How To: Our 5 Favorite Olive Oil Food Hacks
Other than salt, there's no ingredient that's as big a kitchen staple as olive oil. And just like salt, there are a million little known uses for it.
Other than salt, there's no ingredient that's as big a kitchen staple as olive oil. And just like salt, there are a million little known uses for it.
In my family, if a food could be made instead of bought, it was made. It wasn't until I went to college and started eating dorm food that I tasted the store-bought versions of many kitchen staples. I quickly learned that there is an enormous quality difference between homemade dressing and the kind that comes in a bottle at the supermarket.
We're all familiar with the sinking feeling that happens when you cruise through a recipe, only to arrive at an instruction that calls for a tool you don't have. Some of the best food hacks (and my personal favorites) exist to combat that problem. Why spend money on a kitchen tool—or worse, avoid a recipe altogether—when you could find a new way to achieve the same result?
I have a thing for citrus in any form. If I can't get a hold of oranges or clementines, I've been known to slice up lemons and limes and eat them straight with a little bit of salt—terrible for the tooth enamel, but amazing for the tongue.
Every year, when summer rolls around, I get excited because it's grilling season. And every year, when summer comes to a close, I get sad because grilling season is ending.
When I was in college, I invited a girl over for a date. It was a glorious spring day, and I thought it would be the perfect time to fire up the unused barbecue that had been sitting on my patio all school year. I prepped all the food, chilled all the beer, and then I realized I had no way of lighting the coals for the barbecue.
You can make a pretty strong case for pancakes being the ultimate breakfast food. They taste like a treat for a special occasion, yet they're not bad for you (presuming you don't share my whipped cream and maple syrup habits). They can be customized and accessorized, and they cook up in just a few minutes.
Eating flowers is a time-honored culinary tradition, from nibbling on nasturtiums to grazing on candied violets. And why not? They look beautiful and lend a unique floral flavors to salads, desserts, and anything in between.
Perhaps the best part about Easter is the fact that, even after the day is over, there's usually still a lot of candy left. Jelly beans, gummy bears, Cadbury eggs, peanut butter cups, marshmallow peeps — there's no end to the sugary goodness in your awesome Easter basket. Yet as much as I love stuffing my face with brightly colored candies, it's easy to get sick of them halfway through the basket.
These cake eggs are a gorgeous treat that also makes a delicious April Fool's Day prank. Getting a fairly humdrum breakfast of boiled eggs and fruit and discovering that it's cake instead is an eggcellent surprise, isn't it? If you want to make these for Easter instead, then they're an Instagram-worthy dessert to grace your brunch spread. This might be the only dessert that is appropriate for both April Fool's Day and Easter.
Greasy fast food. Snacks. Candy. Empty stomachs. What do these all have in common? They're all things that people commonly have for lunch during the week, because it beats the hassle of having to plan, make, and pack lunches before their workday.
Hops have always been known as the driving force behind beer, but now they're starting to grow their own culinary wings. Slowly but surely, this bizarre and bitter plant is showing up on more and more menus across the country as it catches on as a trendy and up-and-coming ingredient. What Are Hops?
Tater tots have a bad rap as a soggy cafeteria staple, but bake them at home and they crisp up nicely in the oven. Drain any unwanted oil from them on paper towels and they become perfectly crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.
A salad can mean everything from fruit to meat and everything in-between, but it never means finger food. Forks are required. So that means that even though salads are versatile, delicious, and customizable, they are hell at cocktail parties. How do you hold your glass and take a bite of your salad at the same time? It's awkward.
Planning a Super Bowl party, or any football-themed party for that matter, can be fun for even the most craft-adverse host, as almost anything brown can turn into a football with just a little decoration. With a little planning, you won't be serving up any Pinterest fails this Sunday night.
Potatoes are one of cheapest, most nutritious whole foods that you can make and eat. Is it any wonder you can find budget-friendly, low-fat potatoes in every cuisine in the world?
The next time you finish that last pickle spear, don't pour the leftover green juice down the drain. You can use your leftover pickle juice in cooking, in cocktails, and as a post-workout performance shot.
Even though we love taco salads and bread bowl soups, edible bowls and dishes have now gone far beyond those oldies-but-goodies. Using food as serving dishes helps with cleanup, reduces food waste, and makes your spread more creative and interesting.
While it's true that the once ubiquitous cupcake no longer strides the culinary landscape like a mighty colossus, it is still a force to be reckoned with, especially when certain holidays roll around, like Halloween.
Coffee mugs: nothing proliferates more quickly in my kitchen cabinets. People are always handing them out as gifts or as swag, plus I always seem to find a vintage model or two at a garage sale that I'm compelled to buy. I used to do a yearly purge of my excess muggage, but it turns out it's a good idea to hold on to one or two extras.
Having someone send you flowers will almost always lift your spirits. Wilting, dying flowers, on the other hand, aren't so great to look at and smell even worse. While there are time-honored tricks to keep flowers alive longer (change the water regularly, put a penny in the bottom of the vase, and cut stems diagonally are three that come to mind), it turns out that a few items in your kitchen are pretty useful at making sure those blooms stay perky.
How to Get Your Edges Back w/ Cayenne Pepper & Tropical Isle Black Jamican Castro Oil.
Ginger root is one of the most underappreciated and versatile spices around. It's simultaneously hot, sweet, and piquant. It's also a pain in the tush to peel, thanks to its thin, fragile skin and the thick, knotty rhizome that contains all the flavor.
The paper towel is a wondrous invention. It allows cooks to wipe up really gross stuff without having to constantly do laundry and drain fried foods so they're crunchy and crispy instead of oily and heavy. But did you know that your humble paper towel has several other uses besides the obvious ones? Read on to find out these essential hacks.
Check it out: you save more dough (ba dum bump) when you order a large pizza than with any other size. Why is this true? NPR reporter Quoctrung Bui's engineer friend pointed out that a medium pizza was twice as big as a small one, yet only cost slightly more.
This video talks about how one can create a burger from a simple play doh set. This video is for kids and for everyone who loves playing with playdoh.
This how to will teach kids and their moms how to make a pizza from playdough. Playdough helps kids in developing gross motor skills, finger strength and dexterity. So, lets get started-
It's that time of year where you need to break out the grill and cook food over red-hot coals, whether it's the beginning, middle, or end of summer. Even if you're not a grill master extraordinaire, you can use these hacks to fool your friends and family into thinking that you're a barbecuing badass.
Nom Nom Nom Pizza! Video: .
If you have a good food processor or blender, there's no reason not to make your own nut butters, whether you like almond, cashew, sunflower, or the perennial classic, peanut.
Whether you paid a few hundred bucks at the salon or just used the drugstore boxed stuff, it sucks when your hair color doesn't turn out the way you want. You can lighten the overall color with vitamin C, but if you're specifically looking to remove brassy tones from blonde hair, there's a better way to go.
Baked goods are always a popular gift during the holidays. Whether you love to bake or just don't know what else to give someone, homemade goodies are almost always well-received.
It's known that during the Thirty Years' War that took place in Europe between 1618 and 1648, soldiers used Swedish fire torches (also called Canadian candles) for heating, lighting, and cooking meals.
Here's a great excuse to play with your food—and learn some math while you're at it. We've all seen a hexaflexagon folded out of paper, but how about a burrito? Vi Hart, a "mathmusician" over at the Khan Academy, came up with the Flex Mex, a burrito folded into a hexaflexagon with all the toppings inside. The spreadable ingredients (guacamole, sour cream and salsa) go inside the folds, then it's topped with beans and cheese.
Gardening school is in session and Shirley is teaching the absolute basics, such as: what to wear, what tools to use, what is the difference between an annual, perennial, and biennial? What is a garden zone, and which one is yours? Class is in session, so spit out your gum and listen up. Time to learn Gardening 101.
Don't be intimidated about plant nutrition and how to read those mysterious numbers on fertilizer labels! Watch this funny and memorable video that breaks down the basics of fertilizing and shows you how to feed your plants.
Video: . This map requires the 12w37a snapshot or better, and you must turn on command blocks to use it.
Learn how to use a portable dry-pack food canner for food storage. Learn how to use the portable canner to dry-pack long term food storage in #10 cans. This video will demonstrate how to set up the canner and seal the can, and also gives you some information on the amount of long-term food supply recommended for one person.
Carolyn Haynie has been a cat groomer for over 40 years. Carolyn is going to talk about in this series of videos how to feed your kitten healthy food.
Don't you hate when you reheat your food and it is still cold in the middle? Watch this how to video and let the Rookie Cook show you some easy ways to reheat food. Reheat your food and find the perfect temperature.