Cooking Tips 10 Incredibly Easy Fixes for Messy Kitchen Mistakes ...

1. Set up Ingredients before You Cook

I totally never do this. I usually am grabbing all of my ingredients as I cook. The first of 10 cooking tips that I suggest though is get a little more organized and set out all of your ingredients before you start cooking! This will help you save time and will actually help ensure that you are using the right ingredients – you know that salt and sugar look the same right?

2. Give Yourself Enough Time

I am definitely guilty of this mistake. Cooking tips 101 – give yourself enough time to cook! If you're trying to rush dinner, don't cook a recipe that is going to take hours to make and start it an hour before dinner. Instead, tackle something that is going to fit within your allotted time frame. Rushing a recipe can only end in disaster – remember that!

3. 'Don't Crowd the Mushrooms'

For those of you that have seen Julie & Julia, you know that crowding things like mushrooms, other vegetables and even potatoes will cause them to burn on the outside but become completely raw on the inside. If you have a ton of veggies you are trying to cook – use a bigger pan!

4. Hot Pans

If you are not getting the perfectly seared scallops that you're hoping for, it might be because your pan isn't hot enough! Are you the type that just throws your meat right into a cold pan? Give your pan an extra couple minutes on the heat before you throw your ingredients in – it'll make all the difference!

5. Use Fresh Ingredients

This is one of the main cooking tips that I am completely guilty of. Do you have a ton of old ingredients in your cabinets? Maybe that baking soda from 2009? Well ladies, throw it out and buy new because anything older than 6 months might not taste all that great in your awesome food!

6. Keep an Eyes on the Veggies

One of the biggest challenges I first had when I started cooking was I kept overcooking my veggies! That is the quickest way to ruin a meal and it can be devastating! So how can you stop overcooking your carrots, broccoli and green beans? Cook everything in separate pots and add in a bit of water. Once the water is boiling, shock the veggies in ice water. It will stop the cooking process and will stop them from overcooking. This is definitely one of the cooking tips I am going to use tomorrow!

7. Oversalting Remedy

It's super easy to oversalt. I've oversalted so many things – without ever knowing that there was a remedy to it! If you've added a bit too much salt to your sauce, counter it with some sugar or even some lemon juice. It'll kick the salt and still taste delicious!

8. Overcooked Meat Mystery

If you like steak, you've probably defrosted it in the fridge and pulled it right out to cook it. Once you start to hear it sizzle, you see that the outside gets done really fast but the inside turns out completely raw. How you fix this mistake is cook your meat at room temperature. Take it out about an hour before you start to cook. It'll make all the difference!

9. Avoiding Lumps

Recently, the BH and I made ourselves our very first pumpkin roll – but our batter turned out so lumpy! What we were missing was the sifting part of the baking process. If you are looking to avoid lumps in all of your baked goods and gravy, this is one of the few cooking tips you should take to heart!

10. Use a Measuring Cup

I have to admit: I'm not a measuring cup user. Until recently. I used to measure using a small cup and just using my own judgment until I really started to get into baking cakes and pastries. If you are looking to make an awesome dessert, it's important to use your measuring cup and be exact!

Having the right cooking tips and tricks in your back pocket can really help make sure that your meal comes out perfect! I know that these cooking tips totally helped me stop burning my steak and overcooking my veggies! What about you ladies – what cooking tips do you have for me? Or what about recipes? I'm looking for a good tomato sauce recipe!

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