Shakin & Bakin Foodie Blog

If you want to save time and money in the kitchen, I have 12 fantastic cooking tips to share with you today. All of these tips are ones that I personally utilize here in my own kitchen when cooking for my family.

If you want to chop dried fruit, coat a knife blade or food processor blade with oil first to more easily slice through the dried fruit. You can also freeze the dried fruit before chopping in a food processor or blender.

It's easy to separate eggs for recipes....simply break the egg in a funnel placed above a dish. The white will fall into the dish and the yolk will stay in the funnel.

Adding tomatoes to roasts helps to naturally tenderize the meat. Tomatoes contain an acid that works well to break down meats.

Avoid making meringue on days that it is raining. The humidity in the air can affect how your meringue will turn out.

Thaw all meats in the refrigerator for maximum safety. Do not thaw meats at room temperature.

An easy way to prevent raisins from sinking to the bottom of pies and muffins is to coat them with flour. This will prevent them from floating to the top too.

When serving dinner rolls and fancy breads at a party, cut out pats of butter using mini cookie cutters to make pretty designs.

Instead of folding nuts into brownie batter, sprinkle them on top of the batter before baking. This keeps the nuts crunchy instead of soggy.

Use a double boiler for melting chocolate to prevent it from scorching. A slow cooker (crockpot) set on the lowest setting also works well for melting chocolate in bigger batches.

Remember to soak wooden kabob skewers in water for 20 minutes before threading them and placing on the grill.

Create a quick decorating tube to ice your cakes with chocolate. Put chocolate in a heat-safe zipper close bag. Immerse it in simmering water until the chocolate is melted. Snip off the tip of one corner, squeeze the melted chocolate out of the bag and onto your cake.

Cookie dough that must be rolled is much easier to handle after it has been refrigerated for 10-30 minutes. This keeps the dough from sticking, even though it may be soft.