I always thought the way the Amish did things was awesome. Grow your own crops, harvest, cook em up and BAM! You had a meal. Well, there are a couple problems with that.
1. I am not Amish so I don't have all their cool secrets and recipes.
2. I'm new to this farming thing. Like real new.
3. A garden does not a crop field make.
I had to start somewhere. I didn't want my kids to have all the sugars and crap that go into processed foods. Feed your baby Ravioli from a can once and you will know what I am talking about. She was covered in this orange coloring for days! Not to mention her tray! It does not come off for weeks! I got to thinking, maybe I can make things myself and KNOW exactly what I am feeding my kids!
For me this started with a bread maker. I bought wheat flour and anything else I might need. I made more bread that a human should make in a lifetime, but I loved knowing that the kids were eating and really enjoying pure food. Then I started making my own jam, etc until finally I had created an entire meal (expect for the milk) that was untouched by machines. It felt great!
Then I started looking up more involved things. I googled everything and learned some pretty fancy tricks! Let me share these cool tricks with you!
1. To make buttermilk, add 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice to regular milk.
2. To make self-rising flour, mix together 1 cup of all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, an 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda.
3. To hull a strawberry while still leaving most of the fruit, push a drinking straw through the bottom of the berry and push it through the top.
4. To save on milk, buy whole milk. put half of it into another jug and add one half cup for dried milk. Fill the rest with water and BAM! You have 2 gallons of 2% milk!
5. Lemons clean anything. Including the smell of onions off your hands.
6. Actually, for most recipes, it doesn’t take that much more work to double it. Then you can freeze a second portion, and when you’re busier than normal, you can reheat it and still eat from scratch.
7. You need boiling water in so many recipes. To save time, fill a pot with water and get it started on the stove first thing, as soon as you get started in the kitchen. You’ll probably need it.
8. To minimize the tears, put onions in the freezer for about 15 minutes before chopping. Don’t forget about them, though! (When you do this all the time, expect your friends to make fun of you.)
9. If you accidentally put too much salt in a recipe, sometimes putting a slice of raw, peeled potato will soak up excess salt.
10. Store onions and potatoes separately. They both make each other go bad faster.
11. Separate your bananas as soon as you return from the store. They’ll stay fresh longer.
12. When reheating bread goods (such as muffins, pancakes, and the like), put a cup of water in the microwave with it. It adds moisture to the air and keeps the bread soft.
13. Before putting sticky ingredients in a measuring cup, give it a quick rinse with hot water. The ingredient will then slide right out.
14. Keep a bowl on your kitchen counter for your food scraps while you’re cooking. It’s amazing how much more efficient this is than going back and forth to the trash can, and it’s such a simple idea. Sometimes I’ll have two next to me, where I can separate scraps that are compost-able.
15. To get the most juice out of a lemon or lime, zap it in the microwave for 20 seconds or so, let it sit for a minute, and then roll it around on the counter a few times.
16. To peel a whole garlic clove, place the flat side of a knife on top of the clove and give it a good whack. The skin should fall right off.
17. Get the icky smell of garlic or onions off your hands by “washing” them with water and baking soda. The odor slides right off when you rinse. I’ve also heard you can rub them on a stainless steel spoon under running water, but I haven’t tried it yet.
18. To double the amount of your butter used for spreading, simply whip it with a small amount of warm water until it’s light and fluffy. This isn’t ideal for baking recipes that need a specific fat amount, but it’s great for spreading on your bread or corn-on-the-cob. Just keep it in the refrigerator, and it should stay light.
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