I am sharing. So I guess I am writing it for the 10% who will find it helpful. Saying that I hope the 90% of you read the whole post and will even share in a comment below a good "tip" you have.

I don't consider myself an authority just experienced. I come from a family of very good cooks such as my mother,  grandmother and aunts. I can also add quite a few cousins, too.

The order in which I am listing these "tips" has no special meaning at all. 

1) You have to look closely in the lower left corner of the pan, but if you are making muffins and you don't have enough batter to fill all of the cups, pour a little water in the empty cups so the muffins will cook evenly. About 1/4 inch is fine.

Here is another picture that you might be able to see it better... I also spaced them evenly apart.

2) If you are freezing portions to cook later, place them on a cookie sheet and place in freezer to freeze. Once frozen, you can place them loosely in a container or freezer bag.

Make sure you label the bag or container  with cooking instructions so you don't have to hunt up the recipe when you get ready to bake them. 

3) If you find your brown sugar getting hard in the container where you store it, just drop a piece of bread in the container, seal it, and the bread will be hard and your brown sugar soft when you check it. I will be honest and say, I have never tested this to see how long it took the brown sugar to soften, but hopefully the next time you need some, it will be soft. I don't think it takes but a day or two.

4) I discovered this tip with my Instant Pot but then I tried it on my other stainless cookware and it worked great on it also. Need to clean your inner pot with your IP or just your stainless cookware? Just pour some vinegar in it and use a scratch-free pad to rub over the surface and it will come out looking as new as it did when you first pot it.

 

5) This is one I admit that I do not always do, but probably should as it is a really a good idea! I know it would be helpful for me when I sometimes do not read the recipe carefully and forget some ingredients. As you prepare the dish, you will be reading the recipe for the second time helping to catch any mistakes you might make.

6) When you are making a dish that spread a crumbly - type mixture on the bottom of the pan. Often the recipe will call for half of the mixture to be pressed in the bottom of the pan and then sprinkle the other half on the top of the finished dish. I finally discovered that if I use a fork to press the mixture in the bottom of the pan, it flattens better.

I also do not dump all of the mixture in the pan but leave some in the bowl to fill in the empty places.

It isn't easy to move the mixture after it is pressed so this makes it easy to fill in the corners and low places. Another discovery I made using a fork is, it is so easy to just turn the fork over and "scrape" it along the pressed mixture to help move a little to another place.

7) Rinsing your measuring cup with warm water will make "sticky" ingredients come out easier. Like molasses, corn syrup, or honey.

8) You have to look at the order of the words in the list of ingredients to know what is meant when measuring them. 

For example: 1 cup sifted flour or 1 cup flour, sifted.

The first one means to measure out an amount of flour (1 cup), sift it, and

then measure one cup to use.

What you have left, just return to your canister. 

The latter one means to measure 1 cup of flour and then sift if. I don't necessarily have pictures for this. 

It does make a difference in the amount of flour you will end up using it your recipe which can make a difference in the outcome of the dish. It also makes a difference how you measure your flour. You should spoon or use a small scoop to dip into the flour and lightly drop it in the measuring cup. DO NOT take the measuring cup and dip it in the canister and then level it off at the top. This will give you way more flour than the recipe calls for.  
 

9) I have to give my husband Wayne credit for this tip because I don't eat avocados. He buys them and they all ripen and he can't eat all of them. He discovered somewhere that he can peel, remove the pit, and then wrap each half in plastic wrap and freeze.

When he takes one half out of the freezer, it looks just like it did when he froze it.

10) When you are cutting your dessert into serving pieces and want to have nice clean edges, cut it into pieces using a plastic knife.

11) Don't have a cookbook rack for your kitchen? Easier than you might think.

12) I saved my favorite one for last. I don't know what I would do in my kitchen without my spatula. In fact I have three of them. I use it to scrape the sides of the bowl when I am mixing/beating ingredients often during the process. AND I use it in the end to make sure I get every little bit of the batter in the pan, etc. 

Here are some of my kitchen gadgets I use daily...

I hope you have enjoyed this post. I didn't include some I would have liked to have shared. Maybe another time.