If you are too tired to cook a full meal by the time you get home from work, being able to cook a quick meal is a great skill to have. If you end up ordering in far more often than your budget can stand simply because it takes too long to cook a fresh meal from scratch, there is good news; it does not have to be that way. There are so many time-saving gadgets, tools and accessories that can help you make fresh, delicious meals in minutes. Whether you combine them with the new breed of fresh-packed convenience foods or use them help you make up your own �convenience foods�, cooking and kitchen accessories can make your entire life far easier.
5. Experiment with fresh herbs. Few things add more savory flavor to a meal than fresh herbs. Use fresh herbs in the place of dried herbs in your recipes, and add additional fresh herbs to taste. Fresh basil often complements Italian dishes. Rosemary and thyme taste delightful with pot roast. Experiment and find what works for you and your taste buds.One of the best ways to reduce the amount of time you spend cleaning up spills in your oven is to keep those spills from getting there in the first place. A silicone oven liner will catch the spills and keep them from baking on. Just pull it out, wash it and put it back in. The oven liners can be cut to fit any size oven, and are even available to fit your toaster oven.Exploring vegetarian recipes is great simply to spice up the kitchen with something new. Whether you are choosing to eat vegetarian dishes as a permanent diet or as part of a healthier lifestyle, Vegetarian Recipes is packed with ideas to tempt the most committed carnivore.Quicker CleanupAnother countertop oven choice is the 9-in-1 Oven. It may look like a toaster oven, but it�s so far beyond that. You can toast, roast, broil and bake inside, and the top is a non-stick griddle/grill! It even comes with a rotisserie so you can roast a chicken or a roast on a spit. The convection setting cooks foods fast!5. Experiment with fresh herbs. Few things add more savory flavor to a meal than fresh herbs. Use fresh herbs in the place of dried herbs in your recipes,If you are trying to get away from today's preservative-laden fast food and convenience foods, it's time to rediscover your slow cooker.Food Preparation6. Try to avoid opening the lid. When you open the lid of a crock pot, you let out the steam and moisture, and this will change your cooking time (by as much as 20 minutes). It's important to follow the recipe closely, add each ingredient when the recipe calls for it � and then leave your slow cooker alone!Most people would agree that getting food to the table in only half the time with the same taste would be a great improvement. Cleaning up after the cooking sometimes takes longer than the meal. Invest in a few handy gadgets to make cleanup time much easier and quicker.Take a whole new approach to cooking with a NuWave counter top oven. The NuWave cooks foods up to 50% faster than a traditional oven � and it can cook from frozen for those nights that you forgot to defrost something for dinner. It�s big enough to hold a 10 lb turkey � or a 16 lb turkey if you choose the deluxe model.- Stainless steel wire cutters to hold things like tomatoes and onions still so you can make uniform slices for burgers, sandwiches and bagelsHere are six tips for creating delicious home-cooked meals in your crock pot.One of the most time-consuming and labor-intensive parts of cooking great meals is the preparation time, the time spent cutting, slicing, dicing and otherwise getting ingredients ready to cook them. Great tools can put a serious dent in the amount of time it takes to prepare your food for the oven or the grill.4. Cut your vegetables into small pieces. Unless you like your vegetables on the crunchy side, cut them into smaller pieces. Put potatoes, carrots and other root vegetables on the bottom or against the sides of the pot. (This will ensure that they get maximum heat.) Again, you can also saute onions before adding them, if you find you prefer this taste.3. Less expensive cuts of meat work just fine. When you are slow cooking, you can choose the cheaper cuts, such as chuck steak. Because the meat is cooked slowly over time, these less expensive cuts will melt in your mouth by the time they are finished.
Keep your stovetop clean, too. It�s easy to do with a Ceramic Spoon Rest or a lid and spoon rest that holds your cooking utensils and keeps them from dripping on your stove. Add burner bibs made of spun fiberglass that will keep all those boilovers and spills from baking onto your stove surface, and the cleanup is as easy as popping them into the dishwasher.
Author: Sandy Darson
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