Showing posts with label tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tips. Show all posts

Burnt On Mess: Meet Your Match!

I have never met a baked on mess that I can't handle. That doesn't mean I enjoy scrubbing dishes or anything, but I have a really easy trick to getting the worst mess to come off with no effort.

As you can see in this photo I baked a rack of ribs last night. It got messy. The BBQ sauce burnt quite badly. My husband asked me, with a smile, if I intended to throw the pan away when he saw how bad the mess was. 


Can you see how the edges of this burnt on mess have lifted off of the pan?  With one super simple trick you can eliminate 98% of the effort of getting this mess clean.

First, do not soak the pan or get it wet. Let it cool. When it is cool enough to touch without a pot holder or oven mitt grab your dish soap. Apply dish soap generously to the mess. Walk away from it. Forget it until the morning!

In the morning you can grab a kitchen knife, just in case you need it to help lift the edges of the baked/burnt mess.




As you can see in this video, I literally just grabbed the burnt on BBQ sauce and lifted it off.


If there is any remaining baked on mess, fill the pan with hot water. Add a used dryer sheet and allow it to soak. The remaining mess will slide right off of the pan when you are ready to wash!

Do you have a tip to help make things easier in the kitchen? I would love to hear it!



How to Rock a Hurricane Like a Boss

This most may contain affiliate links.

Hurricane season is here and many of our readers are in the path of the latest storm. While it is a major pain in the hiney to face a tropical storm or a hurricane, have no fear wonderful people. I am going to share a few of my tips to help you handle this hurricane and any others that come your way like a boss in reasonable style and comfort, given the situation.



Stock Up!
Ok, I know the experts are going to say buy things like bottled water and tuna fish, but come on people. Drastic weather calls for comfort. Instead of getting in a fist fight over the last cans of spam on the store shelves, let's get real. No one wants to eat spam in good weather, let alone terrible weather. Buy all of the pop tart's, granola bars, cold cereal and snack cakes you can get your hands on. Buy soda, booze and single serve fruit juice drinks. Buy candy, coffee singles that are like tea bags, and shelf stable milk. Buy the damn doritos and bean dips like there is no tomorrow.

Kiss Your Ice Goodbye
Accept that ice is going to be something you want, but don't have. Do not stand in line at the gas station for an hour for a bag of ice, just will yourself to go without it. I once paid $10 for a bag of ice and got a handful of laffy taffy as my change. Never again. Ice ain't worth $10, no matter how hot it might be outside.

Run, Don't Walk, to the Sporting Good Store
No, I am not crazy. But I am going to give you a tip to help you keep your cool. Buy as many cooling towels as you possibly can. There are these great ones out there by Mission that will make life feel a little cooler in the sweltering temps while you wait on your power and beloved air conditioning to return.

Dust Off the Board Games
In 2004 we lost power for a week during a hurricane, 2 weeks later we lost power for another week during a second hurricane. We played board games with reckless abandon. We battled it out over every game we could get our hands on and somehow we survived a week without electric, air conditioning, television and gasp even our phones as charging them was nearly impossible.

When In Doubt...
Fondue
Get your booty to the hardware store for denatured alcohol right now if you have a fondue set. If not, Get. One. Now. You can heat soup, make ramen noodles and even brew hot coffee if you have a handy dandy fondue set. You will be the envy of your friends and neighbors if they get a whiff of some hot soup, oatmeal or whatever cooking. If they smell your hot coffee, look out  cause you might just become block president or something if you are willing to share. I am not certain, but I would be willing to guess that in a pinch votive candles would heat a fondue pot nicely if you can't get the Denatured Alcohol easily.

What are your pro tips for riding out the storm? Do tell so that everyone can hunker down with minimal annoyances and maximum comfort!

Best Way To Cut Watermelon

You guys, I have the best way to cut a watermelon and I can't wait to share it with you. The days of making slices to form a wedge are long gone. This method reduces waste and really makes your melon easier to eat and share!

First, select your melon and place it on a large tray.



Cut it in half. Set half aside and flip the half you are going to work with red side down, rind up.



Slice the watermelon as you might if you were serving slices... long cuts that cover the watermelon, about an inch wide.



Then make cuts the length of the melon, crossing over the wide cuts you made a moment ago.


As you can see, instead of a big, hard to eat wedge of watermelon, you now have this neat little stick!


My best tip is to serve as is on the tray! It holds together nicely and makes it easy peasy for sharing!




This is a kid friendly way to serve melon too! Everyone that had a stick of watermelon was impressed with the serving method. It wasn't as messy to eat, there is so much less waste this way and it is fun to put knife skills to work sometimes!!

How do you serve watermelon? Wedges, cubes, sticks, balls?