CHUsday and the Cooking is Easy

With Thanksgiving on the horizon, I know there’s lots of cooking going on out there this week.  In fact some of you have already cooked and eaten your holiday feasts.  But for those of us who still have cooking to do, I asked my Facebook Page friends to help today.  They came up with great tips for all of us.  And the more hands in the kitchen, the better, right? 

Patty: Got baked on, burned on gunk in a pot or dish? Fill with hot water.  Add a dryer sheet (used one will work) and soak for several hours. The “stuff” just floats off!

Cindy: When you line baking sheets with foil for easy clean up, don’t forget to spray the foil with Pam!

Also from Cindy:  I buy large packages of ground beef and brown it all at once. Then I freeze it by the lb (about 3 cups per lb) in ziploc bags. Just thaw in the microwave for fast, ready to use ground beef.

Karen: I bought some inexpensive measuring cups to use as scoops inside my cannisters of flour and sugar. It makes it so much easier to measure ingredients quickly and not have extra things to wash. I put the 1/2 cup in the flour and a 1/4 cup in the sugar.

Susan: When cooking almost anything, always add cold to hot. If you’re making soups or gravies, the temperature variations often cause separation of liquids, fats, and solids (flour, etc.). I’m from Louisiana, so I make gumbo, couvion, and all types of soups and stews. My grandmother always told me to boil the liquids, then add cooler to warmer, rather than the other way around. I just spoke with my mom, and she reminded me that one of the exceptions would be when making custard.

Also from Susan: Use a small ice cream scoop for cookie dough.

Joan: My mother-in-law gave me some decorative tins many years ago. I keep cinnamon in one and cocoa powder in the other. I also keep a tablespoon in my flour to measure for gravy.  It just stays there with the sifter. I keep a few pieces of rice or popcorn in my salt shakers to absorb any moisture.

Laura: When making a cake that you want to take out of the pan, put waxed paper inside the pan first, then spray with cooking oil. For round pans, I lay the pan on the waxed paper, trace it, then cut the pattern out so it fits in the pan. After baking, the cake pops right out, with no broken corners!

Thanks to everyone who helped this week.  Great ideas, and great cooks, I bet.  Next week a few tips from a published cookbook author and mystery writer, Mollie Cox Bryan.

CHUSDAY ALERT:  This is a perfect week to enter our November giveaway.  I bet you’ve looked up a new recipe in an old cookbook and used it for the holiday, right?   Just tell us what you tried, where you found it, and whether you liked it.  Giveaway rules here and the silly kitchen gadget this month is the Piggy Wiggy Little Egg Whisk.  Can you afford NOT to enter for a chance to win Piggy Wiggy?

Happy Thanksgiving and happy cooking to all!

2 Comments

  1. Lee Ann on November 22, 2011 at 9:39 am

    Fajita-Style Quesadillas (Better Homes and Gardns/Oct 2011/)
    It says just 43 cents per serving (gotta love that).
    I did add chicken to mine. Bought a percooked one at the store and shreaded half of it. I also added Pico de Gallo to mine as well. Served it with spanish rice. DH loved it, aked if this was the first time I had ever made quesadillas, I told him it was the first time I had made them for him 🙂

    Not enought room here to add the receipe so I will message the receipe to you at face book.

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