Make sure you mention the maddox knife. It is such a wonderful tool. I got one for my mom on AMN's recommendation and now, my mom who hasn't cut her own food in years, cuts everyone's for them!!

Yes, and the Spork!!!

I wish I could help you more, Cher but, if it can't be nuked, I don't eat it.

MOVING PANS/POTS TO SINK WITH EASE:

Plastic, flexible cutting boards can serve several purposes beyon just being a place to cut vegetables.

Here is how you can use a platic cutting board to help you transfer a pot/pan from the stove to the sink:

1) Turn off stove.
2) Put sutting board next to stove on the counter top.
3) Drag the pot/pan onto the cutting board.
4) Drag cutting board along counter top to the sink.

This will prevent you from dropping the pot/pan since the counter top will support all of the weight. This technique prevents hot spills (burns) and messy clean-up tasks.

It is a great safety measure.

-Vic


*Sally, my contract was purchased by Tania and I am not available to be a "free agent" until 2095 unless I am put on "waivers" or sent back to the Minor Leagues.

HOLDING A UTENSIL

You need one old glove and two 9" lenghs of self-adhesive velcro.

1) Attach velcro lengths to the back of the glove spaced 3" apart.
2) Place the golve on your hand.
3) Lay the utensil in the palm of your gloved hand.
4) Wrap the velcro strips around your hand and over the utensil securely.

This will hold the utensil in your hand without having to use your fingers.

-Vic

Vic

Maybe we should contract you to write this book!

Anytime, Cheryl.

...I can write, type and speel pretty good.

-Vic

*If I can think of more tidbits, I will post them.

Its yer speeling that I leek specally good.

Wash your hands and use them, traditional poses and maneuvers don't matter anymore.

Keep a deep dishpan exclusively for mixing batches of meatloaf, stuffing, salads, or anything bulky. Stick your hands in there and do the deed, turn the dishpan and pull the ingredients toward you to mix, turn again, pull again, smash, mash, turn, pull...

It sounds insane, but splurge on 30 dishtowels and wash one load a month.

Agreed, the Maddox knife and an Ulu knife are must-haves for anyone who wants to keep cooking with dumb hands.

If you have a set of seasonings you always use to make a certain dish, mix up a bottle in the proper proportions and just grab one bottle to season your batches.

Wash the whole bag of potatoes before you put them away, then you can just grab the ones you need and get on with it.

Buy a couple gigantic onions instead of the bags of 30 little ones, peeling a single onion will yield a lot and leave some to chop up and store for next time. Onions are cheap, just cut off the ends then put a slit through the outer-most layer, the whole skin will pop off, just pitch it.

Big, sharp knives are safer and easier to use, have a decent cutting board, learn how to use it, and use a Chef's Choice two-stage, countertop sharpener, it's safe and excellent for around $20.

To clean a green pepper, wash the outside, then press both thumbs into the stem/core. It will pop into the center, rip the pepper in half to pull out the core and membrane, then rinse the seeds away.

Tiny funnels rock!

Cook big and freeze!

When baking cookies, use a sheet of parchment paper on the cookie sheet. When they're done, just slide the cookies on the paper off the hot cookie sheet to cool. The paper can be used for several bakings on the same batch.

If you cook with nuts, toast them all at once and freeze in separate cheapie zippy bags.

If your recipes often call for browned ground meats, buy a bunch, brown it all with salt & pepper and freeze it in appropriate proportions.

Your little egg chopper rocks for uniform banana slices.

The Borner V-Slicer was made for us! It will slice veggies, cheeses, meats and other things easily and rinses for clean-up.

Keep a coffee can in the fridge to collect grease, bones, and other greezy, yucky stuff. Pitch it all at once, only as needed.

The top of an empty 2-liter soda bottle is a fabulous funnel for fumbling fingers.

To fill cupcake/muffin tins, put the finished batter in a pastry bag or a measuring cup to pour.

Crack eggs into a small chef's bowl, not directly into your recipe (yes, I've seen you cussing a blue streak while trying to fish out that rogue shell fragment!).

To pierce potatoes for baking, drive a handful of stainless screws through a small block of wood. Whack one side, then the other, done. It rinses clean easily and quickly.

There's more, but I'm tired. Pity me.

CHICKEN NOODLE PIE:

Ingredients
1) One Costco pre-cooked chicken or one 16oz xan of chicken
2) One 16oz bag frozen mixed vegetables
3) One 16oz bag of noodles
4) Two pie crusts
5) One 12oz can of cream of mushroom soup (not condensed)

Process:
1) Poke several small holes in one pie crust then bake
2) Microwave vegatbles for two minutes
3) Cook noodles
4) Debone 1/2 of the chicken or use the can of chicken meat
5) Add everything to the cooked pie crust
6) Top with the uncooked pies crust
7) Use a knife to make a few openings in the pie crust
8) Use an egg-wash over the crust
9) Bake for 40 minutes at 350F

Serve in a bowl because that is the easiest thing to handle.
Total prep time is 10 minutes.
The total amount of actual "labor" is minimal.

You will have a great meal in one hour and left overs for a while! Use Zip Lock bags for the left overs. They will do well in the freezer for three months.

-Vic

Roasting any meat is always the easiest for me. I cook a baron of beef in a 1/2 cup of cheap white wine, 3/4 cup water, and about 1/2 of a package (mostly the onion bits) of dry Lipton's Onion soup mix. Use less wine and onion soup if less flavour is desired.

I cook it at 275 for 3 hrs (or until very tender and juice is gone). I buy sub-type buns, and OXO FRENCH DIP (mix with boiling water) to make Beef Dip. The kids love it, and if left-overs are wrapped in tin foil, are nice warmed in the oven the following day too.

I make a lot of soups with roasted meal bones too, but wouldn't be able to manage that without my trusty hand-held veggie chopper.

Homemade pizza is easy too. Buy pita bread, spagetti or pizza sauce, packaged cold cuts (salami/ham/pepperoni), grated cheese. Throw them together and bake for about 15 min @ 350.

I make a lot of meals that are fairly heavy on prep and ingredients, but I can freeze them to pull out any time I want; spagetti sauce, lasagna, chili, cabbage rolls, etc. I only have to cook full meals a couple of times a week, if I make enough of everything to freeze and pull out whenever as we want it.

Cherie