Cut Lemons Lengthwise to Get More Juice

From Lifehacker

When you need lemon juice for a recipe, nothing beats fresh-squeezed, but it’s always a struggle to coax a lot of juice out of the fruit. As it turns out, the secret is to cut the lemon lengthwise.

Ian Knauer at Gourmet demonstrated this surprising trick by cutting two lemons, one lengthwise, and one the “normal” way, across its equator. He then juiced the lemons, and found that the one cut lengthwise yielded him nearly three times as much juice. For added juice, he also recommends warming the lemon up in the microwave for a few seconds if it’s coming from your fridge. Once it’s warm, be sure to give it a firm roll on the counter too before you cut. Lemons cut the “wrong” way might work a little better with a handheld reamer, but if you’re using a citrus juicer, or just squeezing by hand, there aren’t any downsides to cutting lengthwise. Click through the source link to check out the video.

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Cooking Time-Wasters You Should Toss in the Garbage Bowl

I agree with all of these except the dishwashing method; I wash by hand in two dishpans, pour the water used on my flowers or on the compost. 

We do plenty of stupid things in the kitchen, including things that seem smart or helpful, but really just waste our time and make cooking and cleaning up more annoying than it needs to be. Here’s a list of kitchen time-wasters you should stop doing right now.

Cooking Too Little, Too Often: Cook larger meals like soups and stews in a crock pot or on the weekend, and pack enough away as leftovers so you don’t have to spend time cooking when you don’t want to. Check out our tips on healthy eating for people who hate cooking for more time-saving suggestions anyone—even people who love to cook—can use.

Fetishizing Manual Work and Ignoring Useful Kitchen Gear: When we asked Mark Bittman for his cooking tips, he warned against spending too much time chopping and dicing, and not embracing some kitchen workhorses—like the mandoline slicer and immersion blender—that can make cooking easier, faster, and more fun. Speaking of essential kitchen gear, check out this list of budget kitchen upgrades.

Washing Your Meat in the Sink Before Cooking: The USDA says there’s no point in rinsing meat before cooking it. However you plan to cook your meat, if you’re cooking to the appropriate internal temperature, anything on the outside will be long dead, whether your meat is headed for a searing hot pan or the oven. Rinsing meat does one thing though: it washes all of the bacteria off of the meat and all over your sink, raising the risk of cross contamination. Now excuse me, I’m off to wash down my sink.

Using Dull Blades: Dull knives are more dangerous in the kitchen than sharp ones, but they’re also more time consuming to use. Struggling to slice vegetables before you cook, sawing at meats and bread after you cook, it all adds up to precious wasted prep and eating time that could trim down the time you spend in the kitchen. Please, for time and safety’s sake, hone your knives regularly.

Millie; I use a Spyderco for sharpening my knives, easy to use, gets the angles perfect and is as well designed object as I have found…hats of to the developer!

Hand-Washing Your Dishes Before Putting Them In The Dishwasher: Not only does pre-washing dishes waste water and energy; it wastes time. Most modern dishwashers are designed to handle the tough, caked on ick all over your pots and pans, so unless you enjoy hand washing, rinse them off, wipe, and toss right in the dishwasher.

Ignoring Simple, Time-Saving Skills: The few seconds it takes to master many kitchen skills can save countless minutes in your cooking. Some favorites include:

• Use a Two-Bowl Method for Easy Kitchen Cleanup
• Peel a head of garlic in 10 seconds with two bowls
• Keep canned soups from sticking in the can with a knife
• Get the most juice from a citrus fruit
• Make spice kits for faster, more flavorful cooking
• Core a head of iceberg lettuce in three seconds flat

FULL POST…Lifehacker

Sprinkle Salt While Chopping Garlic to Keep It From Sticking to Your Knife

From Lifehacker

When you start chopping garlic or any other vegetable that gets a little tacky when it’s sliced, a little salt on your cutting board is all it takes to keep it from sticking to your knife while you dice. Plus, keeping the garlic on the cutting board means a more even, fine dice with less effort, and some cooks will tell you the salt helps extract the oils from the garlic as well, boosting the flavor of the dish you add it to.

FULL POST…

Dessert Tasting at Green Man Gourmet June 16th

Please join me at Green Man Gourmet in Avondale on Saturday, June 16th for Tasting of Gluten and Lactose Free Desserts from 1:00 to 4:00 PM.

These luscious desserts are healthy and taste amazing!  You would never guess they are gluten and lactose free! 

Green Man Gourmet is one of Jacksonville’s best gourmet retail establishments.  The range of salt’s alone will wow you along with a wonderful array of herbs, spices, teas, wines, beers and gourmet foods. 

 Green Man Gourmet