February in the Kitchen Tips that will help you in your everyday journey of cooking, baking and time in the kitchen.

1. Lemons-Freeze your juiced lemon rinds and when you have a quart jar full, cover rinds with white vinegar to top of jar, add 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, cover and set on top of refrigerator for 3 weeks. Then use as a multipurpose cleaner.
2. Onion Peels-Freeze and add any other organic vegetable scraps, when you have enough make broth.
3. Banana’s-Peel and freeze your banana’s that are over ripe and going brown on cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Use in smoothies, recipes that require mashed banana’s, etc.
4. Coconut milk-When you don’t need a full fat coconut milk, take a can of full fat coconut milk, pour into four cup glass measuring cup and whisk, add cold water to the 3 or 4 cup measuring line, depending on how strong or thick you want it, whisk and use as regular coconut milk.
5. Flours-buy in bulk and freeze your flours so they are cheaper and will last longer.  Nut flours are quicker to go bad than grain flours.
6. Fruit-peel and blend fruit that is becoming too ripe before you have a chance to eat it. Freeze and use in smoothies or nut breads, less waste and less loss of organic fruits.
7. Cilantro-Keep cilantro fresh longer by cutting off stems, wish and spin in salad spinner, lay out 3 feet of unbleached paper towels, spread cilantro over length of paper towels, roll up paper towel with cilantro sandwiched in between, place in air tight container and store in refrigerator.
8. Produce bags-save the thin plastic bags you put your produce in when you buy it. Reuse them for when you take your dog on a walk, and need to pick up behind him, stick some in your glove box of car for who know’s what. Use them as a glove when something is disgusting you have to pick up and throw away.
9. Jars-wash and save a few jars from spaghetti sauce or other products you’ve purchased. Use them to send home some soup with a friend, or a sample of something else that you have cooked. You don’t have to worry about getting your dish back.
10. Lemon Juice-Before squeezing a lemon for it’s juice, place on counter, press and roll along counter briefly, this will help extract more of the juice from the lemon.

Do you have any helpful kitchen tips that you would like me to share next month? Be sure to leave them in the comments and I will share them in the months to come.

Tags:  hints kitchen tips