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lanie
03-22-2001, 04:05 PM
I am well aware of the fact that 'we' all know most of these, however, I just had to post!

1. Stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of a sugar cone to prevent
ice cream drips.

2. Use a meat baster to "squeeze" your pancake batter onto the hot griddle
and you'll get perfectly shaped pancakes every time.

3. To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the
potatoes.

4. To prevent eggshells from cracking, add a pinch of salt to the water
before hard-boiling.

5. Run your hands under cold water before pressing Rice Krispies treats in
the pan and the marshmallow won't stick to your fingers.

6. To get the most juice out of fresh lemons, bring them to room temperature
and roll them under your palm against the kitchen counter before squeezing.

7. To easily remove burnt on food from your skillet, simply add a drop or
two of dish soap and enough water to cover bottom of pan, and bring to a
boil on stovetop.

8. Spray your Tupperware with nonstick cooking spray before pouring in
tomato based sauces and there won't be any stains.

9. When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking pan, use a bit of the
dry cake mix instead and there won't be any white mess on the outside of the
cake.

10. If you accidentally over salt a dish while it's still cooking, drop in a
peeled potato and it will absorb the excess salt for an instant "fix me up,"

11. Wrap celery in aluminum foil when putting in the refrigerator and it
will keep for weeks.

12. Brush some beaten egg white over piecrust before baking to yield a
beautiful glossy finish.

13. Place a slice of apple in hardened brown sugar to soften it.

14. When boiling corn on the cob, add a pinch of sugar to help bring out the
corn's natural sweetness.

15. To determine whether an egg is fresh, immerse it in a pan of cool,
salted water. If it sinks, it is fresh, but if it rises to the surface,
throw it away.

16. Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your
forehead. The throbbing will go away.

17. Don't throw out all that leftover wine. Freeze into ice cubes for future
use in casseroles and sauces.

18. If you have a problem opening jars: Try using latex dishwashing gloves.
They give a non-slip grip that makes opening jars easy.

19. Potatoes will take food stains off your fingers. Just slice and rub raw
potato on the stains and rinse with water.

20. To get rid of itch from mosquito bites, try applying soap on the area
and you will experience instant relief.

21. Ants, ants, ants everywhere. Well, they are said to never cross a chalk
line. So get your chalk out and draw a line on the floor or wherever ants
tend to march. See for yourself.

22. Use air freshener to clean mirrors. It does a good job and better still,
leaves a lovely smell to the shine.

23. When you get a splinter, reach for the scotch tape before resorting to
tweezers or a needle. Simply put the scotch tape over the splinter, and then
pull it off. Scotch tape removes most splinters painlessly and easily.

24. Now look what you can do with Alka Seltzer. Clean a toilet. Drop in two
Alka-Seltzer tablets, wait twenty minutes, brush and flush. The citric acid
and effervescent action clean vitreous China.

25. Clean a vase. To remove a stain from the bottom of a glass vase or
cruet, fill with water and drop in two Alka-Seltzer tablets.

26. Polish jewelry. Drop two Alka-Seltzer tablets into a glass of water and
immerse the jewelry for two minutes.

27. Clean a thermos bottle. Fill the bottle with water, drop in four
Alka-Seltzer tablets, and let soak for an hour (or longer, if necessary).

28. Unclog a drain. Clear the sink drain by dropping three Alka-Seltzer
tablets down the drain followed by a cup of Heinz White Vinegar, Wait a few
minutes, then run the hot water.

Anyone want to share more??????



[This message has been edited by lanie (edited 03-22-2001).]

Peeps
03-22-2001, 04:11 PM
These are great! I haven't heard of most of them. I have one to add that I thought everybody knew but when my friend saw me do it she was amazed:
After chopping garlic, to get the smell of your hands rub your fingers on stainless steel (spoon or if you're careful the flat side of a knife!) and it gets the smell right off. My favorite kitchen trick.

funnybone
03-22-2001, 05:38 PM
I'm impressed. I like #16. I will have to buy some limes tomorrow as hubby is coming back from a business trip and will be watching basketball all weekend - thus the headache!

Here's some I know of:

Lemon juice gets rid of garlic smells from your hand, and parsley does from your breath.

Coke will remove rust.

Missi
03-22-2001, 06:29 PM
Salt will remove most red wine stains if treated quick enough. Just rub dry salt on the stain.

makedah
03-22-2001, 07:16 PM
To get the smell of onions off the palms of your hands, rub salt into them and rinse.

Freeze celery leaves for later use in chicken broth.

A 'paste' of baking soda and water cleans up most cooked on greasy food stains on stovetops and in pans. Also cleans up the starchy gunk leftover when you boil pasta. This technique has cleaned my stove, pots and broiler pan better than any all-purpose cleanser.

LGBurns
03-22-2001, 07:29 PM
Anyone know how to get the onion smell out of my food processor bowl? I've tried baking soda and lemon. It helped a little but I can still smell the onion.

Gail
03-22-2001, 08:16 PM
Originally posted by funnybone:
... Lemon juice gets rid of garlic smells from your hand, and parsley does from your breath...


You mean people don't LIKE smelling like garlic?? Odd. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/tongue.gif

kwormann
03-23-2001, 04:14 AM
I received these recently as a forward from a friend with the tag line: Things inly Martha Stewart would know....I had to email her back with the list of thise I already knew and do! LOL

kim

kirkbyky
03-23-2001, 08:05 AM
Yikes!

"Coke will remove rust"

Kinda frightening to think we drink it too! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/tongue.gif

Peeps
03-26-2001, 11:49 PM
I just had to report that I tried #28 this weekend - alka seltzer to unclog a drain and it worked amazingly! My bathroom sink has been clogged for weeks and my landlord has been ignoring my pleas and after going through 3 bottles of Drano with no luck I read this post and decided to try to alka seltzer trick (I also tried baking soda and vinegar but I think its the same since alka seltzer has bicarbonate - baking soda - as its main ingredient). Anyway, my drain was cleared up immediately and I'm so happy! I can't believe this worked - never again will I buy a $5 bottle of Drano when I can just throw some alka seltzer and vinegar down the drain!

ErinM
10-10-2002, 12:19 AM
I know this is a very old thread, but I thought I'd give it a bump for all of the new people on the boards. I learned a lot from this...there were many that I was not aware of.

Enjoy all!

keg64
10-10-2002, 06:02 AM
My sister just happened to send me a similar list (from netcooks.com) that has some other tips:

Add 1/4 tsp. of baking powder per quart of potatoes while mashing them and they will be fluffy, smooth, and more tasty.

Adding lemon juice to gravy that is too greasy, will make the grease disappear and add flavor to your gravy. A small amount of baking soda will also work.

Do Not use Iodized Salt in making pickles, it causes them to become soft.

For a new taste in potato salad dressing, use onion soup mix instead of fresh onions or chives. Two Tablespoons are enough to season a family-sized salad. It's easy and saves the tears and fuss of chopping onions.

If the refrigerator is stale or full of bad odors, crumble up newspapers and fill the fridge. Let it run for a day or two. Remove the newspapers and discard them. You may need to repeat this procedure, but it does work very well. It also works on a stale cooler.

To remove paint from hands, use lard.

jpap
10-10-2002, 06:18 AM
#17 Leftover wine???:D :D

lsdesign
10-10-2002, 06:26 AM
Something tells me that the maker of Alka Seltzer is really going to increase sales if this gets around. It's kind of an expensive cleanser don't you think?

catharine
10-10-2002, 08:21 AM
I posted this on another thread and it seemed to be pretty popular. Care of FoodTV (Sara or Rachel), use a potato ricer to drain frozen chopped spinach. Once thawed, you can just throw small amounts of spinach into the potato ricer and squeeze out the water. This works great. Saves all those paper towels.

LauraBL
10-10-2002, 08:27 AM
That seems like justification enough to buy a ricer!

catharine
10-10-2002, 08:32 AM
See this thread for more about the potato ricer thing:
http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23997

1MegMeg
10-10-2002, 08:34 AM
These are all great tips, thank you! :)

Here's one: To remove blood stains, use hydrogen peroxide. It will soak it right up.