Here are a few ideas for staying cooler in the kitchen on hot summer days.

Is it lunch? Is it dessert? Is it a quick energy boost on a hot day? It’s all of these, and more.

Salads can be so much more than just lettuce and tomatoes. Here are some uncooked veggies that can be added to any salad, or they can BE the salad. No lettuce required.

Gazpacho is a cold soup with Spanish origins, traditionally tomato-based, made with aromatic herbs and vegetables, like onion, mild to hot chiles, garlic, cucumber, olive oil, basil, parsley, vinegar and /or lemon juice. It’s bright flavors and colors make cold gazpacho a warm weather favorite.

Agua Fresca translates to “Fresh Water” or “Cool Water”.

You don’t have to pick through your fish at the table. Get the bones out before cooking for a more pleasant dining experience.

To wash a solid wood cutting board be sure to wash and rinse both sides.

Take an hour or two to get your kitchen ready for the freshness of Spring with some simple cleaning tips.

Use waxed cloths like Bee’s Wrap for wrapping, storing, and transporting sandwiches, cut fruits and vegetables, and for covering cups, bowls, and small containers.

Powdered Cinnamon in French toast sometimes clumps and doesn’t play well with other ingredients. Here are a few methods to keep cinnamon from floating and sticking together in French toast egg mix.

Add depth and flavor to your soup with Parmesan rind. After you use the cheese, you can save the hard end piece, or rind, in the freezer to add to soup. Just drop it in your simmering soup to extract the delicious flavor. Remove rinds before serving.

Put a damp kitchen towel under the cutting board for safety and easier cleanup.

Make soup stock with clean vegetable parts that might normally be thrown away, such as tomato tops and bottoms, carrot peels, onion tops and skins, garlic parts, pepper tops, celery leaves and ends, herb stems, etc.

When wrapping food or cooking with foil, use parchment paper between the food and the foil.

If you still have green tomatoes on plants when a freeze is coming, you can save your tomatoes and eat them as they ripen.

Make your own powders for super concentrated flavor in cooking hot and cold foods… soups, salads, and everything in between.

Use bowl covers for outdoor dining at any event, and to prevent spills while getting there.

Use empty paper butter wrappers to grease baking pans for cookies, brownies, and cakes.

An Easy way to Remove Corn Husks and Silk

Use a sharp knife to cut off both ends of the whole raw corn cob and then peel the husk off from the bottom up.

No one likes to constantly be wiping herbs off of their knife while cutting. First of all, make sure the knife is sharp and clean. Here are two more ways to make chopping herbs easier and more pleasant: