20 Easy Cooking Ideas And Tips To Save Money And Time!

Here are 20 easy cooking ideas and tips to help you get in and out of the kitchen faster and save time and money!

20 Helpful Cooking Ideas And Tips

Don’t throw away your orange peel. Using a sharp mini cookie cutter, make stars, trees, or stockings and use them to garnish your fruit platter. You can also make Candied Orange Peels.
You don’t always have to serve gingerbread with a sauce or whipped cream.Try a scoop of ice cream for a nice change.
To take a white or yellow cake from okay to great,try adding chopped dried fruit to the frosting like apricots, cherries, cranberries, pineapple etc.
If your white sugar is lumpy, place it in a plastic bag and roll with a rolling pin or a sturdy glass.
Leftover cornbread or cornbread muffins freeze well. Also the leftovers are great to crumble on top of chili or stew so save even the crumbs.

To serve leftover stew in a different way, spread it in a greased 9×13 pan or casserole dish and top with canned biscuits. Bake according to the directions for the biscuits on the can.
For leftover chili: Mix 1-2 small boxes of cornbread mix. Spread chili in a greased 9×13 pan or casserole dish and then pour cornbread batter on top. Once again, bake according to the directions on the cornbread box. You could also add a can of corn to the cornbread batter.
Stretch that leftover chili or Sloppy Joe mix by making nachos.
Next time you bake chicken,add ranch dressing or other spices to a box of cornmeal mix and coat the chicken in it by dipping the chicken in milk and then shaking it in the cornmeal mix. Bake as usual.
Don’t keep buttermilk on hand, but need it every once in a while? Buy powdered buttermilk. It works great and doesn’t go bad on you. You can usually find it in the baking section at your grocery store.
When you cook, determining when to add the salt to your food is important.
When making soups or stews, blend it in early.
Add it to meats just before taking them from the pan.
Add it to the water in which you are going to cook vegetables
Sprinkle in the pan when frying fish.

If your bread gets dried out, don’t toss it out. Spread it with some butter, sprinkle with garlic powder and Parmesan cheese and broil until brown. You could also spread it with butter, cinnamon and sugar and broil.
Never cover anything that is cooked in milk unless you want to spend hours cleaning your stove after it boils over.
Keep a measuring cup in each of your flour and sugar canisters. I almost never have to dirty a measuring cup anymore. I also use an ice cream scoop (It measures 1/4 of a cup) to measure liquids. The lever on it that you use to scrape out the ice cream works great for scraping out things like honey or syrup.
If your oatmeal cookies always turn out a little dry, add a ripe banana to it for extra flavor and moisture.
Leftover pineapple juice? Add some oil, soy sauce and garlic. Mix well. Marinate chicken for several hours. Bake chicken in marinade until juices run clear.

[dining]