13 Time-Saving Thoughts for Cooks

Thirteen is my luckiest number, so here are that many ways of saving a little time in the kitchen. If, like me, you're often prepping food in a rush, there might be something here which is worth a go.

 1  Salad dressing: put all ingredients into a small jam jar, seal and shake vigorously (the 
         jar that is). Will keep well in the fridge for a while.

 2  Grate cheese onto a piece of kitchen paper or greaseproof (rather than a chopping 
         board), then fold and pour.

Strawberry huller

 3  Prep strawberries just before they're needed: use a huller (cheap like the one above, or
         slightly smarter, e.g. from Lakeland), then wash.

 4  If spreading Marmite in baking, for example onto puff pastry, put the required amount
         into a small microwaveable bowl and microwave for 10 seconds. It'll be runnier
         and easier to spread, and will go further - usually needs to be used sparingly anyway.

 5  Use scissors to top & tail gooseberries. If they have that mildew thing, soak in water
         for a while then just rub the skins clear. Scissors are also quickest for 'chopping'
         herbs or dried chillies.

 6  To skin tomatoes quickly, slash the skins a couple of times then put into a bowl of
         just-boiled water for a couple of minutes. The flesh expands and, hopefully, bursts
         out of the skins.

 7  When a cooked dish needs reheating in the oven (e.g. pastry based which would go
         soggy in the microwave), it's still worth microwaving for a couple of minutes while
         the oven heats up - saves quite a useful amount of time.

 8  Freeze freshly washed (and patted dry) mint, thyme, sage or parsley leaves whole.
        When needed, take the amount out and just crumble it straight away.

 9  If freezing a large quantity of fresh veg, prepare the approx number of freezer bags first.
         Put the portion size you want in a bag and weigh it, then duplicate the weight for
         other bags until all the veg is packed. Saves time judging the portion each time.

10 I've mentioned this one before: when a recipe says to rub butter into flour, I find it still
         works if you use melted butter from the microwave and just mix it into the flour. If
         you try this, it might be best to experiment first! It can same time, effort and mess.

11 An oldie but worth a mention: when cooking on the hob, use a lid. Boils more quickly
         and needs slightly lower heat to maintain cooking, saving time and fuel.

12 Use a potato peeler to make ribbons from courgettes, then marinade them in dressing -
         no need to cook. Same for raw, peeled carrots.

13 To make biscuit crumbs, for example for a cheesecake or banoffee pie, put the whole
         biscuits into a large polythene bag and use a rolling pin to crush. Quicker than
         getting out the blender then washing and putting it away.

So that's my thirteen. If you carry out each one just once, you should save enough time to make a lemon drizzle cake. That's what I'd do.

The Two-Pound Diet Rule at Christmas!

For anyone keeping an eye on the scales all year, here's a reminder of ten ways to help ensure that you don't put on more than two pounds over the holiday. This is a very manageable amount for sorting out later, and it's a bit of a mantra of mine.

At Parties

 1  Don't stand close to the food table. Looking at the food stimulates the appetite, and
          watching others helping themselves encourages you to do the same. 'Foodology'.

 2  Alternate alcoholic drinks with soft, a favourite being sparkling mineral water with a dash
          of fruit juice. Or a clear fruit juice such as cranberry.

 3  Don't fill a wine glass more than two-thirds, and don't top up until the glass is empty.

 4  Put a limit on canapes based on puff pastry. Usually great, but very calorific and don't
           fill you up.

by D.L.
via flickr.com

The Great Christmas Lunch (vegetarian type)

 5  Nut roasts are back in favour, as their fat is apparently 'good fat', but it's filling so a
          small helping goes a long way.

 6  Rather than a cream-based sauce, consider onion gravy - fry finely chopped onion in
          just a little olive oil for a few minutes, add a little soft brown sugar and continue to
          cook for another few minutes to caramelise, then add stock (e.g. from Marigold
          low-salt bouillon powder) and a shake of soy sauce and simmer 10 minutes. Mix
          a dessertspoon of cornflour with a little water to a paste, add to pan, and continue
          to heat gently, while stirring, until the gravy thickens.

 7  Instead of pure cream for desserts like pavlova, creme fraiche mixed with thick plain
          yoghurt does well. Same goes for serving with Christmas pudding instead of
          brandy butter.

 8  As a rough guide, 3 chocs from the Quality Street/Roses tin contain 100-130 cals.
          Rather than take one, then another, and so on, take your three favourites straight
          away and eat them slowly. Or four.

 9  If your group takes liqueurs after the lunch, a brandy - or other clear spirit with diet
          mixer - is lighter than one of those gorgeous cream liqueurs. Sadly.

10 Best to avoid the 'Could I manage one more potato?', no matter how others might
          encourage it. A good mantra is, 'Could I manage without it?'.

Of course this isn't meant to be kill-joy - there's plenty of joy around for most of us at Christmas. But so many people weigh themselves after the holiday and feel despondent about the extra weight. Aiming to stick to a max of two pounds extra avoids this without being too much of a wet blanket. It also means that it won't take much effort to lose it afterwards.

Happy Christmas, everyone!