7 Cooking Hacks and Kitchen Tips

Did you know, that you don’t actually need pre-purchased cake flour to make light-as-a-feather pastries. Instead, make your own! Measure out 1 cup of all-purpose flour, then remove 2 tablespoons. Add 2 tablespoons cornstarch and whisk to combine.

Okay, so your sugar cookie dough turned out a little sticky. How do you keep it from sticking to your countertop (and clinging to your rolling pin) when you roll it out? Wax paper to the rescue! For minimal mess, place a sheet of wax paper underneath dough before rolling — and layer an additional sheet on top to keep your rolling pin squeaky clean.

So maybe you don’t have a fancy-schmancy espresso machine with attached milk steamer. We can’t help you on the espresso front, but we can tell you how to get frothy, creamy, delicious milk foam on the cheap! All you need is a small jar with a lid. Fill the jar with a little milk (no more than halfway) and shake what your mama gave you (or, you know, your leftover jam jar) until the milk has doubled in size. Pop off the lid and microwave the milk for about 30 seconds. Voila! Frothed milk.

For those times when you’re really roughing it without a coffee maker, there’s still hope for getting your caffeine fix! Boil coffee grounds in a pot of water (use the same amount of coffee and water you would for a coffee machine). Remove from the heat and let the grounds settle to the bottom (4 or 5 minutes), then ladle the coffee off the top of the pot into cups. Reheating and storing leftovers.

Wait, don’t toss that extra rice, pizza toppings, or grilled chicken! Instead of throwing leftovers in the trash, get savvy about how to repurpose extra bits and pieces into other meals like casseroles and frittatas. Here’s a handy guide with plenty of recipe ideas.

When reheating pizza or baked goods, place a cup of water in the microwave alongside them to add moisture to the air (therefore keeping the food from drying out).

Dug into a cake and didn’t finish the whole thing? Save it from drying out by securing a slice of bread to the exposed portions with toothpicks. The bread holds in the cake’s moisture.