The best way to keep bread is at room temperature. After 2-3 days, you should wrap the bread well, put it in a freezer bag and freeze it. Never store any bread in the refrigerator, because the cold temperature (38º-40º) accelerates the crystallization of the starches, causing the bread to stale much faster. When I bake a bread, as soon as it cools completely, I cut it, freeze half immediately and keep the other half cut-side down on a cutting board covered with a clean cloth. When that’s consumed, I take out the frozen half, defrost it at room temperature or wrap it in foil and bake in a 450º oven for 10 minutes and it tastes just as good as the day it was baked.
Category: Recipes
Oven Baked Spicy Crispy French Fries
Everyone loves french fries, but deep frying at home is messy and the clean up sucks. These oven baked fries are just as tasty, a little bit healthier and way easier to make and clean up after than the deep-fried variety. The secret is the pre-soak that removes some of the starch and helps the fries to crisp up on the outside while staying tender and moist on the inside. Pair these with my Oven Baked Buffalo Chicken Wings and you have a great finger-licking good, faux deep-fried, quasi-healthy meal that everyone will love. If you prefer thinner, crispier garlicky oven baked fries, please click here.
Please click here for the printable recipe.
Tip of the Day – Freeze Tomato Paste for the Sauce of the Future
I use tomato paste quite often in recipes to thicken up and give great flavor to pasta sauces, chili and soups, but seldom (and by seldom, I mean never) need an entire can at once. Simple solution…take an approx. 8″ square piece of plastic wrap, drop a 1 tablespoon dollop in the center and fold up the sides and twist closed. Stick these in a freezer bag and place in the toaster (just kidding…in the freezer), and, in the future, when a recipe calls for tomato paste, unwrap what you need (each one weighs about 1/2 oz.) and drop them in…it works great and there’s no waste. And, since they look like little hearts, they also make a somewhat disgusting Valentine’s Day gift.
Tip of the Day – Make a Great Super-Melty Cheeseburger
When making cheeseburgers (btw, always use 80/20 chopped meat for the best results), if you like your cheese really melty, when your burgers are done the way you like them, top them with the cheese of your choice, drop a tablespoon of water into the pan and cover immediately. The resulting steam will melt the cheese in seconds, and you’ll have the perfect super-melty cheeseburger. Just top it with some caramelized onions, and you’ll be in cheeseburger paradise!
Tip of the Day – Refrigerate Your Banana
Bananas can be refrigerated for several days to slow down the ripening process. Make sure the bananas are ripe before you refrigerate them. The skin will quickly turn black, but the fruit will remain firm and tasty for up to five days. If it starts to get soft, just freeze it, and it will be perfect for making smoothies or, when defrosted, Killer Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.
Tip of the Day – Paper Towel Substitute for Grease Absorbtion
Instead of using layers of paper towels to absorb grease from fried foods, take a few pages of newspaper and top that with one paper towel. Then put the bacon, or whatever you want to degrease, on top of the paper towel. The towel absorbs the grease, which is then sucked down and absorbed by the underlying newspaper. This not only conserves paper towels (newspapers are a lot cheaper), but it’s also is a great way to repurpose old newspaper…Eat bacon, Save a Tree!
Crispy Baked Kale Chips – Another Simply Delicious Healthy Snack
Another simple, healthy snack that you’re guaranteed to love – a great alternative to potato chips (although they’re really good, too!)
- Tear the kale leaves into approx. 2″ bite size pieces (discard any thick stems)
- Wash and dry the pieces thoroughly (a salad spinner is best for this)
- Toss the dried leaves with the ¼ cup olive oil and ¾ tsp of kosher salt, coating all pieces well
- Place them on a baking sheet and bake in a 350Ëš oven for about 10-13 minutes ’til crumbly and crisp
- Let cool and serve…
If you like, when you remove them from the oven, you can also sprinkle the crispy kale chips with some lime zest, cayenne, lemon pepper, Parmesan, chile powder, garlic powder or just about any other flavor or mix of spices, to add a personal touch.
Crispy Roasted Garbanzo Beans – A Simply Delicious Healthy Snack
These are addictive…healthy, crunchy and deliciously addictive…and very easy to make. All you do is:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Drain one 15 oz can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
- Rinse with water and dry thoroughly with paper towels
- Toss the dried garbanzos with 1½ Tbsps of olive oil
- Roast on a sheet pan for 25-35 minutes until the beans are golden brown and crunchy (start checking at 20 minutes)
- Sprinkle with salt and whatever spices you like (try a little cayenne, garlic powder and onion powder…Spicy!)
- Let cool and serve…Simply delicious!
Tip of the Day – Juicing a Lemon or Lime
When you need to juice a lemon or lime, place it on a hard surface and roll it back and forth under your palm, applying pressure, for about a minute before juicing. The helps break down the cells and will result in more juice with less effort.
Sharp Kitchen Knives and How to Keep Them That Way for FREE!
We have previously discussed how important a sharp knife is, and the best and cheapest way to sharpen your knives (with the Accusharp Knife and Tool Sharpener)…now here is the best and cheapest way to keep them sharp. Every time you put an unprotected knife in a drawer you run the risk of ruining the edge. It just takes a little bump to bend or roll the delicate edge of a sharp knife, and although honing can straighten it out, it doesn’t sharpen the edge, and over time the knife will start to dull, until one day it slips off the food and slices off your thumb (ok…that’s a little dramatic, but I’m trying to make a point here). Of course, you can buy knife guards, but it’s exceptionally easy to make them at home. All you do is take some cardboard (the thin kind from a gift box works great, but any cardboard will do), cut a long strip that’s the length of the knife’s blade and a little more then twice as wide as the blade, fold it in half length-wise to fit the knife, and just staple evenly down the open edge. Slip this on whenever you store your knives, and they’ll stay sharp no matter how much they rattle around in that overstuffed drawer.