Poke an egg with a small sewing needle before hard boiling and you’ll have an EASY peel!


Lighten pancakes by substituting ricotta cheese for the recipe’s milk.


Ice cubes made from the beverage you are drinking won’t dilute the drink.


Add a teaspoon of lemon juice to the cooking water for whiter, fluffier rice.



Store brown sugar in the freezer to prevent hardening. To soften hardened brown sugar, pop it in the fridge for a few days.



Drop a lemon into hot water for several minutes before squeezing to double the yield of lemon juice. To “rejuice” a dried, hardened skin lemon, microwave it on high for 5 sec. It’ll become as juicy as the day you brought it home from the store.

Correct oversalted soup by dropping large slices of potato into the soup pot and boiling for a short time. Then remove all of the potato, which will have absorbed most of the salt.

Glasses that are stuck together can be separated without breaking by putting cold water in the top glass and setting the bottom glass in warm water.


Soak wooden skewers in water for twenty minutes before threading with food to prevent burning and food sticking to the skewers.




Sterilize sponges and rags in your microwave. They're horrid for cooking, but GREAT for sterilizing. A University of Florida team found that putting your wet sponge in the microwave for two minutes at full power could kill 99 percent of a wide range of bacteria, viruses and parasites (including B. cereus spores after four minutes, which are normally able to survive extreme heat and radiation).

Keep in mind, however, that you MUST SOAK THE SPONGE BEFORE MICROWAVING IT, or else it will likely catch fire and possibly ruin the microwave, if not your house. Additionally, the way this works is by causing the water in the sponge to turn to hot steam, which is what kills the bacteria. Also make sure the sponges do not contain any metallic components.

Zapping your sponges in the microwave every other day will decontaminate them better than simply putting them in the dishwasher, which is the strategy we had been using previously.

We don’t have to tell you how much easier life in the kitchen is with a crockpot. Try this recipe on a day you know you’ll be super busy and the weather hasn’t gotten too hot yet:

Put-Your-Feet-Up Stew

Layer the following ingredients into your crock pot:

3 medium-sized peeled potatoes, cut into bite-sized cubes
1 sliced beef sausage or kielbasa
2 (14½ oz) cans cut green beans, drained
1 small onion, chopped
2 (10 oz) cans cream of mushroom soup
1 C shredded Cheddar cheese

Cook on low for 4 to 10 hours. Serve with salad and warmed rolls or flour tortillas. Feeds a hungry family of four.