As the leaves and the temperatures drop, I am eager again to turn on the stove, tie the food-stained apron around my waist and awake my cast-iron soup pot from hibernation. I was making squash soup other day, using my kitchen glove to roll the garlic cloves to loosen the skin and thought about how many tricks I’ve developed, modified and stolen during quarantine! Here are 11 of the less commonly known for your enjoyment...

11 Fun Hacks for Your Kitchen:

1. Use kitchen rubber glove to get skin off garlic. Put a glove on, roll the clove on a board pressing down firmly with the heel of your hand, the rubber on the glove easily loosens the skin.
2. Use a rubber band to take tops off jars. Put the rubber band around the lid of the jar (thicker rubber bands work best), and turn. The band adds grip. (For more hacks to deal with hard to open containers, see here)
3. Use salt to clean cast iron pans. Sprinkle the salt in, add a little bit of water, quick scrub with a scrub brush and you’re done.
4. Use salt to clean up greasy stuff like cheese. Lets say you’ve grated cheese and your 2-year old grabs a handful and tosses it on the floor. Because of the grease, it is impossible to sweep up, so sprinkle some salt onto the cheese (which absorbs the grease) and you can sweep it up/wipe it up, immediately.
5. Put oil on your fingers when using goat cheese in a recipe. You can now handle the cheese without it sticking to your fingers.
6. If you cut a melon before it is ripe, it WILL continue to ripen. Just put some plastic wrap over the cut area and let it sit another day or so. But melon unfortunately, won’t un-ripen. So if you’re going to err, err on cutting too early.
7. You don’t need to pre-bake a piece crust. I used to and have found no difference.
8. You can freeze milk. If you’ve got milk in the fridge and you’re going to be away for a few days, freeze it. It will thaw beautifully.
9. Basil keeps best in a tightly sealed bag. If the basil had roots, I used to store it in a flower vase or glass, but it keeps best for about 5 days if sealed super tightly in a bag in the fridge.
10. This one I love (and stole from Wonky Pie!). Use the round lid of a plastic deli container for cutting multiple cherry tomatoes (for a salad or other dish). Lay them flat in the top of the plastic lid (8 or so tomatoes), lay your hand across the tomatoes to hold them firmly and using a serrated knife, slice cross-sectionally. Once slice and you’re done.
11. Press the cling wrap tightly ONTO the food not just on top of the bowl. The food will keep far better if there is minimal air circulating around the food.

Any other fun tips you'd like to add?