How is Your Christmas Cooking or Baking Coming Along?
Marilyn Sue McClintock
6 years ago
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Comments (8)What a quinkydink that my daughter-in-law sent me these just a couple of days ago. I have only tried the "peeling a banana" one...it works. Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little 'stringy things' off of it. That's how the primates do it. Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster. Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold! Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking. Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking. To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up. Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set seat to med\-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works. Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out. To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2' with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid, mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever! Linda...See MoreHow Are You Coming Along with Your Thankgiving Preps?
Comments (14)Am trying something new with pumpkin pie this year. I have made the filling, brought it to a simmer on top of the stove for 5 minutes, and it is now in the saucepan, covered with a towel and then a lid to cool so that I can put it in the refrigerator overnight. I hope that this method takes away that sometimes raw pumpkin taste that pumpkin pies have (I hope y'all understand what I am saying). Early tomorrow morning will blind bake pie crust, then pour the filling in and bake in the toaster oven. This is also supposed to keep the filling from cracking. We'll see. Also have dressing/stuffing made just waiting for some stock to be added in the morning. I am going to cook in the crockpot. Have also decided to cook sweet potatoes in the crockpot. Turkeys are thawed. Tonight, still have to prepare cucumber salad and dough for hot rolls that will stay in fridge overnight. Hopefully, I will get the herbal iced tea made, also. Carrot cake is made. I was going to make a homemade cranberry mold, but after consultation with family, discovered that they would prefer the Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce, so that is what we will have. I am tired just reading this....See MoreWeek 128 - Christmas - is your kitchen set up for large scale cooking?
Comments (20)mgmum, your messaging is not enabled, so I'll post a link to my OneDrive Kitchen album (scroll down to skip my wandering explanation). It starts with the hand-drawn plan--I found GW before I knew how to upload pics or use a Paint program. I did a DIY mini-remodel using some cabinets from the old kitchen, some new cabinets, and some salvaged cabinets and other recycled/upcycled elements. If you click on each pic, then click on it again, the captions should appear. The whole mess is documented, so if you just want to see the final result, scroll to the end. I mentioned hosting big family dinners--the kitchen is set up specifically to facilitate feeding a crowd. I could have a better working layout, but I need the long counter with no appliances, and a direct path to the new dining room. The range used to be on that wall, and the burners would still be hot from cooking, when it was time to serve the buffet. Many times I've covered the still-warm burners with a noodle board, so no one would accidentally touch them. I moved the range across the room, in part to clear that wall, but also to vent it to the outside. My vented hood is one of my favorite parts of the new kitchen. So, we start in the LR, file past the buffet serving counters (counter on one side, island on the other), and walk directly into the new dining/flex room. I'll include the link for that album, too, although you can see it in the background of the kitchen pics. Scroll down for a pic of the table set for 20. We can seat 6 at the kitchen dining table (usually the teens/young adults), which is open to the kitchen on the other side, and four more at a drop leaf table, which we move from the new room to the LR, which is connected through another opening, so no one is isolated in another room. I live in an older home with a circular traffic pattern--I guess now it's more of a figure-8. Before adding the new room, we had to move chairs out of the LR, push everything else against the walls, and squeeze around each other to seat the whole family together. One Thanksgiving we seated 24 at tables in the LR, and I said, "Never again, unless we have a separate dining room!" I think I've posted the story before, but that year my FIL had a friend visiting from the UK, and they decided to come early and visit with my DH, which left me without my usual help, so I was really running behind schedule. Then my mother arrived with her friend, who became bored because the British friend was getting all the attention. Mother's friend decided that since I was alone in the kitchen, he should come in and sing to me--'Devil in Disguise', while I shooed him from one spot to another, as I needed to check the oven, open the fridge, grab something from a drawer, etc. My mother dragged him back to the LR, but as soon as her attention was again on the interesting British friend, 'Elvis' returned for an encore. As more family members arrived with their dishes, he decided that holding court in the kitchen suited him just fine. I was ready to wring his neck by the time I had the buffet laid out. Now, I can set up the tables the night before, place the serving pieces on the long buffet counter early in the day, have everyone seated comfortably in the LR before the meal, set the drinks up on the island at the last minute, give the signal for the blessing, and breathe a sigh of relief. Everything is arranged for point of use, and my relatives know where to find things without asking, so if I'm running behind, they can set up tables and chairs, set up the coffee maker, set the tables, etc. I have trained them well. ;) Kitchen album New addition/dining room/playroom...See MoreSo how is your puzzle coming along?
Comments (84)It's fine to resurrect an old thread. It's just a common way of spammers. And they'll post a vague comment then return under the 7 day window and edit the thread and add spam. (after 7 days, no edit allowed.) I check to see the poster's other activity, and if there is none, then I watch that post. Sometimes I'll see other posts, and can tell if the person is real or a spam bot. Just help out and flag the spam when you see it!...See More
Marilyn Sue McClintock
6 years ago
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
6 years agoI am just making sides for tomorrow so no need to prepare anything tonight. So we decided to just take it easy and order oriental food. They give you enough food for 2 meals. I am having orange jumbo shrimp with fried rice and egg rolls. I will be putting most in the fridge.
Marilyn Sue McClintock thanked ravencajun Zone 8b TX
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