Kitchen Hacks Part I

It’s Monday! Even though Mondays can get people down, stay positive as much as you can! So I’ve decided to alternate doing recipes and fun kitchen hacks every week; this way the blog posts aren’t always the same format. So today will be the first Kitchen Hack post! I hope this series of posts benefit you! ^_^

1.     If you have lingering food stains on your hands (ie. red beets), rub a bit of whitening toothpaste with peroxide on the stains, and rise clean with hot, soapy water. If you want to avoid the stains altogether, put a bit of vegetable oil on the hand handling the staining food.

2.     If there’s a strong smell lingering on your hands (ie. from garlic, onions, fish), rub your hands with a few tablespoons of mouthwash and lemon juice.

3.     Have a kitchen that stinks after cooking strong-smelling foods? Simmer 2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon in 2 cups of water until the bad odor is replaced with the cinnamon smell!

4.     To make sure your kitchen sponges air-dry fully (which they can’t do well lying face-down), create a stand for the sponge by taking a large binder clip, clipping it to the short-end of the sponge, and bring the arms of the clip up and around to the sides of the sponge.

5.     If you want to clean off tough, baked-on good on glass baking dishes, try dishwasher fluid and a crumpled aluminum foil ball!

6.     To ensure you always have clean tools at the ready, even if you’ve used the one you need and it’s dirty, keep a cup of hot, soapy water by your workbench. This way you can put the used utensils in the cup, and if you need to use them again, take them out of the cup and rinse lightly with water, and you’re all set!

7.     If you don’t want to clean your kitchen surfaces with chemical-filled cleaners, fill a spray bottle with equal parts white vinegar and water and use that instead!

8.     To safely remove vacuum-sealed foods from their packaging, cut a large X in the plastic, pull the corners away from the center of the X, and remove the food inside.

9.     No matter what, even if you try to cook it separately for longer, do NOT reuse marinade that’s been with raw meat. If you want to use the same sauce, just save some on the side before you marinade the meat.

10.  If you don’t enjoy scraping burnt muffin remains of the pan, wrap the entire muffin tray in aluminum foil, cutting holes where the muffin indents are. Put paper or foil liners in the indents, and bake away!