Kitchen & Cooking Archives

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Cleaner Fruits and Vegetables

Fresh apples, oranges, and dragon fruit soaking in a large metal bowl inside a kitchen sink.

To clean more of the dirt, chemical residues, and waxes from all varieties of fruits and vegetables, use baking soda. Shake some onto wet produce, scrub, then rinse. Works better than water alone.

Keep Spices Fresh

Six glass spice jars with wooden lids sit in a wooden rack filled with various dried herbs.

Store spices at room temperature but away from the heat and steam of the stove. They will keep their flavor and potency longer.

When measuring sticky ingredients, such as peanut butter, honey, molasses, and syrup, lightly coat the inside of the measuring cup with cooking spray or cooking oil. The oil will allow the ingredients to slide out easily. Makes clean-up a snap!

Save Time In The Kitchen

Fresh mixed salad greens and radicchio leaves in a bright pink bowl on a white background.

While preparing a meal, keep a large bowl on the kitchen counter. Put all your scraps, peelings and other discards into it, thereby reducing trips to the garbage can or compost bin. Just empty it once when full.

Store Foods At The Right Temperatures

A refrigerator thermometer sits on a shelf surrounded by fresh apples and citrus fruit.

To ensure food safety, your refrigerator temperature should be 36-39 degrees Fahrenheit (approx. 4º C), and the freezer should be 0-6 degrees Fahrenheit (-18 to -14º C).

Grease-Free Cookies

Round brown cookies stacked on pieces of torn brown paper against a light wood background.

Place hot cookies on a brown paper bag. The paper will absorb the grease from the cookies.

Freshen The Fridge!

A half of a fresh orange showing juicy segments and a bright peel on a white background.

To eliminate stale refrigerator odors, cut an orange in half and scoop out the flesh (and eat it!). Fill the shell with baking soda and place it in a small bowl in the back of your fridge. The baking soda will absorb odors while the orange shell infuses the entire fridge with a clean, citrus scent.

Keep Apple Slices From Browning

Sliced red apples on a white plate next to a bowl of honey with a wooden dipper.

Cooks know lemon juice works well to keep apple slices from browning but did you know honey also does the job? Stir two tablespoons of natural, raw honey into one cup of water and soak your apple slices for 30 seconds. A compound in honey helps slow the oxidization process responsible for browning.

Let your pasta water serve double duty

Fresh garden vegetables and dry spaghetti noodles overflowing from a stainless steel cooking pot.

About five minutes before the pasta is done cooking, throw in chopped fresh or frozen vegetables and cook both for the remaining time. Drain together.

Preserving Bell Peppers

Whole green bell pepper and a sliced half showing the inner seeds and white pith.

When storing half a bell pepper in the refrigerator, don’t discard the fleshy bulb containing the seeds – it will help to keep the cut half fresher longer.