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Post by partndn on Jan 15, 2016 0:05:44 GMT
I love this section! I just caught up on everybody's tip threads. Great things to use and remember for handy stuff. I've posted these in other forums, but a couple of my faves are: roll out biscuit dough and cut with pizza cutter. who cares if they're square? they fit most people's rectangle pans better, and there's never that poor little over-handled piece of dough that's left to be the ugly biscuit. every time I set a stick of butter to become room temp, I save the paper after using it. there will be a tad stuck to it. fold it, stick it in a cup in the freezer. whenever I need to grease a pan for cake, brownies, etc, I just grab one from the freezer, unfold and shmear. keep a spray bottle on the kitchen counter with water and a couple tsp bleach mixed in. great for sanitizing the counters. adding to dishwashing makes things easier too.
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Post by Ozarks Tom on Jan 15, 2016 2:30:47 GMT
We keep a spray bottle of vinegar on the counter instead of bleach. It disinfects also, but overspray doesn't affect other things on the counter like bleach can.
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Post by paisley on Jan 15, 2016 3:06:45 GMT
When you empty a pump bottle of like grand sanitizer
Clean it and refill it with dish det. Boy does that stop the waste.
Keep tub cleaner and sponge right next to your son shampoo.... hint hint ... saves your voice.
Keep a loaded gift card in your car.... with a Sharpe write used - void-spent. and also some special date.
Ok writing used... kinda works to discourages someone from stealing it... but only x out the date when you do use it.
Can't remember pins on cards.. using a Sharpie Write it in a code
Say the pin is 3515 What year were you 35....1970 What year were you 15....1950
So on the card 70+50= 120 It's mean less to others
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Post by themotherhen on Jan 16, 2016 2:29:45 GMT
If we get behind on dishes or have a big crowd I fill a pitcher with hot soapy water and add all silverware/utensils to it. Then I fill pots/pans with hot soapy water. Then I fill the sink with hot soapy water and plates, cups, bowls etc. by the time I do all that, the silverware is ready to wash easily, then the sink full of dishes, after that the pots and pans are a breeze. This is also how I teach my kids to wash dishes. I found that a process laid out prevented greasy pan oil from getting on my glasses :-)
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Post by tabitha on Jan 16, 2016 20:24:27 GMT
I don't like to do dishes after every meal. I keep a dishpan under the sink, take it to the table, stack the breakfast dishes in it and put it back under the sink. The kitchen looks tidy. At the end of day I do all the dishes. Of course this only works for folks with no dishwasher and not a big family anymore.
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Post by blackfeather on Jan 16, 2016 22:14:39 GMT
Thanks to Tom now I know how to make an attachment. When I worked in the bakery we had these neat bowl scrapers. When you had batter in a bowl, a spoon or even a spatula didn't clean the bowl out well. These scrapers worked really well. So you can make your own... Use lid from a cool whip container or other large plastic lid, cut out as shown in the picture and you'll have a really nice bowl scraping spatula. Attachment Deleted
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Post by paisley on Jan 16, 2016 22:49:05 GMT
When I make puddings and pastry cream I take a freeze zippy bag large enough for the amount And line a bowl or pitcher with it.
While warm I scoop or pour it into the bag.
Black feather scoop reminded me of this as it his scoop would really work better than small thing I use now.
No skin on the pudding/cream I can snip a corner and pipe it on a cake or tart or dessert cup. And it is sealed from odors messing with it.
For filling cakes I find it helpful to pipe from a bit inside to edge and work my way to the center.
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Post by blackfeather on Jan 19, 2016 17:08:37 GMT
To save on waxed paper, I save the bags that line the inside of a cereal box. I peel them apart into a sheet and use them for baking in non-heat applications. Like rolling dough between too sheets because it is sticky, or when I make stove top, no bake cookies I put the cookies on these type of bags to dry. Or to roll refrigerator cookie dough in or roll potato candy in. I wouldn't use them to line the bottoms of cake pans since they seem to be more like plastic than waxed paper and would fear they would more likely melt.
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Post by Tricky Grama on Jan 20, 2016 13:33:23 GMT
To save on waxed paper, I save the bags that line the inside of a cereal box. I peel them apart into a sheet and use them for baking in non-heat applications. Like rolling dough between too sheets because it is sticky, or when I make stove top, no bake cookies I put the cookies on these type of bags to dry. Or to roll refrigerator cookie dough in or roll potato candy in. I wouldn't use them to line the bottoms of cake pans since they seem to be more like plastic than waxed paper and would fear they would more likely melt. I use these bags for a lot of things, wrapping sandwiches, like baggies. Tom, the vinegar cleaner is good. For glass, mix 1 part @ vinegar, water, alcohol.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2016 15:46:53 GMT
I love using parchment paper for baking bread, cookies, biscuits. Never have to grease the pan!
A few years back, a friend gifted us with a couple of rolls of paper, about 28" x infinity. It's not newsprint, but regular white paper. Works just as well as parchment, but doesn't cost near as much. We also use this paper for freezer wrapping meats. First wrap the meat in plastic, then in the paper, double-layered.
Don't know where she got the paper, maybe the local printing company back in Ill-annoy. We've only just now started on the second roll, so it really is a LOT of paper!
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Post by Ozarks Tom on Jan 20, 2016 16:07:17 GMT
Not necessarily a kitchen tip, unless you have laminate flooring in your kitchen. The best hardwood floor cleaner is 1 part white vinegar to 5 parts water. Use a DAMP mop. It's the same formula you'll pay $6.95 a quart for at the store, but theirs has a scent added so you can't smell the vinegar.
I pried this info from a cleaner manufacturer when a customer needed to know what was in their bottle due to a child being allergic to nearly everything (she replaced all her carpet with laminate). They didn't want to give it up, so I told them "you can either tell me now, or tell the judge when her little boy turns blue and falls over". Theirs had lemon essence to mask the vinegar.
Laminate and pre-finished hardwoods already have the best finishes you can buy, so using Murphy's Oil or such is a waste.
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Post by TxGal on Jan 21, 2016 1:34:02 GMT
I use canning rings (to support the paper liners) on a baking sheet to bake large batches of muffins.
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Post by TxGal on Jan 21, 2016 1:39:20 GMT
Thanks to Tom now I know how to make an attachment. When I worked in the bakery we had these neat bowl scrapers. When you had batter in a bowl, a spoon or even a spatula didn't clean the bowl out well. These scrapers worked really well. So you can make your own... Use lid from a cool whip container or other large plastic lid, cut out as shown in the picture and you'll have a really nice bowl scraping spatula. View AttachmentI have two -no idea where they came from- that I can't function without. Love them. After using those a long handled rubber spatula is cumbersome and inadequate.
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Post by Ozarks Tom on Jun 11, 2016 23:31:43 GMT
Planting sweet taters today, and thought I'd post this for those who want to make sweet tater hashbrowns, or mashed sweet taters, but find the skins on stored potatoes are hard as leather. Drop them in boiling water for 3 minutes and they'll peel like regular potatoes.
We're still eating what we harvested last August. We store them in the garage in cardboard boxes, separating them, and putting a layer of newspaper between the layer. The only ones we've had go bad were those we scraped with the fork while harvesting.
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Post by hippygirl on Jul 30, 2016 14:09:32 GMT
OK, I'll add a couple of things here...
Homemade Clorox Cleanup...works JUST as well as store-bought and costs only pennies per quart.
Go and buy a bottle of the stuff, use it up, and save the bottle (the tubeless design to get the last drop out should win some sort of award IMO!).
Into that now-empty bottle, fill up to where the bottle begins to narrow with water, add 1/4 cup bleach, 1 tsp Dawn, and about 1/2 tsp of eucalyptus essential oil (not needed, but a STRONG-scented essential oil does help mask the bleach smell). SLOWLY top off with water until about an inch from the top, and recap. Shake well before each use.
Homemade Windex...I like my Windex (vinegar just doesn't work well for me for some reason).
Into a clean gallon milk jug, add 1/2 cup ammonia, 16oz of rubbing alcohol and top with water to a couple of inches or so from the top. To that, add 1 tsp Dawn. Shake well and top with water to below the cap...shake well. Using a Sharpie, label the jug.
To use, pour into a spray bottle. Shake well before each use.
Perpetual Buttermilk...if you use a lot of cultured buttermilk (biscuits, rolls, etc), always have some on hand. While it doesn't necessarily save money, it's nice to not have to run to the store at the last minute when you suddenly realize you're out.
Into a quart jar, add about a cup of cultured buttermilk, top with "regular" milk, stir WELL, put cheesecloth around neck of jar, and set on the counter for 24 hours (if your kitchen is very cool, it could take longer). When it becomes thick, stir well, cap, and refrigerate. When THAT jar gets low, pour about a cup of THAT into a clean jar and repeat...
Note...in my experience, this will eventually "peter out", so to speak, but I've kept it going for over a year at a time without having to start over with fresh-from-the-store buttermilk.
Also, as I use only "whole" buttermilk, I don't know if a reduced fat content like that of "low fat" buttermilk will effect it or not.
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