Mile High Momday: Mini-tips for the kitchen

None of these things are worth a post in and of themselves.  In fact, I'm not sure these are worth a post, even together.  But here are a few things around the kitchen that I've found save just a little bit of time, money or effort.  

I'm feeling like you all are going to do a collective eye roll and say "Yeah Michele.  We know.  We've been doing this stuff for years" But some of this was new to me recently, so maybe it will be for you too.  

Did you know that if you keep the white parts of green onions and put them in a glass of water by the window, they will regrow?  I've been doing this and it totally works.  Never have to buy green onions again!  Just cut off what you need and leave the white part in the water.  (They grow very fast too!)

Breakfast in this house can be a little rough.  Jackson doesn't like to eat, and we are usually running out of time and have to be somewhere in the morning, so whatever I can do to make it faster is a bonus.  What I do is make all of our pancakes and waffles ahead of time and freeze them.  Then in the morning, I just pull out what he wants and throw it in the microwave for a few seconds.  I do this for bacon as well, except I refrigerate it.  

Speaking of bacon, did you know you can bake it?  That's what I've been doing lately.  I just put one of those cookie cooling racks on top of a cookie sheet and put it in the oven.  You can make a lot more bacon at one time and you don't have to man it and get your stove all bacon greasy.  

Another morning time saver is using an egg slicer to slice strawberries and bananas.  I recently found this on Pinterest and thought it was genius!  

 

 

 

Okay, this one is a stretch, I know.  But a while back I was listening to the radio and one of the DJs was talking about how he and his wife argue about how to load the utensils in the dishwasher.  One of them said that each kind of utensil needed to be put in a different compartment of the utensil holder while the other one put them in willy nilly.  I was a willy nilly-er, until I heard this argument, and tried grouping them together when I loaded them.  (It honestly never crossed my mind before to group them)  And I have to tell you, it really is easier when it comes time to unload the dishwasher.  I just grab the group of knives, forks or spoons, and put them into the drawer.  No sorting.  It doesn't take any more time when loading the dishwasher either.  I know this seems like a little thing, but it saves time, and any time saved right now is appreciated.  And I get a strange satisfaction from knowing that I'm doing something efficiently.  (I'm weird, I know)

I hate when a recipe calls for just a little bit of chicken broth and I end up buying a whole can, then throwing away all the leftover.  So, what I do is pour the left over chicken broth in an ice cube tray, freeze it, then store it in a freezer bag.  Then when I need just a little chicken broth in the future, I pull out what I need and thaw it.

In the picky eater department, I've been cutting Jackson's sandwiches with cookie cutters in the shape of his favorite things.  It's silly, but to a 3 year old, it apparently makes a difference.  I found this big box of 101 cookies cutters at Walmart.  It's made him a little more excited about eating a sandwich lately.  They have letter ones, so I sometimes spell small words for him to eat.  I also use the small round one to cut out ham and we make our own lunchables for school.

There you have it.  I know it's nothing profound or life changing, but if it can help make your day go a little more smoothly, I think it's worth sharing.  Do you have any other kitchen tips to add?  I'd love to hear about them!