Sweeten your Baking and your Valentine

Here is a hint to sweeten your baking. Instead of greasing and flouring your baking pans for sweet breads, grease and dust with sugar. It adds extra sweetness and crunch. Use colored sugar for different holidays.

Learn more about Western Style, Rustic Decor, South Western Jewelry and Western Design from Heather Christensen & Thea Marx at Contemporary Western Design.com.

How to Cut your Kid’s Food Fast

Instead of cutting your child’s food piece by piece while your food gets cold, use a pizza cutter to cut their pizza, french toast, pancakes, etc.

Learn more about Western Style, Rustic Decor, South Western Jewelry and Western Design from Heather Christensen & Thea Marx at Contemporary Western Design.com.

Repurposing old crayons

This is a fun activity to do with your kids or grandkids and also revives interest in all of those old broken crayons you were wishing you could feel good about just throwing away!

What you will need:

old crayons

saucepan

empty metal can

metal cookie cutters

aluminum foil

What to do:

1. Place the old crayons in the can removing the paper from them.
2. Place can in sauce pan filled with water melting the wax by turning the stove on low heat.
3. Place the cookie cutters on a sheet of aluminum foil.
4. Pour melted wax into assorted cookie cutters. You may need to hold the cookie cutters down to keep the melted crayons from running out.
5. Wait for the wax to set, then cool and pop your new crayons out.

Learn more about Western Style, Rustic Decor, South Western Jewelry and Western Design from Heather Christensen & Thea Marx at Contemporary Western Design.com.

Hint to Remove Excess Fat from Soup

Do you think find that floating oil on the top of your homemade soup unappetizing? Add a whole lettuce leaf to soups or other liquid based foods you are cooking to absorb the excess fat and oils. After cooking remove the saturated lettuce leaf along with the fat and enjoy!

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Hint to Make Celery Taste Great (& don’t you just hate those stringy things)

You read right! I eat a lot of celery and actually enjoy the taste if I prepare it this way.

1. The night before clean & cut the celery into the desired lengths.
2. Those irritating strands in celery are called xylem and phloem. Don’t they sound like something you wouldn’t want to eat? They are located pretty much on the outside of  the stalk so you can pinch them between your thumb & a knife and tear them down & out of the stalk of celery.
3. Then mix 2 t salt and 2 C of water into a resealable plastic bag then place all of the celery into the salted water. Make sure there is enough water to cover the celery and refrigerate overnight.
4. The next morning strain off the water and enjoy!

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How to Quickly Shred Cabbage for Cole Slaw

Use a blender to quickly shred cabbage for coleslaw. Cut the cabbage into quarters. Place each quarter in the blender and cover with water in the blender. Blend on medium speed for a few seconds until cabbage is shredded to desired size pieces. Strain water from cabbage and follow same process with the rest of the quarters.

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High Altitude Adjustments for Baking

Isn’t it frustrating when you actually do some baking (instead of buying it at the store) and then the cake “falls”?

I can’t do it better than the staff at allrecipes.com so here is what they say:

“Why is high elevation a problem when baking?

Lower air pressure at high elevations causes air bubbles trapped in the batter to rise at a faster rate. When this happens, cakes rise very fast and high . . . then fall. As a result, you end up with a dense, dry cake–typically, a change in the proportion of ingredients used in leavened foods is needed.

Occasionally, you may even need to adjust the baking temperature in your oven as well, but this can start a chain reaction of additional problems. When you increase your baking temperature, liquids will evaporate faster and the rest of the ingredients become concentrated. Generally, this means you end up with too much sugar in the batter, which will prevent the cake from setting (i.e. you will be left with a gooey mess).

So, how does one solve these problems?

Cooking at high altitudes generally requires two basic adjustments:

1. An increase in time for boiled foods.
2. A change in the proportions of ingredients used in leavened foods such as cakes and yeast breads. In some instances, a change in baking temperatures may also be necessary.

Most cake recipes need no modification for sea level up to the altitude of 3,000 feet. Above that, it is often necessary to adjust recipes slightly. Usually, a decrease in leavening or sugar (or both) and an increase in liquid are needed. Remember, ingredients such as eggs or butter are considered liquids.

BAKING

For any baked goods that rise (yeast breads, cakes or breads made with baking powder, etc.), it is important to adjust the recipe so that the rapid rise time doesn’t make the resulting bread or cake too dry. This can be done as follows:

For yeast cakes:

• Yeast cakes rise more quickly at high altitudes, so be sure to watch your dough carefully and judge the rise time by the change in the dough’s bulk, not by the amount of time it takes. Proofing time for yeast cakes should be reduced.

For cakes using baking powder:

• Don’t overbeat the eggs. Overbeating adds too much air to the cake.
• Raise the baking temperature slightly; the faster cooking time will keep the recipe from rising too much. At elevations over 3,500 feet, the oven temperature for batters and doughs should be about 25 degrees F higher than the temperature used at sea level.
• Decrease the amount of baking powder slightly; this also prevents the recipe from rising too much.

For foam cakes:

Cakes tend to stick more when they are baked at high altitudes, so be sure to always grease your baking pans well and dust them with flour, or line them with parchment paper. Exceptions are angel food cakes and sponge cakes, which should always be baked in un-greased pans. Also, fill pans only 1/2 full of batter, not the usual 2/3 full, as high altitude cakes may overflow.

Follow the chart below for more specific adjustments. When adapting a recipe for high altitudes, always start out with the smallest adjustment then add more adjustments later and only if necessary. Keep in mind that any or all of these adjustments may be required, for every recipe is different in its balance of ingredients. Only repeated experiments with each different recipe can give the most successful proportions to use. It’s a good idea to keep notes of how you adjusted your recipes until you know what works best for your particular location.

GUIDE FOR CAKE BAKING AT HIGH ALTITUDES

Adjustment for 3000 feet:

• Reduce baking powder: for each teaspoon decrease 1/8 teaspoon.
• Reduce sugar: for each cup, decrease 0 to 1 tablespoon.
• Increase liquid: for each cup, add 1 to 2 tablespoons.
• Increase oven temperature by 25 degrees F.

Adjustment for 5000 feet:

• Reduce baking powder: for each teaspoon, decrease 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon.
• Reduce sugar: for each cup, decrease 0 to 2 tablespoons.
  Increase liquid: for each cup, add 2 to 4 tablespoons.
• Increase oven temperature by 25 degrees F.

Adjustment for 7000+ feet:

• Reduce baking powder: for each teaspoon, decrease 1/4 teaspoon.
• Reduce sugar: for each cup, decrease 1 to 3 tablespoons.
• Increase liquid: for each cup, add 3 to 4 tablespoons.
• Increase oven temperature by 25 degrees F.”

Learn more about Western Style, Rustic Decor, South Western Jewelry and Western Design from Heather Christensen & Thea Marx at Contemporary Western Design.com.

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Hint for Making an Onion Sweet

To make an onion sweet, peel, immerse in ice water and add 1 1/2 T sugar. Refrigerate overnight in a sealed container. Remove, blot dry, prepare and serve.

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Hint for Easily Stuffing Manicotti

Create stuffed manicotti much easier by stuffing it uncooked. Then add extra sauce to your recipe, cover with tin foil and cook a little longer than the recipe allows.

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Hint for Browning Ground Beef

Eliminate the need to constantly stir your ground beef (or other ground meat) so it has no clumps by adding 1/2 C of water for every pound of beef.

Learn more about Western Style, Rustic Decor, South Western Jewelry and Western Design from Heather Christensen & Thea Marx at Contemporary Western Design.com.