[prairiehen]

1. Storing ice cream: A sheet of waxed paper placed on top of ice cream will help prevent ice crystals from forming when freezing left over ice cream in the carton.

2. Determinining egg freshness: Test an egg for freshness by placing it in a cup of water. If it floats it's past it's prime.

3.Upright deviled eggs: For wobble free deviled eggs, trim a tiny piece of white off the bottom half of a hard boiled egg to give it a flat surface.

4.Tomato paste portions: Most recipes only use 1 or 2 tablespoons of tomato paste at a time. You can save the left over paste for use at a later date by freezing it in tablespoon amounts and storing in resealable freezer bags and keep frozen until ready to use.

5. Fresh mushrooms: If you save a clear plastic container that strawberries are sold in you can use it for double duty by storing fresh mushrooms. The ventilation keeps mushrooms fresh longer.

6. Perfect sliced strawberries: For evenly sliced strawberries,use an egg slicer

7.Angel Food Cake: An electric knife cleanly cuts angel food cake without compressing it.

8.Nuts: To keep nuts from getting stale, store them in the freezer

9. Baking Powder Test: Baking powder doesn't last forever. If your not sure how old yours is, drop a generous pinch into a little warm water. If it fizzes or bubbles it's still good. If it sinks to the bottom toss it, It's past it's prime.

10. Tomato slicer: Use a serrated knife to cleanly slice tomatos.

11. Citrus Spray: Keep strained fresh lemon juice in a small spray bottle to spray on cut fruits, vegetables to prevent browning. It's also great for spraying on chopped lettuce for salad,and over cut artichokes. Simply juice lemons, strain out the pulp and seeds and pour into a spray bottle. I't will keep in the frig for up to 2 to 3 weeks. Try lime juice spray on avocados or orange juice spray on fruit salad. It adds flavor as well as protects the fruit from turning brown.

12. Easy squeeze bottles: I keep by my stove 3 clear squeeze bottles. Each bottle holds a different oil, olive oil, vegetable oil, canola oil. No big bottles to deal with and pouring and measuring is so easy.

13. Perfect sweet corn on cob: Bring a generous amount of water to a boil in a large pot. Add the cleaned ears of corn, cover with a lid and turn off the heat. The corn will be perfectly cooked in about 8 minutes.