Storing and Preserving Onions

Well, last week I blogged about storing fruit and vegetables in general but how about storing just the simple onion? The message last week was to keep them in the fridge, but this seems to be a way to preserve them for even longer.

Apparently, if you store onions in tights (or pantyhose for our American cousins), they will keep for months - I heard up to eight! Just place the onions in the tights and tie a knot in between each one, and hang in a larder or similar dry, darkish place. And weird wall art or what?

Organising your Fridge

There are so many clever people on the web who've designed fantastic, handy graphics to say how to store and organise all sorts of things. I have always been a bit confused about how best to organise and store food in the fridge, especially to ensure everything is hygienic but also so nothing gets lost and goes to waste. I know raw meat is supposed to go at the bottom, but that's about it really. That's why I was pleased to find this graphic from Squawkfox that sets it all out, simply and clearly. It's a total cut out and keep on the fridge graphic - brilliant!

I thought you should store milk in the side door, but I guess this isn't right! The things you learn...

Storing Fruit and Vegetables

I've found a handy graphic from the V Spot that tells me where is best to store fruit and vegetables, so here it is! It's interesting, as we always have apples, grapes and cherries (etc) out for the kids to snack on, but I guess this isn't the best way to preserve them. I suppose it depends on how fast everything gets eaten too.

Another top tip is to keep onions and potatoes apart, as they will spoil if stored together. And on the flip side, storing potatoes with apples will help to stop sprouting.

Recycling Cereal Boxes to organise your Leaflets

Take away menus, appointment letters, school notes, business flyers, vouchers - they're a pain but so often, we need to keep them. Mine go on the fridge and stress the magnets I own to the max. In fact, I invested in some super strong ones as the paperwork has increased so much!

However, a much better trick to use is to recycle those cereal boxes once again - who'd have thought they could be so useful? Drawer organisers, box files - and now they could be used for paperwork storage!  Simply cut the cereal box (make sure it's the right size you need) so that the back is higher than the front and cover with scrapbook paper or other pretty paper of your choice.

Just inside each corner on the back, attach something nice that will compliment the paper and style you're after. These could be ribbons, bulldog clips, clothes pegs, string etc - and then stick magnets to these. Or you can get magnetic bulldog clips. Or you could just stick magnets to the back of each corner of the cereal box and not worry about extra embellishments! Your way is the right way. And there you go, a gorgeous way of organising that paperwork without the risk of it all falling down each time you open the fridge, all in one place and designed exactly to your taste. Simple!

If you want to take it even further organisation-wise, you could design and make file dividers for the inside of the box.

Homemade Fruit Vodka

Do you have a surplus of vodka? No? Or do you instead have a surplus of fruit maybe, from a tree in the garden? Or you've bought too much on special offer and it's likely to be binned? That's more likely, I would imagine. One way of preserving fruit and preventing it going to waste is to make fruit flavoured vodka.

Firstly, choose your vodka. The internet recommends a middle of the road one - avoid cheap chemical tasting ones but equally, don't waste money on the high-end ones.

Then choose your fruit. Strawberries, apples, blueberries, watermelon, lemon - whatever you fancy and love! Wash the fruit and remove seeds, pips and stems. For citrus fruits, get rid of the white pith.

Slice the fruit into chunks and place in an airtight jar or bottle and then cover with the vodka. The proportions seem to be a matter of personal preference, so it may be a matter of experimenting until you get the blend that suits you, but a little research seems to point to about half and half, or maybe 2:3 fruit to vodka - the more fruit you use, the stronger the flavour.

And then just wait for about two to five days! If you do want to speed it up, give the jar a little shake each day. And sample after a couple of days, until it tastes how you want.

Once it's ready, strain the mixture into a new bottle for a fabulous fruity drink or a mixer that can be used as the basis for a unique, tasty cocktail - use a coffee filter or some muslin fabric or similar. Another idea is to pour it into nice bottles with pretty labels, and they can be given as gifts. Store out of direct sunlight and it will keep indefinitely.

As an added bonus, the fruit will make the base of a lovely alcoholic fruit salad, so even that is being used again. (Note that this fruit will be laced with vodka - it's not suitable for children and could still make you tipsy so be safe.)

You can also use herbs and spices such as chillis or basil - it doesn't have to be just fruit. You can also combine ingredients; I heard that strawberry and basil is a great combo. I even read that someone has made bacon flavoured vodka with the fat! Basically, experiment with the tastes and flavours you love best and don't let that fruit (or vodka) go to waste.

Homemade Dried Chilli Flakes

I love having a selection of fresh herbs and other edible plants in my kitchen and garden and, in the main, most of them get used. If they don't, I use one of my two methods for preserving them - found here and here. However, there always seems to be the humble chilli plant that I may use one or two chillis from and then the plant gets ignored and fades away. The following year, I buy another - they are so pretty and I am convinced that this time, I will use it more often!

So how can I get my money's worth and make sure that the poor plant isn't going to waste? I can dry the chillis! First of all, chop them in half. For extra spice, keep the seeds or remove them if you want less. Place on an ungreased baking tray and pop in the oven at the 'warm' setting (80° C - 100°C) or several hours, until they are completely dried out or dehydrated. This will be a number of hours - 5 or 6 at a shot - and to be extra crispy, I would turn off the oven and leave them overnight.

Pop the lot into a plastic bag and crumble (or if you're lazy so inclined, a food processor is good). But make sure you don't get any in your eyes! Place the lot in a jar or pot and there you have it, homemade dried chilli flakes and a plant that hasn't gone to waste. And wash your hands really, really well when you're done.

Bonus top tip - plastic gloves are always good when working with chillis!

Play the Kitchen Game

I find that waiting in the kitchen for things like the kettle to boil, the microwave to ping or the washing machine to finish tends to be dead time when there is just a few minutes left.  There's no point in going elsewhere to do anything - by the time I get there, the time will be up and I just will have to go back to whatever it was I was doing in the kitchen.  So I just hang around, waiting.

But I spotted a good way to take advantage of this time - play the kitchen 'game'! Grab a cloth and see how much you can wipe down, put clean dishes, glasses and crockery away, empty the recycling, anything that yu can quickly do to tidy just a little. And stop whenever what you are waiting for has finished! You'll be amazed to see how much can be accomplished with little effort and in very little time.

Removing Stains from Mugs and Cups

Tea and coffee does stain one's mugs and teacups which is annoying and ugly.  A simple way to remove these is to wipe with a little baking soda - or, as we know it, bicarbonate of soda - then rinse with water for spotless drinking vessels!

Storing Kitchen Food Bags & Foil

Boxes of food bags, cling film, foil, wax paper etc tend to get thrown under the sink in this house.  They then get pushed to the back of the cupboard and I can't find them, or they get squashed or everything starts falling out of them and there is a big mess of plastic and paper.

So a top tip is to use a magazine rack to store the boxes in - either in the cupboard or attached to the door.  And, even better, you could use a few of them to store other 'under the sink' items tidily and efficiently.  Brilliant!

Separating Egg Whites & Yolk

It's quite a faff to separate egg whites from the yolk when cooking or baking.  I've always done it using what I suspect is a traditional method - by cracking the egg and alternating the yolk between the two halves of the shell, letting the whites fall into the bowl.  The trouble with this method is that much of the time, some - if not all - of the yolk escapes and I have to start again.

However, I have spotted a genius idea.  Yes, you can purchase a specialist egg separator.  But a cheaper, more savvy method is to use a simple plastic bottle - it does exactly the same! Just crack the whole egg into a bowl and use the bottle to scoop up the yolk.

Easy, quick and cheap! I wish I'd seen this a long time ago - it would have saved a lot of frustration on my part!

Forgotten something?

How many times have I gone out and, half way to my destination, I start panicking about whether I have switched off the iron or my straighteners or something else that may set the house on fire?  A lot; certainly more often than I would hope!

I spotted these personalised mats on Ebay which I think are quite brilliant!  You can get any message you want, but I like this one...

A great way to remember to turn everything off before you leave the house!

Alternative use for a Lazy Susan

A few days ago, I posted about an alternative use for cake stands.  Another item I own, but hardly use, is a Lazy Susan.  It just doesn't work on my largish, rectangular kitchen table so takes up space in the cupboard and never sees the light of day.

An idea I have spotted for the kitchen is to use one as a holder for bottles and jars such as vinegars, oils, sauces - or even alcohol!

You could use this either on the kitchen counter if you have pretty bottles to display or in a cupboard for storage, both providing easy access to all your culinary essentials.

Unclogging a Drain

Firstly, boil some water.  While this is being done, pour a bunch of bicarbonate of soda (also known as baking soda) into the drain.  I use enough to go in to the plughole and pretty much cover it.

Then pour on some vinegar, an amount a bit less than the baking soda.  Some places suggest white vinegar but I find malt vinegar works just as well.  You'll see it all start to work, with the mixture bubbling up nicely and satisfactorily!  This is the clog breaking down.

Next add some salt on top of the vinegar to make it even more foamy and work even better.

Let it sit for a while to gurgle away - 15 minutes or so, until you're ready to clear it all out by pouring in the boiled water.  This should do the trick easily and naturally.  And look!  Pretty sink with no clogs, environmentally-friendly and naturally.

If necessary, repeat for those more stubborn clogs.

Cleaning Steel Cutlery

Have you noticed how cutlery can get stained quite easily?  I'm sure it's quite safe, but it doesn't look great and it doesn't seem to get clean when washing normally either by hand or in the dishwasher.  But a top tip is to use a lemon!

Chop a lemon in half and wipe on the stained cutlery.  For more stubborn stains, wipe a little harder!

Then rinse under the tap, dry and voilà!  Unstained cutlery!

Ripening Bananas

Do your bananas ripen too quickly?  Or not fast enough?  Top tip - they ripen fastest when they are in a bunch, so if you want to slow them down, separate them!  Simple.

Bananas ripen quickly when in a bunch

But more slowly when they are separated

Ripening Avocados

I can never get it right with avocados.  Either they are too hard to do anything with or I leave them out for too long and they go all squishy and brown, so not even suitable for guacamole.

So the way to do it is to ensure that the avocado is ripe just when you want it (durr!).  If you're not going to use it for a while, keep in the vegetable chiller drawer at the bottom of your fridge.  It will keep for ages without ripening.  Then, when you need it, you can put it in a dark cupboard or drawer (or a brown paper bag if you have one) with a banana and it will ripen really quickly.

An alternative, immediate way to ripen avocados which kind of works is to place in the microwave for 20 - 40 seconds.  However, I only use this when I am desperate as it makes the avocado too warm and it doesn't taste quite as nice.

Preserving Fresh Herbs II

So I've just said how you can preserve fresh herbs so that they aren't wasted once you've opened the packet, but there are other ways that they can be used and saved too, which I think are brilliant!  These involve creating herb oils or butters and freezing.

For herb oil, all you have to do is chop the fresh herbs very finely, put in an ice cube tray and add olive oil.  Mix a little. Pop in the freezer, then, once they're frozen, place in a sealable plastic bag, label and use when needed.

For the herb butter, chop the herbs and add garlic for a bit of a kick!  Mix with room-temperature butter to taste and then wrap, sausage-like, in some greaseproof paper.

Place in the freezer for up to an hour so it firms up and then chop into slices about 1cm thick.  Re-wrap in the paper, ready to use when needed.  I'm planning on making some garlic bread with this - chop a baguette, add some ready-made butter to each slice and bake.  Yum and quick!

I have to say, this and the previous post of drying herbs is something that I do already but thanks to Jamie Oliver's new series 'Save with Jamie' for reminding me!

Preserving Fresh Herbs

If you're anything like me with herbs, you've got the best intentions when you buy those little bags of fresh ones from the supermarket - lots of plans to cook gorgeously flavoured and seasoned recipes from scratch.  But what inevitably happens is that I use about 1/4 of the packet, throw the rest into the fridge and forget about it until it's gone off.  So what to do with the remainder, so you're not wasting it and wasting money?  It's simple!

All you have to do it bunch them up with a bit of string and hang them somewhere fairly warm, like an airing cupboard or larder.  I've got some sage and some bay leaves on the go at the moment, and have attached them to a cooling rack by the oven.  Leave to dry out for a while - at least 12 hours - until they are crisp and then store in a jar or Tupperware and use as you would dry herbs.  They will last for ages this way.

Click here for another way of preserving those fresh herbs!

Red Wine Stains

One of the best tips I have ever been given is how to clean red wine stains.  Quite simply, pour over some white wine, leave to soak a few minutes and wipe!  That's all!  The white wine somehow dissolves the red, normally leaving no stain at all.  It is fantastic!

Alternatively, just drink the white!

Cleaning the Blender

I've always been a little worried about cleaning our blender, as I'm terrified of slicing my fingers as I'm doing so.  Which is why this simple top tip is so great!

All you have to do is put some washing up liquid in the dirty blender - any will do.

Add some water, give it a whirl and rinse.  And there you have it - one clean blender, no bleeding fingers!