Keep bananas fresh longer

To keep bananas fresh longer cut off the tip of it instead of hanging them by it. The peel will still turn brown but the inside will stay fresh for twice as long.

Strawberries That Last Longer

After you have washed and capped fresh strawberries, put them in a colander and pour boiling water over them. By doing so, you kill the bacteria that makes them get moldy & mushy. Afterwards, refrigerate as you normally would, and the berries should last a lot longer.

Virtuous Vinegar

1 Tbls salt dissolved in 1 Tbls vinegar is a gentle abrasive that magically removes tea or coffee stains from china and glass cookware.

Oily cooking scents?

When you have finished frying foods, and that oily smell surrounds you, pour off the excess fats, add enough vinegar to cover the bottom of the pot/pan and simmer for 20 minutes. This liquid will loosen the baked on grime and the fumes will neutralize the oily smells.

Helping Toddlers Learn Shapes

To make eating more fun, cut your children´s food into different shapes. Cut scrambled eggs into triangles, or sandwiches and fruit into circles or squares. Don´t limit yourself to simple shapes, but use your imagination and create different designs. You might enjoy having a theme for a day. Serve round foods like crackers, cookies, or tortillas for a snack. Mention that all of the snacks are round. Do the same with foods of other shapes or use pasta that comes in shapes, including letters and numbers.

Great Grapes

Do not wash grapes until just before serving to prevent premature brown spots and spoilage.

Soft, Chewy Cookies

If homemade cookies have dried out and gotten hard, soften them by placing a slice of bread in the cookie jar overnight. The cookies will absorb moisture from the bread and will be soft and chewy again.

Keep onions longer

When you are only using half an onion make sure to save the half with the root. It will stay fresh longer.

Cast Iron

Never wash your cast iron cookware in soapy water. Scour with steel wool, rinse and re-season with oil or shortening.

Baby Food from Scratch

Want to make your own baby food? Mash leftover vegetables (no additives like salt ,pepper, butter etc.) Fill ice cube trays with the results. When frozen, pop out, bag the cubes, label with date, use each as a single serving.

Citrus Scents

Leave lemons and limes in the fruit bowl rather than refrigerator. They act as air fresheners.

Stained Plastic Containers?

Spray your tupperware with non-stick cooking spray before pouring in tomato-based sauces~no more stains!

Dark/Non-Stick and Glass Pans

Dark nonstick or glass baking pans readily absorb heat and are best used with the baking temperature reduced by 25°.

Virtuous Vinegar

De-glaze the frying pan after pouring off the excess fats and oils by simmering 1/4 " of water and 1/2 cup vinegar. You will notice a remarkable reduction in the lingering oily smells.

Virtuous Vinegar

By simply adding a few drops of vinegar to the water when boiling cabbage , brussels sprouts or broccoli you will allow all other delicious cooking aromas to share the air.

Low Fat Baking

Substitute half applesauce for the vegetable oil in your baking recipes~you´ll greatly reduce the fat content! (Example: 1/2 cup vegetable oil=1/4 cup applesauce + 1/4 cup oil)

Pizza Cutter

Pizza cutters can be a wonderful kitchen tool for more than just pizza. Use them to take the crust off of kids´ sandwiches, cut sandwiches into manageable quarters, cut up pancakes, etc. The wheel-shaped slicers is quicker and easier to use than the more time consuming knife.

Are Your Eggs Fresh?

Fresh eggs have a rough and chalky shell. They will sink and stay horizontal on the bottom of a glass of water. Old eggs, on the other hand, are smooth and shiny. They will float in a glass of water.

Look-a-like Cups?

Party time or just lots of kids visiting? Don´t mix up look alike cups. Use masking tape and marker to label each with the owner´s name.

Virtuous Vinegar

Keep the coffee pot dripping as fast as possible. Once a month , fill with 1/2 and 1/2 water and vinegar , ( remove the "gold" filter ) and run through the cycle. Follow directly with a second pot of clear water.

Baby freezees

Baby´s first freezie? Cut it in half across the middle before serving.

Quick and Easy

Quick fixes for a botched recipe: If you over-salt a dish while it´s cooking, drop in a peeled and cut raw potato, as it will absorb the excess salt (remove potato before serving). If you have over-sweetened a dish add salt.

Frozen goodies

If you plan on freezing lots of small items like blueberries, strawberries, or meatballs, place in a single layer on a cookie sheet and place in the freezer for about 1/2 an hour. Afterwards, bag them. Now they will stay individual rather than a block and make using and measuring much easier.

Freezer packs

Store your packaged juice containers in the freezer. Not only do the kids not raid them as often, but they make great freezer packs in coolers and lunch bags.

Virtuous Vinegar

For those perfect poached eggs on Sunday mornings , add a tablespoon of vinegar to the water to speed set the egg whites.

Preventing Cross-Contamination

To reduce the risk of cross-contamination in your kitchen, have multiple cutting boards. Designate one only for meat, one only for produce, and one only for poultry.

Chocolate

Keep the stash of chocolate in the freezer. It will take a while for the kids to find it and it will not melt as quickly on their hands.

Quick and Easy

For speedy cut-up veggies, raid the supermarket salad bar

Low-fat

Replace one-quarter to one-half ground meat or poultry with cooked brown rice, bulgur, cous cous or mashed beans, in casseroles and meat sauces.

Crusts

Save the crusts when preparing sandwiches to make your own croutons. Fry or bake in butter and spices of your choosing.

Onion Smell on Your Hands?

Rubbing your hands over a stainless steel object will remove the onion smell from your skin.

Virtuous Vinegar

Freshen up those lunch boxes by leaving a vinegar moistened piece of bread inside the closed container overnight.

Out, darned spot

To prevent tomato sauce from staining plastic bowls and containers, spray a thin coating of cooking oil on the surface before serving

Too Hot to Cook

Too hot to cook? If you must use the oven, prepare the item(s) in the morning and reheat in the microwave.

Low-fat

These items are always good to have for quick dishes:
crockpot for stews, soups, and casseroles

wok for quick stir-frys

hand or electronic chopper to cut up vegetables quickly.

Pancake Batter

Use a meat baster to "squeeze" your pancake batter onto the hot griddle~perfect shaped pancakes every time!

Sugar Bowl

Keep a marble in the sugar bowl to prevent clumping

Stuff those crusts

Making dozens of sandwiches for a picnic or party? Save the crusts. Dry them out overnight. Bag them and freeze them to stuff the next turkey or chicken.

Keeping Pineapple Fresh

If pineapple is not being served immediately, then the fruit should be cut from the shell (preserving as much juice as possible), and refrigerated in an airtight container. Use within one week.

Composte Gourmet

Feed the composter with any leftover water used to boil vegetables.

Quick Meal Resources

Some of your best meal resources are on the labels of soup cans, and on the back of boxes. Try some of their time-saving techniques.

No crumbs? No panic

Try substituting your children´s favorite cereal as the basis for needed breadcrumbs that may be in short supply. Unsweetened whole grain oats, rice and corn cereals work best.

No breadcrumbs?

Bulk up your bread crumb measure by adding parmesan cheese. Add a little garlic powder, basil and oregano for instant Italian twist.

Avocados

To prevent browning of prepared avocados, brush lightly with lemon juice.

Quick and Easy

The easiest way to peel, then chop or slice an onion is first to cut off a thin slice from the top and bottom. Then halve it lengthwise. The peel from each half comes off easily. With the flat side of the onion half on a cutting board, chop or slice as required.

Bananas Mushy? Make a Milkshake

When a banana is starting to get soft, you could make banana nut bread. Or, for a great summertime treat that doesn´t involve turning on the oven, you could make a milkshake! Peel the banana and place it in a sealable plastic bag, then stick it in the freezer. When it is frozen, put it in the blender with a little bit of milk, some vanilla extract, and a touch of sugar for a frosty treat. Yummy, and frugal too!

Low-fat

For each whole egg, use two egg whites

Low-fat

Substitute Nestle Carnation Evaporated Fat Free Milk for heavy cream in sauce and soup recipes

No more breadcrumbs?

The cupboard was bare. You need breadcrumbs, now. Plug in the toaster and toast those crusts no one eats, anyway. Place in a bag and roll into crumbs.

Recipe reviews

Always follow a new recipe, exactly, the first time. Before you put away the cookbook or paper, add your written comments, right on the page. e.g. "Bland. Try doubling garlic".

Crusts

Cut off crusts before you put anything on the sandwich and dry out on the counter. Bag and roll for your own bread crumbs.

Baby bottles

Most bottle nipples and rings fit directly on the baby food jars of juice. Try it and save washing out the deep bottles. This juice is already diluted. Do not try warming the container in the microwave.

Ever smelled Rotten Eggs?

Always open each egg seperately and into a small bowl or container before adding to a recipe mix. If it is rotten (smells like sulfur) you won´t waste all the other ingredients already in the bowl.

Quick and Easy

When broiling, line bottom of pan with foil to make clean up easier.

Excess Peanut Butter?

To dispose of the vast quantities of inferior peanut butter collecting in the pantry; having our children´s friends over for any mealtime, breakfast, lunch or dinner, a
socially acceptable method. Offering a simple menu of pb and jam or banana sandwiches is a great idea, any season.

Portion Control for Picky Eaters

Remember to offer child-size servings. Adult portions can be overwhelming and turn off youngsters. Serve one-fourth to one-third of the adult portion to your child. Also, serve less than you think your children will eat and let them ask for more if they´re still hungry.

Brown Bananas?

Use overly ripe bananas in any muffin mix. My children´s favorite this year is Oatmeal muffins with banana and butterscotch chips.

Storing tomatoes

Do not refrigerate tomatoes as they ripen faster in the cold.

Cookie Crumbs

Keep broken cookies in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. Combine and use with graham crumbs for your next recipe.

Preserving Non-Stick Pans

Put potholders or soft hot pads between pans when stacking them to avoid scratching the nonstick surface.

First Solids for Baby

Here´s a tip I wish I´d had before my son started on solids: When baby is getting ready to go to solid foods, begin with veggies. Once we taste fruits, we seem to develop that good old sweet tooth and there´s no going back!