Unintentional Air Freshener

I got some fresh herbs from a friend this week, and decided to dry some of them.  I couldn't think of very many places that were high enough to be safely out of a toddler's reach, so I hung them from the knobs of my higher kitchen cabinets.

I don't imagine that I will ever combine these two herbs in a recipe, but as they dry we can smell them throughout the entire kitchen, and they smell SO good together!  We've got a couple bunches of mint, and one bunch of oregano.

It's organic, chemical-free air freshener 

that will end up re-purposed as tea and 

seasonings!  Two for the price of one, 

except that it was free!  (Thanks Amy!)

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Tired of Broken Jars

I make vegetable stock to use in our soups, and then I freeze it until I'm ready to use it.  I don't like to use Ziploc bags to freeze it in, because I always make a mess, so I experimented with quart jars.  I made sure it had cooled completely before I filled the jars, left the lids off until it was frozen solid, and I left plenty of space for the stock to expand, and still the jars kept breaking in the freezer!  I did a little research and discovered that I was not the only one to have this problem, so I thought a little harder and came up with a new solution.

I freeze the stock in a muffin pan.  I can control how much goes in each cup before I freeze it, and my quart jars don't break any more!  It's also a lot easier to get the stock out of the jar, and I don't have to use all of it if I don't need it.  This method also works well for my chicken and turkey soup bases and for the beef stock I make out of the leftover roast juices.

I think this would also work well for freezing leftover soups!  It would be frozen in nice little portions, simple and easy to warm up for one, two, or more people, and the smaller portions melt faster, too.  A good thing when it's lunchtime and your children are starving!

I only wish I'd thought of this sooner!

There are always lots of great ideas and recipes on Kitchen Tip Tuesdays at Tammysrecipes.com!

Baking Shortcut

I have a new favorite whole wheat bread recipe (Thanks, Angel!) that calls for orange juice.  The kids and I don't drink a lot of orange juice, and if I mix up a batch it tends to just sit in the fridge...forever!  So I saved myself some time and money, and froze the orange juice in ice cube trays.  I measured before I froze them, and the 1/4 cup I need for the recipe equals three cubes.  Now, when I make bread, I just thaw out three orange juice cubes and I'm ready to bake!

Tammy has some bread slicing tips on today's Kitchen Tips!

Handy Multi-use Cleaning Tool

I keep a handy, multi-use cleaning tool in my dish drainer -- an old toothbrush!  It has come in handy for cleaning those hard to reach places that I can't get as clean as I would like with a rag or scrub brush (like behind the faucet, or in the ridges of the fridge's water dispenser tray), and it's easy to clean when I'm done using it.  Sometimes soap and hot water is all it needs, but sometimes it gets a bleach bath just to be safe.  :)  I let it air-dry with the bristles up so it doesn't get gross.  

This week I discovered another use for it -- I squirted dish soap on it like I would toothpaste and scrubbed out all the little bits of turkey and herbs that were stuck on the inside of my baster.  :)

Have you discovered Kitchen Tip Tuesday at tammysrecipes.com yet?  Go visit!

Christmas Challenge - Part 16

16 - Nothing says Christmas like...kumquats!  Perhaps growing up in the southern hemisphere (where Christmas is in the summer) has twisted my thinking slightly, but I was elated to find kumquats at my commissary yesterday.  (Yes, elated!)  :)

Why has the Christmas season become synonymous with cookies and candy and every kind of sweet sugary treat?  This year, none of it appeals to me!  (I know what you are thinking, dear family and friends: who AM I and what I have I done with the REAL me!?!)  :)  My answer this week to the question of Christmas treats:  kumquats.

Kumquats are sweet and sour, convenient (you eat the peel), and bright and cheerful!  I filled up my grandma's antique juicer with them and use them as a centerpiece on the table.  In the past, I have filled a giant vase with red delicious apples, green Granny Smith apples, or a combination of the two, or a tall, narrow vase with cranberries.  Beautiful, convenient, healthy snacks...I mean centerpieces!

(Check out Kitchen Tip Tuesdays at tammysrecipes.com!)

Banana Surplus

Buying bananas is always an adventure for us.  We go through a lot of bananas in our family, and we all like to eat them when they have a little bit of a greenish tint to the peel.  What makes it interesting is that we only go grocery shopping once a week (at our military commissary, 40 minutes away).  Most of the time we get lucky, and we can get pounds and pounds of mostly-green bananas that will last almost a week, but occasionally we have to buy yellow ones.  (I know, horrible, isn't it?!?)  While I am grateful that we CAN buy bananas, no matter what stage of ripeness they have reached, those rapidly ripening yellow bananas often don't get eaten.  And I HATE throwing away food!

Freezing them whole didn't work, and I don't have a food dehydrator...yet.  So I cut them into slices, arrange them on a plate, and stick them in the freezer.  When they're frozen, I transfer them to a freezer bag (or container).  My favorite banana bread recipe calls for 3 mashed bananas, so I try to keep them three bananas to a bag.  The frozen slices thaw quickly when I'm ready to bake, and they work great for using in smoothies, too!

(Have you discovered Kitchen Tip Tuesdays hosted by TammysRecipes.com yet?!?  Go visit!)

Behind Cupboard Doors

I have these wonderful sturdy shelves in my cupboards, but they are SO deep that any food that I store on them gets lost in the back of the cupboard.  So I spent about $7 on 6 ice cube storage bins at Walmart, labeled them with masking tape and a Sharpie, and now I have customized, easy to use organizers for my canned goods.  I keep my sushi supplies, canned soups, and my "I-don't-feel-like-cooking" staples in them, and I can tell at a glance if I am running low on anything.  More importantly, I can get to them easily without re-arranging the entire shelf!  It may not be pretty :), but that's why we have cupboard doors!

(Have you discovered Kitchen Tip Tuesdays hosted by TammysRecipes.com yet?!?  Go visit!)