Helpful Hints...

[Cook Chatty Cathy]

Let's post those helpful hints!

Need some fish stock for a soup or Gumbo and all out

Don't worry... open 2 cans of tuna or 1 can salmon in water; drain water from can into a measuring cup. Use this reserved tuna or salmon juice to make a quicky fish stock.

[Cook Chatty Cathy]

Recipe calls for sour milk...no problem use 1 tsp. lemon juice to 1 cup of fresh milk..Bingo..you have sour milk in a snap!

[Mama Mangia]

Buttermilk - when you have none at all!

1 c sweet milk
2 tblsp white vinegar
1 tsp soda

Mix milk and vinegar together; add soda and mix again.

[Cook Chatty Cathy]

I have on occassion had to use ranch dressing in place of mayo for making potato salad or deviled eggs, I adjust spices and add a little extra juice from the sweet pickles but it works out pretty well in a pinch.

Also have run out of sweet relish and just chopped up some sweet pickles and made my own!

[Cook Chatty Cathy]

Do not forget to boil your sponges weekly in a saucepan for 5 minutes to disinfect them!

[Mama Mangia]

Put a layer of marshmallows in the bottom of a pumpkin pie, then
add the filling. You will have a nice topping as the marshmallows
will come to the to top.

[Cook Chatty Cathy]

I scrub my counter tops with bleach water to disinfect and whiten.... Then to neutralize the bleach solution I rinse them with a white vinegar water soultion to neutralize the bleach water solution.

Also if you are using bleach and spill it on your hands you can neutralize it with white vinegar to help get it off your skin ASAP.

[Mama Mangia]

To keep sour cream or yogurt from separating when it is heated, let the carton come to room temperature before adding to a dish. Once incorporated never let it boil.

[Mama Mangia]

If cake flour is hard to find, you can make your own with all-purpose flour: for every cup of cake flour called for in a recipe, substitute a cup of all-purpose flour but replace 2 tablespoons of the flour with cornstarch.