Salt and Lemon Scrub For Wooden & Bamboo Cutting Boards

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I headed to my neighborhood butcher one night right before they closed and caught the butcher cleaning his butcher block. I sat and listened to his wisdom about this ancient process of cleaning the nice bamboo and wood cutting boards.  This is super cheap and you most likely have all the ingredients in your home.

The salt gets into any of those chop marks in the wood where bacteria gets trapped, and the lemon and salt both have antibacterial properties. For me, this is now a biweekly ritual. Hope you enjoy!

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Oh and p.s. If you have a plastic cutting board, do your self a favor and trash that and invest in a nice wood or bamboo one this is much better on the wear of your knifes edge. Your knives will thank you!

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What you will need:

  • salt
  • lemon
  • mineral oil
  • soap
  • water

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16 Cooking & Food Tips You Want to Know

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We could all use some tips to make things a little easier when it comes to cooking and in the kitchen. At least for me anyway. Here are 16 tips for food and in the kitchen.

1.  To prevent egg shells from cracking, add a pinch of salt to the water before hard-boiling.

2. Stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of a sugar cone to prevent ice cream drips.

3. Use a meat baster to “squeeze” your pancake batter onto the hot griddle and you’ll get perfectly shaped pancakes every time.

4. To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.

5. Run your hands under cold water before pressing Rice Krispy treats in the pan and the marshmallow won’t stick to your fingers.

6. To get the most juice out of fresh lemons, bring them to room temperature and roll them under your palm against the kitchen counter before squeezing.

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Trick to Keep a Boiling Pot from Overflowing

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We have all heard the saying. A watched pot, never boils. But who has time to sit and watch a pot all night? You’re probably working on other aspects of dinner, the phone is ringing, the kids are screaming or fighting and basically, your kitchen is complete chaos!  The last thing you want to do is clean up a mess from a boiled over pot!

Here is the trick. Place a wooden spoon over the pot and it will pop the bubbles that start to get too high. That will allow you to get over to the stove and turn the hear down.

Just keep in mind that the water MAY warp your spoon. It didn’t hurt mine, but you just want to watch out for that.  The nice thing about using the wood is that it won’t be hot when you remove it because heat doesn’t absorb much heat.

You could use a metal spoon, but that will be very hot and can only be removed with a oven mitt, otherwise you will burn yourself.

Happy boiling!

A List of Substitution Ingredients for those Emergencies

This is a super important list to keep on hand.  This will save the day when you thought you had an ingredient, but when you went to get it, there was only a few granules left.  So keep it on hand for those times when it is much needed.

Allspice – 1 teaspoon
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon plus 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves.

Baking Powder – 1 teaspoon
1/3 tsp. baking soda plus 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar or
1/4 teaspoon baking soda plus 1/2 cup yogurt or buttermilk (decrease liquid in recipe by 1/2 cup)

Bread Crumbs (Dry) – 1 cup
3 slices of bread, crumbled.

Butter – 1 cup
1 cup of regular margarine or
1 cup of vegetable shortening (for baking) or
1 cup of oil (but only if melted butter is called for)

To see the complete list with many more substitutions, CLICK HERE