Almanac for Homemakers

Pressure Cooking Vegetables "In pressure cooking vegetables, follow the directions that came with your cooker, but learn to adjust cooking time to suit the quality of vegetable being cooked." A pressure cooker uses steam from water or broth to increase pressure inside the sealed cooker. The trapped steam increases the temperature. Once the pressured steam is released from the cooker you can safely remove the lid and finish prepping your meal. The first known pressure cooker was invented in 1679 by a French Physicist. In 1938, Presto released their pressure cooker with immediate success. Unfortunately, the first World War brought the need for aluminum to the war effort. A lot of companies couldn't get the aluminum they needed to produce products. After the war, pressure cookers would make an explosive comeback. Many manufactures were not making the cookers with consumer safety in mind. The pressure release valves would get clogged and BOOM! ...

Cooking Fresh Vegetables "Remove bruised, wilted, yellowed, or tough portions from fresh vegetables. Trim sparingly to avoid excessive loss of food and nutrients." It's summer time! That means that a lot of fresh produce is in season. You should be able to buy and keep fresh produce now for cooking rather than getting items canned. You might even save money on buying fresh now! Save getting canned items for fall and winter time. Try to buy veggies that you are planning to cook within a few days. Don't leave them to rot on your countertop or in your fridge. Here are some cooking tips from our Almanac: 1. Wash all vegetables before cooking. Especially leafy greens. They grow in the dirt so chances are you are going to find dirt. You can see in our Homemaker Heroine in the picture of the day! She is washing in a colander and lifting from the water, letting the dirty water to pour out. 2. To ensure the best flavor and textur...

Broil Fish Outside over a Charcoal Fire "It's time once again for cooking some of your meals outdoors over a charcoal fire. Fish is a natural for this form of cookery because it cooks so quickly." I love this picture of our Grill Master here. Men and grills are like the best visions of summer time. If you don't see a guy baking a cake, he is probably outside at the grill. Definitely with a cooler of beer nearby. Now in the picture you can see Grill Master has the fish in a contraption over the grill. These are commonly known as a "Grill Basket".  A grill basket helps hold your items in place so that they don't fall into the grill, landing on your charcoal. They can be used for fish, shrimp, vegetables, or other side dishes. You can buy large baskets that can cook many items at once, flipping them all over in one move that helps evenly cook your food. You can also cook fish on grilling planks. You can read all about ho...

Shop to Avoid Leftover Vegetables "Wouldn't it be great to avoid those containers of leftover food that tend to build up in a refrigerator? Here is the scoop. Leftovers are inevitable! I actually like to make extra just to torment my family with "Leftover Night". Their cries tell me that they love it. Another way to save money on this is to j ust go out to your garden and pick some flowers when you get a little hungry. But Really If you want to save some money on veggies here are some tips: 1/2 cup is the standard size of vegetable serving for an adult. 1/4 cup for kids. You can typically judge this amount from looking at your produce, but certain veggies change when you cook them. Take for instance spinach. This leafy green reduces a lot when cooked. You also only want to cook the leaves and not the stems (stems get chewy) So you will have some waste associated with your prep. Other veggies like legumes w...

Tips on Buying Lamb "A reference to "spring lamb"may make your mouth water - and well it should." Lamb is typically thought of as a seasonal meat with celebrations of Passover and Easter where lamb is usually eaten. A spring lamb is usually 3-5 months old so that the meat is very tender. Anything at the store that is labeled "LAMB" is a sheep that is a year or younger. These lambs are sometimes only milk fed. So keep these in mind as we keep talking about how to choose meet from a baby sheep. Meat from a lamb is taken from one month to one year. Lamb Chops, Leg of Lamb, and Lamb Shank are the most popular cuts. These cuts are perfect for dry-heat cooking, broiling, or roasting. You can find some delicious recipes here! Go ahead... Take a peek and eat one of these adorable babies You monsters.

How to Save Money and Energy in Oven Use "Efficient use of the kitchen oven can save a lot of electricity or gas, and thereby reduce your utility bills." Our Almanac post today is all about saving energy while you cook. After reading our 1970's version, I decided to get on that Google and see how we can save money in 2018. Really what I saw is a lot of common sense. There isn't a magical way to save money and energy when you cook. So here are some tips you might already be doing. Defrost You can defrost what you need before cooking. What a great idea. I had never considered this.... Cooking Use the correct size cooking pan or pot. Also use the correct kind of cooking surfaces. Not all are made the same. Be Clean Clean cooking surfaces. Remove grease and other soil from your pots and pans to help them cook evenly. Prep Have your meal prepping done and a plan made to more efficiently prepare a meal. ... Savi...

How to Clean and Dress Fish "Most fish sold in markets are cleaned and dressed. But sometimes you will have to do this yourself." You know, I'm just going to get this out of the way now. NO Nope Not gonna happen This isn't a pleasant thing to do. I have done it. It is Stinky, Sticky, and Scaly. One wrong move and you ruined dinner. But here is how our Almanac suggests you prepare your fish: Scaling Here is a video showing how easy it is! You know, for guys complaining about glitter from lady crafts, fish scales are like the glitter of fishermen. You basically take your knife and carefully scrape from the tail to the head of the fish and scales just pop off. They fly everywhere. Cleaning Prepare to just gag now. Cut open the fish from the vent to the head and take out the insides. Then cut out all the fins. Filleting Here is a guid to what is described below. You basically cut down the backbone of the fis...

How Does Your Kitchen Rate in Efficiency? "In a kitchen the sequence of work moves from storage to preparation, to cooking and serving." There are 3 centers of the kitchen: 1. Sink 2. Refrigerator 3. Range Each of these points should be part of a working triangle. Ponder for a moment how you function in the kitchen. You go from point to point to point. In between each of these points should be plenty of counter space. There should be counter space on either side of the sink and cooking area. Unrelated appliances should be out of the way. Put in a cabinet or shoved in a corner until you need to use them. I mean I love a well planned kitchen. But there are some kitchens where you can tell the actual cooking aspect was an after thought. Just look at this picture! Our Homemaker Heroine is having the worst time trying to, evidentially, not die in her horribly dysfunctional kitchen. If you hate your kitchen, maybe you just need t...

How to Buy Fish and How Much to Buy "Fish are sold in various ways Some forms are ready to cook. Others need cleaning. How much you should buy for your family depends on the form in which you buy it." I am a simple girl. I prefer my fish already cleaned, gutted, and scaled. Just have it ready to go from package to pan and we are good. And as far as family goes, my kids won't eat fish so I always buy enough for just two adults. Sometimes cooking something special for just my husband and I makes it feel like we are on some mini date. It's really sweet and sad at the same time eating steaks next to three kids having hot dogs. So let's go to the meat of this post. Whole or Round Fish is just as it was caught and needs to be cleaned before cooking. Drawn A drawn fish has been cleaned but must be scaled. Dressed Dressed fish have been broth cleaned and scaled. Fillets Sides of the fish that have been cut from the ...