Perfecting Homemade Search Results

How To: Cut a Perfect Bowl Full of Watermelon

Watermelons scream summer like no other fruit, and there's nothing like biting into a sweet one on a hot summer day. Although there's no exact right way to cut watermelon, there are many occasions when you might not want to cut it into wedges. It may be the classic cut, but the triangular shape insures that you'll always get some on your face. And for parties, there's always the messy problem of leftover rinds.

How To: Dehydrate Food Without a Dehydrator

I grew up in a rural town, and that meant that we dehydrated a lot of food. Even with a hungry family of five, there was no way that we could eat all of the season's tomatoes before they molded, or all of the orchard's apples before they grew soft, or all of the wild mushrooms that we picked. And so our dehydrator was always getting a good workout.

How To: Revolutionize Your Coffee Game with These Cold Brew Hacks

Summer is right around the corner, which means it's time to switch from perfect hot coffee to perfect cold coffee. A nice icy glass of cold coffee is wildly refreshing and just plain delicious. In my opinion, it's the key to enjoying any sunny day (warning: if you don't already drink cold coffee, you may find yourself drinking four or five glasses a day very quickly).

Coffee Mugs: They're Not Just for Coffee

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.

How To: Remove Old Food & Drink Stains with This Cheap, Easy Homemade Solution

I own two aprons—a cute one for company, and another for the hard-core cooking duties, like cutting up chicken and making stock. The sad truth is that I almost never remember to wear either of them. So, much of my clothing ends up spattered with grease, liquid, and bits of fruit and vegetable. While stain-removing sprays, sticks, and pens are all effective to a certain extent, they have two drawbacks—they're expensive and sometimes I need to use them in large quantity, like when a piece of eg...

How To: 10 Easy Tricks to Make Store-Bought Pasta Sauce Taste Homemade

There's nothing better than real, homemade tomato sauce, but to really develop the flavors, it usually has to simmer for a few hours. And while it's totally worth doing if you have the time, some nights it's just not an option. That's where the pre-made stuff comes in. Jarred pasta sauce certainly doesn't taste the same, but it's really easy to dress up when you need something quick. If you don't want anyone to know your "secret recipe," here are 10 ways to make store-bought spaghetti or mari...

How To: Make delicious barbecue sauce with ketchup and honey

Making your own barbecue sauce can be fun. It doesn't take long to prepare and each batch by adding different ingredients will have a different taste. The sauce made today is called #93 by Pit Master Matthew Whiteford. Put a large pan on the stove with no heat on. In the pan put 2 1/2 cups of ketchup. Add 1/2 cup of molasses, 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/4 cup of water, 1/4 cup of honey and a splash of whiskey. Now turn the heat on the stove to medium and add the rest of the ingredients: a ...

How To: Make a lemon cream squares with Sandra Lee

Sandra Lee from Every Day Homemade demonstrates making lemon cream squares. She starts with a whole stick of butter, softened to room temperature. Add a box of yellow cake mix to the butter, and also one egg. Mix the batter with a hand mixer. It will be very thick. Clean off the beaters with a spatula. Spray a baking dish with non stick spray. To save on cleaning time, the pan can also be lined with aluminum foil. Put the batter into the baking dish and spread it evenly. Then take two bricks ...

How To: Make a homemade designer-style handbag

First you must take inventory of all items in order to be able to create your bag. Make sure all labels are in the correct order. Lining should be ready before attempting to begin construction. The stay should be 10in long and 4in wide. Pocket the stays and glue the stays to the outside fabric. Use the notches to line everything up. Take the magnetic snap and attach it to the front and back. Take a knife and cut holes for the magnetic snap. The magnetic snap comes with a washer. Use cardboard...

How To: Make a baking soda volcano project

In this video, we learn how to make a homemade volcano. You will need: 6 cups of all purpose flour, 2 cups of salt, 4 tablespoons of cooking oil, an empty plastic soda bottle, dish washing liquid, food coloring (optional), vinegar, 2 tablespoons of baking soda, a cooking pan, a mixing bowl and spoon, 2 cups of warm water, plastic container. First, add 6 cups of water to large mixing bowl. Now, add 2 cups of salt, 2 cups of water and 4 tablespoons of cooking oil. Mix this together with your sp...

How To: Make a Thai curry chicken

Victory Chinese Cell of Tulsa learned how to make this Thai Curry Chicken in their Homemade Chinese Cooking Class. Start by cutting one green bell pepper into pieces around one square inch in size. Fish sauce, seasoning sauce, white sugar, and salt are also needed, in addition to fresh raw chicken. Preheat a large, deep sauce pan on the stove top with a vegetable oil coating. Then make sure the coconut milk and panang curry paste are open. Add about half the can of curry paste to the oil in t...

How To: Make cheesecake quick and easy

Here's a sumptuous way to do a homemade cheese cake. 1. Prepare the ingredients which are a ready pie crust, a brick of cream cheese, can of condensed milk, lemon juice, a bit of vanilla and a pie filling. 2. Open the cream cheese, place it in a bowl and slice it into chunks. 3. Then cream the cheese by using a mixer and dissolving the cheese into a batter mix. 4. Add the whole can of condensed milk, a 1/3 cup of lemon juice and a bit of vanilla and then blend everything in with the mixer. 5....

How To: Make traditional Southern banana pudding

In this segment of Fantastic Food, Scott Hargrove demonstrates making a traditional homemade southern banana pudding. If you are looking for pudding from a box, don't stop here! After pre-heating the oven to 425 degrees, he warms up a stainless steel pot. He adds tablespoons of butter, one cup of sugar, 1/3 cup of flour, and two egg yolks into the pan. After stirring those ingredients together, he adds two cups of whole milk and 1/8 teaspoon of salt. He starts whisking the ingredients togethe...

How To: Make strawberry pie

This instructional video demonstrates how to make a strawberry pie. She starts with a frozen pie shell. Let the pie crust thaw for about 10 minutes. To make it look homemade, pinch the fluted edges so they are not perfectly even. Next, poke holes all over the bottom and sides of the crust with a fork. Bake the plain pie crust in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes. To prepare the filling, put 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water into a pan on the stove, mix 2 tablespoons of cornstarch with a ...

How To: Make homemade meatloaf

If your mom didn’t make meatloaf as a kid then you can borrow this guy’s mom’s holiday meatloaf recipe. Meatloaf is easy to make and a great dish to serve to a large family. This tutorial will show you how you can work together in the kitchen to make a great meatloaf.

How To: Make the traditional arrowhead friendship bracelet

This video teaches you how to make an arrowhead friendship bracelet. The first step is to pick five colors of string. Then cut 2 pieces of string of each color. All 10 strings should be of the same length. Lay out strings adjacent to each other on the table in this color 1, color 2, color 3, color 4, color 5 and then repeat in the same order. Then knot the strings evenly. Now tape the knot onto a hard surface. Separate the strings into two sections, each section should contain 1 of each color...

How To: Make seltzer water

Sick of spending your hard earned money on the bourgeois bubbly water? Why spend extra money on bottled seltzer when you can make it at home? Plus, by using fewer plastic bottles, you can reduce your carbon footprint.