The recipes posted here are very simple, with no hard & fast rule, as I love to cook a variety but with ease. My dishes are such that it is nutritious & easy to cook. Of course one can always change the ingredients according to one's taste & availability. Do let me know which type of recipes are preferred, or in case you've any queries too. Feel free to comment.
I saw this post and wanted to share with all my viewers to benefit from her tips.
1.Use Jell-O vanilla pudding
mix in place of half of the sugar when baking cookies. It keeps them
super soft for days and gives them a cake-like interior.
2.Put some mustard in mac 'n'
cheese (even the boxed stuff). The flavor isn't noticeable, but it adds
delicious depth of flavor. You can use Dijon, whole grain mustard, or
even mustard powder. It all results in delicious mac 'n' cheese.
3.Cook just about any frozen food
in the air fryer to crispy, take-out quality perfection. (I'm looking
at you: Trader Joe's mandarin orange chicken). Oh, and it's great for
crisping up any leftovers, too.
4.Microwave lemons to get more
juice out of them. After a quick 20 seconds, they're so much easier to
squeeze and yield so much more juice.
5.Instead of sautéing mushrooms
in olive oil or butter, start cooking them in a dry pan for a few
minutes. This gets much of the moisture out so they brown better.
6.Give a stale loaf of bread a
new life by running it under water, then baking it in a warm, 300°F oven
for about 10 minutes. The oven steams the stale, soggy bread and makes
it as good as new.
7.When it comes to baking
anything with a flaky dough (biscuits, cookies, pie dough, etc...)
freeze and grate the butter, freeze the flour, and even freeze the
mixing bowl for the best results. All of these steps keep the dough
colder and makes for better baking results.
8.Pre-make roux in big batches,
then freeze it in silicon ice molds. Use the individual portions of
roux whenever you're making something like gravy, mac 'n' cheese, or
béchamel sauce. It's a total time saver.
9.Bake with browned butter instead of regular butter. Brown butter has a richer and nuttier flavor that will enhance whatever you're baking .
10.Add a little bit of
mayonnaise to beaten eggs before scrambling them or making an omelette,
quiche, or frittata. It makes them super light and fluffy.
11.Use the spice packet that
comes with instant ramen as a popcorn seasoning. Mix the powder with
some melted butter or margarine and then toss with the popcorn. It's
even better than the movie theater stuff.
12.Make a life-changing topping
for vegetables by browning butter in a skillet, then adding breadcrumbs
and nutmeg. Then add it on top of anything like roasted cauliflower,
sweet potatoes, or Brussels sprouts.
13.Put a bit of mayonnaise in
your cake batter. Once you realize that mayo is mostly eggs and oil,
it's not so hard to understand why it tastes so good.
14.When making grilled cheese,
schmear a little bit of salad dressing on the outside of the bread. Most
people do this with mayonnaise, but salad dressing (like store bought
Italian dressing) is even better. Just a light spread is all you need.
15.Line the lid of your slow cooker
with paper towel to soak up extra condensation and prevent your food
from getting watery. This is especially useful if you're making dishes
with a crispy top like lasagna or mac 'n' cheese with a bread crumb
topping.
16.If you're making soup, stew,
or even a sauce that looks too thin, add a bit of instant mashed
potatoes as a thickener. It's an easy fix when you realize too late
that you've added too much liquid.
17.When breading something like a chicken cutlet, forget about the egg and coat it in mayonnaise before the breadcrumbs.
18.You can boil eggs in the air fryer
with no water necessary. Set your handy appliance to 270°F and place
the eggs inside the basket. Cook 10 minutes for soft boiled or 15
minutes for hard boiled.
19.Starchy foods like rice, pasta, potatoes, and quinoa taste better when cooked in stock, rather than plain water.
20.Make an amazing pie crust
using Girl Scout cookies like Trefoils or even Thin Mints. Just crush up
the cookies and add melted butter to hold it all together.
21.For the creamiest mashed
potatoes, forget about cream and butter and just crack an egg into them
when they're just about ready. The heat of the mashed potatoes will cook
it and make it safe to eat.
22.Instead of salting your pasta
water, add a chicken stock cube. It doubles the flavor of the pasta and
the sauce. It's the easiest way to upgrade pasta night with a single
ingredient.
23.Add fish sauce to Caesar
dressing. The flavor is a bit more muted than that of anchovies, but it
still gives the dressing that much-needed salty punch. It makes for the
best Caesar salad ever.
24.Adding an extra egg yolk to
any cookie recipe will result in softer, fluffier cookies that taste
freshly baked even after a few days in the fridge.
25.Make homemade whipped cream
with just heavy whipping cream and a mason jar. Pour in the cream,
fasten the lid, and shake, shake, shake for about 20 seconds. You'll
have delicious, fluffy whipped cream in no time.
26.When in doubt (or when your
spices are looking scarce) rub any meat in Sazón or taco seasoning. The
mixture of spices is amazing and it makes anything from chicken or flank
steak to pork so flavorful.
27.Add a dash of vanilla extract
and cinnamon to pancake or waffle batter. It gives the final product a
touch of sweetness and richer flavor.
28.When baking something like
carrot cake or zucchini bread, swap out half the oil with unsweetened
apple sauce. It keeps the bread super moist and doesn't change the
flavor.
29.Mix soy sauce and butter to instantly boost the flavour of just about any savory dish like fried rice, mushrooms, or salmon.
30.Put a splash of orange juice
in the batter for baked goods like pumpkin bread, banana bread, or
cranberry muffins. Even store-bought juice is perfect. The acidity adds
brightness to complement the spices.
31.For the crispiest fried or
roasted potatoes, dip them in ice water first. When you're cutting
potatoes, toss them into a bowl of ice water. Give them a swirl to wash
off excess starch, then drain and pat them dry. Even soaking them for a
few minutes is enough to get them really crispy.
32.Add a few drops of lemon or
lime juice to a cutting board before you dice onions. It doesn't impact
the flavor whatsoever, but the acid from the lemon neutralizes the fumes
from the onion so you won't cry.
33.Stir some cream cheese into
your mac 'n' cheese to keep it creamy even after you've refrigerated the
leftovers. It prevents the pasta from absorbing all the liquid so the
cheese sauce stays creamy and thick for days. Oh, and for an additional
flavor boost, try scallion cream cheese.
34.Turn frozen bananas into
one-ingredient ice cream without any fancy equipment. Freeze bananas
until they're solid then pop them into the blender until smooth and
custardy. You can add in extra ingredients like cinnamon, chocolate
chips, or peanut butter, then immediately freeze it for later.
35.Add a small amount of water
to the pan when frying bacon. The water significantly reduces the amount
of fat splattering, and it actually results in really crispy bacon.
36.And finally, if you’re making
a dish that relies heavily on spices for seasoning, toast the spices
before adding them to your recipe. You only need to cook them on a pan
for about 30 seconds until they are fragrant, but it vastly improves
their taste and amplifies the flavor.
