Skip to main content

5 Easy Cooking Tricks to Simplify Your Life


Want to make cooking easier and more enjoyable? Try these fun and surprising tricks I found in my foodie travels this week, from my two favorite new (and still under-the-radar!) sites.
1. YouTube it with experts.

Why cook and screw up when you can learn from the chefs themselves?  Newcomer ChefDay (A fun start-up that delivers pre-measured fresh ingredients you need to cook chef-designed recipes) features step-by-step tutorial videos with chefs walking you through the recipes.  (Stri-fried Green Bean Vermicelli or Parmesan Veal Milanese, anyone?) Most dishes take around 30 minutes total to prepare, and they’re sorted by level of difficulty to make things easier for even the most amateur chefs.

2. Get creative about salt substitutes.
I always thought the only swap for salt was, well, saltless salt. Until now. In talking with Sodium Girl Jessica Goldman Foung, my eyes were opened to a slew of awesome alternatives. Did you know that air chilled chickens make for great, low-sodium roasted meat? To brighten the flavors in salads, soups or roasted veggies, use a lemon or other citrus fruit. And when making pancakes, trade high-sodium milk for low-sodium coconut milk or even some Greek yogurt. Oh, and to serve with that brunch,how about salt-free Bloody Marys?
Photo courtesy of Jessica Goldman Foung of SodiumGirl.com
Photo courtesy of Jessica Goldman Foung of SodiumGirl.com
 3. No veggie peeler? No mallet? No problem!
Chef Jehangir Mehta shares on ChefDay, “If you don’t have a vegetable peeler, use the back of a spoon to peel root vegetables like ginger and turmeric.” And Chef Victor Laplaca advises, “if you don’t have a mallet  you can use the bottom of a pan to pound the veal. The large surface of the pan makes the process quicker than with a mallet. Place a plastic wrap on top of the veal before pounding.”
4. You can cry over spilled milk, but smile over re-used boiled water.
“Keep the nutrient filled water in which you cook asparagus in order to boil other veggies, noodles, or rice. It will save you the time of boiling another pot of water and your dish will be healthier and more flavorful,” suggests Chef Mehta.
5. Make the most of leftovers


Don’t stress yourself whipping up a new dish from scratch. Cooked grains can last in the fridge for up to a week, and who doesn’t have a few portions of rice from previous meals hanging around?  Sodium Girl offers  a variety of creative ways to turn that ubiquitous leftover into a meal. Some easy options: Toss it in some broth with tortilla strips, lime and avocado for a quick tortilla soup; stuff it in mushrooms with ground meat for an easy app; roll it in a lettuce wrap with whatever other produce is in your fridge for an easy-breezy spring roll

by Perri O. Blumberg
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hemophilia

Hemophilia Introduction: Hemophilia is an inherited disease in which your blood does not clot. People with hemophilia lack or have low levels of one of two blood-clotting substances, known as factor VIII and factor IX. As a result, they may bleed for a long time after an injury. They may also experience internal bleeding, especially in the joints. There are two types of hemophilia -- type A and type B. Hemophilia is the most common inherited bleeding disorder. About 17,000 people in the U.S. have the condition. The blood of someone with hemophilia will not clot normally. Bleeding may occur spontaneously or following   injury . Hemophiliaoccurs in 2 forms,  hemophilia A  and B. In both forms, a  gene  is defective. The defective gene interferes with the ability of the body to produce the clotting factors that allow for normal clotting. The result is a tendency for  abnormal , excessive bleeding. ·  Hemophilia A occurs in 1 in 10,000 people.  Hemophilia B  occurs in 1 in 40,
2 comments
Read more

Appetite Loss in Toddlers, Reasons and Solutions

Appetite Loss in Toddlers Feeding a toddler can be a challenge. Seemingly overnight, your good little eater turns into Mr. Picky. As you watch him push away foods that used to be favorites, turn up his nose at anything green and absolutely refuse to try anything new, you wonder if he can really survive on what seems like a handful of food each day. Most of the time, a decrease in appetite in toddlerhood is normal, but if your child is pale, lethargic or tired all the time, sees his doctor. Why Appetite Drops A toddler doesn't need to eat as much or as often as he did as an infant. His appetite drops because his growth rate slows. If he kept up the growth rate of the first year, when he tripled his weight and doubled his height, he'd be around 60 pounds and 5 feet tall at age 2. Since he'll grow just 3 inches and gain 3 to 5 pounds between the ages of 1 and 2, his appetite will decrease. To achieve this gain, he needs to consume between 1,000 to 1,400 calori
2 comments
Read more

Things Not To Say To Your Child

Things Not To Say To Your Child Parenting is no easy job. And the most important — yet difficult part of parenting is learning to talk to your child. Children take everything literally and the way you talk to them goes a long way in building their personality. As a parent, however, while in the middle of juggling tasks, you might end up reacting to your child, at times even speaking out unintentional words. Unfortunately, a child’s mind is not developed enough to understand that these were unintentional and as a result,  it cripples their little minds. And from all the experiences and research, one thing is clear — the only way we can avoid this from happening is, by carefully monitoring what we speak to and in front of our children. Which is easier said than done. But with a little bit of effort and strong will, we can make a better of us and minimize the mishaps. So here are the things that you should definitely refrain from saying to your child . 1. ‘You ar
Post a Comment
Read more