Friday, August 28, 2015

friday kitchen tips!

I get a ton of questions about preserving or stretching an ingredient, or using up something that you buy a bunch of for one recipe (looking at you, cilantro) so I would like to start an FAQ of sorts every Friday!

Hopefully I don't give away all of my tricks today--please submit questions! You can e-mail me at cravecreateblog@gmail.com, make a suggestion on Instagram, tweet at me (are you following me yet??) or comment here.

Preserving your herbs
This one can be done in a bunch of ways! To keep them fresher, longer, rinse them after you take them home from the store, and lay them on a paper towel thats big enough to eventually fold over and cover the bunch.

Let them sit and dry on the paper towel for up to 20 minutes, then wrap the paper towel (which should now be damp, otherwise dampen it a bit and squeeze it out) around the herbs, place in a ziploc, squeeze all the air out and seal. they have lasted up to two weeks for me using this method!

The other trick is to freeze them. If you know you won't use them all, chop them up and place them in an ice cube tray and fill it about halfway with good olive oil. This can be dropped in soups or sauces anytime and last for months!



Keeping avocados and guacamole from browning
The most tried and true method is to keep the pit either in the already cut avocado (wrap it in a baggie or plastic wrap), or place it in your guac. If you already threw out the pit, then do a squeeze of lime over the top of your guacamole, place plastic wrap directly touching the top, all around the bowl, then another layer on top of that.

For an already cut avocado, I have seen people use cases like this & this (not sponsored) and swear by them, but I have never tried it myself.

The key is to keep air away from the flesh which is what causes it to turn brown. And I have found that just by cutting off a very thin top layer, the rest of the avocado is usually salvageable the next day.

Oh, and cilantro? I want to add it to salsa, but what about the rest of the bunch? Well Mike and I are brainstorming and pork and chimichurri dish for next week so stay tuned!

If you haven't seen it yet, I am looking for guest bloggers!You don't have to be a blogger already or even a recipe maven- I am just looking to add some recipes here that are outside what I usually make and mix things up a bit.

E-mail me at vbiscottiblog@gmail.com if you are interested!

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