MAW's Mini-Tips

Hot Mashed Potatoes:

Instead of adding cold milk or cream to my potatoes when I am mashing them, I heat it first in the microwave. Doing that helps keep the potatoes hot until you are ready to serve.

"Instant" Oatmeal:

Want instant oatmeal that is much better and much better for you? I cook 8 portions of steelcut Irish Oatmeal in a large batch, pour it into an 8 inch square cakepan, cool and refrigerate until set. After it has set I cut through it to divide the portions but still leave it in the pan. Cover and refrigerate again. When you need one portion just remove it, chop it slightly in a bowl, add your sugar and cream or milk and microwave to desired temperature. In my microwave I set it for 1 minute, stir, then another 45 seconds and it is just right for me.

Cutting Onion w/o Tears:

Most people probably already know this, but if you refrigerate your onion before cutting it (make sure it gets good and cold) that it doesn't cause your eyes to tear up? I always try to put an onion in the fridge the day I'm planning to use it so that it is ready to cut by the time I'm ready to cook.

Chopping Hard-boiled eggs:

When making egg salad (or anything else that requires chopping hard-boiled eggs) I use a pastry blender. It does a wonderful job and if you like really finely diced chopped egg (and don't want to clean your food processor) you can have it in only a couple of minutes.

'Foolproof' Boil to Simmer:

My sister-in-law Kathy gave me this tip and it's probably one of my absolute favorites. It is a major help when cooking anything that requires bringing something to a boil, then reducing the temperature and simmering, for example rice. It comes in most handy with an electric cooktop.

Turn on 2 heating elements on your stovetop, one on high to bring the pot to a boil, the other one set at the temperature that will allow the contents of the pot to simmer. Once the rice (or whatever you are cooking) comes to a boil one the burner set on high move it over to the other burner where it can continue cooking on low and turn the other burner off. No more babysitting the pot to prevent boiling over while waiting for the burner temperature to cool down.

Egg Spill:

If you should happen to drop an egg on the counter or the floor pour a liberal amount of salt on it and wait 10-15 minutes before cleaning it up. The salt should help the raw egg to set up enough to make clean-up easier.

Measuring Sticky Ingredients:

When measuring out honey, molasses, or other sticky ingredients, you can make clean-up easier by first coating the inside of the measuring cup with margarine or cooking spray before measuring the ingredient.

Hard-boiled Eggs:

Crack-free boiled eggs: Place in a single layer in saucepan, cover with cold water and bring water to a boil. Immediately turn off heat (before eggs start banging together :->) and tightly cover saucepan. Let sit for 20-25 minutes in hot water. Drain water, rinse eggs with cold water and refrigerate until ready to use.

Storing Marshmallows:

We have a favorite jello recipe that calls for about a half bag of miniature marshmallows. Unfortunately, the other half of the bag always ended up being tossed. No matter how many times I vowed to use it, it was typically overlooked and ultimately became a solid sticky mass of unusable 'mallow. The last time I made the salad, I decided I would try freezing the remaining marshmallows. I mean, what the heck? It worked beautifully! Give it a try.

'Flouring' a Cake Pan:

I really dislike the white powder that ends up on the bottom of my cake layers after using flour to prepare the pan. Now, when I use a cake mix, I just save a bit of the dry mix to use in place of the flour and the problem is solved!

Soft Brown Sugar: Want to keep your brown sugar soft and fluffy? Try a brown sugar disk. Really inexpensive and they'll save you needing a jackhammer for excavating that open box of brown sugar.