Mom Cooking Tip 99

Kiwi Slices

Use an egg slicer to slice hard-boiled eggs and other foods into slender slices.  The foods, which need to be semi-soft, could include bananas, kiwis, strawberries, avocados, pieces of ripe peach, apple or pear (skin side away from the blades), as well as nearly-cooked carrots, potatoes, beets and other root vegetables.

Hard-Boiled Egg Slices 

Banana Slices

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Dinner While Driving

More often than I would like, Bart and I wind up driving somewhere during the dinner hour.  Getting a proper meal on the table before we leave usually isn’t an option, so I have built up a list of dishes we can take with us and eat on the road.

The criteria are pretty rigid:

Question for Mom

I have a recipe that calls for BBQ sauce, but I don’t have any.  Can you suggest a substitute? – Daryl W.

Make your own BBQ sauce.  It’s easy, although it’s only worth it if you already have most of the ingredients.

Mom Cooking Tip 98

If you have to suddenly delay serving cooked pasta that you’ve just drained, put it back in the pot and add 1-2 tablespoons olive or canola oil, stir so the oil covers the noodles and cover.  The oil will keep the noodles from sticking to each other while awaiting sauce.

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India Meets Italy at My Table

Pasta with Indian Cauliflower Sauce

I like food from other countries.  Maybe it’s because I grew up in a Western Pennsylvania coal and steel town populated by many nationalities.  Every summer weekend my family attended a community picnic featuring dishes from a specific nationality.  The Italian Picnic introduced me to Spaghetti and Meatballs and Veal Parmesan.  The Polish Picnic offered Grilled Kielbasas (sausages) and Sauerkraut.  I loved the Flatbread on offer at the Syrian Picnic and the Stuffed Grape Leaves, Baklava and Tiropita (cheese turnovers) at the Greek Picnic.

Question for Mom?

Should I store potatoes in my fridge? 

No!  Cold temperatures change the flavor of potatoes.  Also, potatoes take up a lot of room.  Keep them in a cool, dark place. 

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Mom Money-Saving Tip 78

Maximize your use of boiling water. If you need to cook raw shrimp for a few minutes, use the opportunity to remove the skins from a few tomatoes and/or make hard-boiled eggs.  Just drop everything into the same pot of boiling water?  The tomatoes will take no more than a minute.  Then scoop them out and pull off the skins.  The shrimp will take 3-5 minutes, depending on size, to turn pink and slightly curl.  Then scoop them out and peel them.  The eggs will take 10 minutes in boiling water and then another 2 minutes sitting in hot water.  Then run under cold water and peel.  

It’s culinary multi-tasking!

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