Aluminium foil...different uses

• Sharpen the scissors – If due to constant use of your scissor, it has become blunt. Then take some aluminum foil and make 6 to 7 neat folds and cut them together with the scissor. It will sharpen your scissor again.
• Jewelry cleaning – Wrap your gold and silver jewellery in an aluminum foil and keep it in solution of salt and water for overnight. Your Jewelry will come out shining the next morning.
• Fix loose batteries – If the springs in your MP3 player have become loose, fix some aluminum foil to them and place their batteries. It won’t let your batteries fall again.
• Soften brown sugar– If the brown sugar has become hardened and you need to soften it up, then take some hardened brown sugar and wrap it in a foil. Bake it at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 5 minutes.

1. Frosting a cake but you’ve run out of pastry bags? Just grab a double thickness of aluminum foil and roll it into a cone shape, leaving a small opening at the point. Fill with frosting of spreading consistency. Twist the top to close the cone and use the device to make pretty frosting designs on your cake. Admittedly, this whole process is easier with a plastic zip-close bag with a corner snipped off, but when aluminum foil is all you’ve got it can be a lifesaver!

2. Sharpen your scissors. In between professional sharpenings (or for those 99 cent pairs of scissors that you don’t want to pay to have sharpened), use aluminum foil to keep your scissors in top form. Cutting through 6-8 layers of aluminum foil will improve the cutting surface of most scissors.

3. Make an Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie. You know, for protection from mind control enemies.

4. Shine up rusty chrome. With a bit of water on a wadded-up piece of aluminum foil, you can rub most rust spots off of chrome car parts.

5. Keep your oven clean. Tired of scraping burned-on food out of the bottom of your oven? Line it with aluminum foil before making something particularly messy. Don’t leave it in there permanently, however, because it can lead to oven damage over time.

6. Protect the heating element in your electric oven. For those times when you have to scrub burned-on crud out of your oven, cover the heating element with long strips of aluminum foil before spraying the inside of the oven with oven cleaner.

7. Make your soap last longer. Put a piece of aluminum foil on the bottom of your bar of soap to keep it from sitting in a puddle of water and wearing away quickly.

8. Make interesting cakes. Novelty cake pans in odd shapes are expensive. Get the same effect by using a regular cake pan but making a shaped liner for the inside. Make sure the liner is at least as tall as the edges of the pan and several thicknesses so it will hold its shape. This makes it easy to make that snowman or heart-shaped cake without spending a lot of money on a new pan.

9. Make a sun box for seedlings. If your plants are growing crooked or looking less than healthy, cut off the top and one side of a cardboard box, then line the bottom and remaining sides with aluminum foil. Place your plant inside and put the entire operation in the window with the open side facing the window. The sun will reflect off of the foil and cause your plant to grow up straight.

10. Make a portrait reflector. Forget those super-expensive professional photography reflectors. Just cover a sturdy piece of cardboard with aluminum foil and you’ll have an excellent light reflector for portraits and still lifes.

11. Keep birds out of your fruit trees. Hang twisted strips of aluminum foil all over your fruit trees using fishing line. The light reflections and the sound will keep birds away from your fruit.

12. Protect saplings. Rodents and other animals sometimes chew on young trees in the winter. Protect your saplings by covering their bases with aluminum foil. Remember to change the covering periodically as the tree grows.

13. Re-soften hard brown sugar. Many people put hard brown sugar in the microwave to soften it up, but this can actually backfire and make the sugar harden even more. Instead, wrap the block of hardened sugar in some aluminum foil and bake in a 300° (Fahrenheit) oven for 5 minutes.

14. Keep the bottom of your fireplace or charcoal grill from becoming encrusted with soot. Line the bottom of your fireplace or grill with aluminum foil before starting a fire, then dispose of the foil after the fire is out and the coals are completely cooled.

15. Protect your furniture. Pets can’t stand the feeling or the sound of crinkling aluminum foil. If you want them to stay off of your furniture, cover the seats with clean aluminum foil whenever you’re not using the furniture. Your pets will learn within a couple of days to avoid sitting up there. You can also prevent them from scratching or biting furniture legs by covering them in aluminum foil.

16. Avoid moving the heavy furniture. When you want to quickly shampoo your carpets but don’t want to lug all of the furniture out of the room, simply cover the legs with aluminum foil to avoid getting shampoo on them.

17. Although we haven’t tested this tip (and it seems a bit dubious), it’s said that you canput a wadded-up ball of aluminum foil in your dryer with a load of clothes to reduce static cling.

18. Get creative and make fun sculptures with your aluminum foil.

19. Remove daily buildup on silver jewelry. With some common kitchen items you can make a simple but effective way to clean your jewelry at home.

20. If your TV and DVD player are stacked one on top of the other, you may find the picture is a bit fuzzy. This often happens when the electromagnetic fields from both devices interfere with each other. Place a sheet of aluminum foil between them to cut down on the interference.

21. When ironing, put a piece of aluminum foil under the ironing board cover.The foil will reflect the heat from the iron so you can essentially iron both sides at once.

22. Steam your silk or wool garments by placing a piece of aluminum foil on top of the ironing board and under the garment. Pass the iron over the garment from a few inches above the fabric while holding down the steam button. The steam will remove wrinkles without harming the cloth with direct heat.

23. Use it as wrapping paper in a pinch. You can glue or tape interesting cut-out pictures onto the aluminum foil to make it even more personal.

24. Make interesting Easter eggs.

25. Reflect heat into your house. Put a layer of aluminum foil behind your radiator when it is off and completely cool. When the radiator is turned on, more of the heat will be directed into the living area and less will be absorbed into the wall behind the radiator.

26. Keep pie crusts from burning. This may be one of the oldest aluminum foil tricks in the book, but it’s a good one. When baking a pie, cover the edges of the crust with aluminum foil at the very end of the baking time to keep it from browning too much.

27. Make a cool noisemaker with your kids.

28. Make a solar cooker. You’ll cut down on energy costs and experience a traditional way of cooking.

29. Use strips of aluminum foil to wrap your hair, then coil them up to make impromptu curlers.

30. Cover doorknobs and hinges with aluminum foil to avoid having to take them off while painting.

Bonus Tip: In many locations, aluminum foil can be recycled along with all of the other household recycling. When you’ve used it for cooking and all of the other interesting projects listed here, just throw it into the bin along with all of your other recyclable materials to keep it out of the waste stream.

• Make special pan cakes – You can make a special valentine’s cake or a teddy bear birthday cake or whatever shape you may like by using aluminum foils. Take a double thickened aluminum foil and fold it into the desired shapes and fill it with the cake batter and bake it.
• Polish silver – If your silverware has lost its shine, then you can create an ion exchange molecular reaction. In this reaction, aluminum will act as a catalyst. This method will require a pan lined with aluminum foil filled with cold water. Mix 2 teaspoons of salt and then drop your tarnished silverware in it and let it sit for 3 minutes. Now, rinse off with clean water and pat dry. This will polish your silverware and will give a shine to it.
• Scrub your pots – When you run out of scrub pads, then crumple up some aluminum foils and make its use to clean your pots.

Kitchen tips

Wipe your kitchen platform with vinegar, there will be no ants on your platform.


How to make dosa soft and crispier :- Add little sugar and besan in dosa batter. Every 1 kg batter should have 1 tbsp. of besan and 1 tsp. of sugar.

Kitchen Tips

Store chili powder for longer By keeping a piece of asafoetida in the same container you can store chili powder for longer.


Apply salt, tumeric and wheat flour to fish, chicken or mutton and leave it for an hour or half. Wash off thoroughly before cooking. It will take away the undesired smell in fish or meat.


Place unpeeled ginger in a sealable plastic bag and store in crisper for up to two weeks. If you need to store fresh ginger long-term, it can be frozen in an airtight container.


If you cook Indian food, you are bound to get turmeric stains on your clothes at one time or another. The good news is they're really easy to take out. Wash the stained clothes/kitchen linen immedeately in cool water and soap. Dry in the sun and the stain will fade to a very pale pink. Wash the article again and the stain will be gone.


After peeling onions cut in half and soak in water for about 10 minutes before cutting to avoid crying.


When very finely chopped greens or chillies etc. are required in a recipe, use a pair of sharp Scissors instead of a knife. The job will be made faster, more efficient and safe to cut


Put tomatoes in a large bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave it for about 5 minutes. Take out one by one, piercing them with a sharp knife, the skin will peel off easily.


If you want to extract the last bit of ghee from a packet, deep freeze the packet, cut open on two sides and slide the ghee easily into a container


Mash about six garlic cloves into ½ cup butter, add chopped chives or parsley. Form into logs, wrap in plastic and freeze. Slice as needed to melt into meats, vegetables or use as a spread


preserve ginger garlic paste Fry them in oiil before grinding and store in the same oil.

Kitchen Tip

Sharpen the blades of your blunt kitchen knives/scissors instantly by rubbing them on the underside of a china plate. The blades will become as sharp as new.

To preserve the white colour in cauliflower and cabbage while cooking, add a teaspoon of milk or milk powder.

How to Grate Ginger

Fresh ginger is a powerful spice used in many Indian, Caribbean and Asian dishes. The tan knobby roots are easily found in today’s supermarkets on the fresh produce aisle. Due to its powerful taste, most recipes will require you to grate the ginger before adding it to a dish or marinade. Grating ginger can be difficult because of the dense fibers. The best instrument to use for grating ginger is a Micro planer or rasp. A standard kitchen grater can be used on the smallest grate available, but watch out and don’t scrape your fingers. The small Micro planer can also be used to grate other fresh spices such as garlic, cinnamon bark and nutmeg.

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Chopping board or similar clean work surface
• Grater
• Small paring knife
• Fresh ginger root

1. • 1
     Purchase fresh ginger root in small quantities because it does not take much to enhance a dish. Once home, wrap securely in plastic wrap and store in the freezer. Freezing the root will make it much easier to grate.
   • 2
     When you are ready to cook with the ginger, remove it from the freezer and plastic wrap.
   • 3
     While the ginger is still frozen, peel the tough outer skin from the ginger using a paring knife and discard.
   • 4
     Rub the ginger in an up and down motion on your grater. There will be fibers which do not grate down. Just remove them and discard when you have grated the amount you need for your recipe.
   • 5
     Wrap any remaining ginger in the plastic wrap and return it to the freezer where it will keep for up to two months.

How to Whip Cream

Source - Sharp Hand Mixer

Cream, beaters and mixing bowl must be thoroughly chilled.

Begin whipping process at lowest speed setting ( 1 ) to minimize spatter. As the cream begins to thicken gradually increase the speed setting to whip ( maximum 5 ).

Whipping time will vary according to the cream’s fat content, freshness and temperature.

Splitting Coconut into perfect halves

How to split coconut into perfect halves ?

Have a you faced problems splitting the coconut into perfect halves? Here is a solution.

Immerse the coconut in water for 5 - 10 minutes. Then break the coconut. There is high chance of coconut breaking into perfect halves.

Cleaning a Sandwich maker

Always unplug the sandwich maker before you start cleaning it.

Let the sandwich maker cool down properly in open position.

First remove excess oil from the plates with a piece of kitchen paper before cleaning.

Clean the cooking plates with a moist soft cloth or sponge.

Use a wooden or plastic spatula to remove stick food residues (for example solidified cheese) from the cooking plate.

Never use abrasive pads to clean the cooking plates, as they will damage the non - stick coating.



Storage tips for Eggs:

Keep eggs in the main part of the refrigerator, which is cooler than the shelves on the inside of the door. Store the pointed end of the egg down, so that the yolk remains centered in the shell away from the air pocket at the larger end. Leave eggs in their original dated carton to keep track of when you bought them. Refrigerated eggs can be safely for up to 3 weeks.

Calorie content:

A large egg contain about 70 calories , 6 g of protein, 5 g of fat ( of which less than 2 g is saturated fat ), and about 190 mg of cholesterol.

Storage Ideas

Kitchen Tip



Source - Femina Handy Hints



An easy, effective way of greasing a tawa / frying pan for making Dosas (Polo) is by using a half- slice onion dipped in oil. Hold the onion by piercing with a fork.

Storage tip for Salt:

Source - Idealhome

To avoid moisture from setting into your table salt, drop a few grains of rice into salt shaker.

Storage ideas for kitchen:

Source - Idealhome

Is that whisk nowhere to be found when the sauce comes to the boil? To avoid culinary disasters, keep utensils within arm's reach. Try a ceramic vase next to the stove for wooden spoons, tongs and spatulas. Hooks attached to a rod under your cabinets (or on the wall), help hang implements, ladles and slotted spoons within easy grasp.

Cooking tip for noodles:



Always heat enough water and wait till it boils, before adding the noodles.

The noodles should be completely immersed in water. It is best to add salt to noodles cooking in water shortly before it comes to a boil - salt adds flavor and ensures firm strands.

You can add a teaspoon of oil so that the noodles don't stick.

 Serve noodles immediately to keep them from getting sticky and soggy.

Smart tip for Sponge Cake:



For a healthier sponge cake, add a big spoon of honey to the batter and see the difference.

Microwave Tips

Microwave cooking tips

Source - Femina Magazine

When removing a lid or a plastic wrap from hot, microwave food, make sure you lift it from the end of the dish away from you, in order to avoid being scalded by the escaping steam.

It is dangerous to use narrow - necked bottles or jars in a microwave oven, as pressure build - up during cooking, may cause them to explode.

Pierce fruits like tomatoes, plums or other soft fruits, which have a membrane or skin than can burst while cooking.

Fried foods like samosas, when reheated, do not remain crisp and French fries tend to get soggy.

Sweet dishes and bread rolls reheat quickly. Bread rolls, sandwiches, cakes, pizzas and chapatis should be wrapped in paper towels or cloth napkins. The paper or cloth will absorb excess moisture and promote even heating.

Mustard seeds do not splutter in a microwave oven, so do not be surprised if they continue to look the same when you are preparing tempering.

A microwave cooks food using its own moisture, so reduce the liquid used by almost half the normal quantity.

Never use aluminum foil to cover food completely, as the foil will reflect the microwave energy away from the food. Foil can, however, be used to cover lean areas of the food to prevent overcooking. Foil should never touch the walls of the oven.


Health tip

Source - Betterhomesandgardens

Orange juice to your aid - So you grab a fast food meal every now and then, but feel guilty about it? Just be sure to have some orange juice along with the meal. According to the researchers at the University of Buffalo, US, orange juice decreases a meal’s harmful effects by controlling the increase in levels of free radicals from unhealthy foods. Also, orange juice is an anti - fat elixir. While it can help limit the unhealthy effects of a fatty meal, don’t make junk food a habit.

Baking tip :


Source - Goodhousekeeping


The temperature drops by 12 * C every time the oven door is opened, so check your bakes through the oven window.


Cooking tip for Rice:


Add a few drops of lemon juice to the water before boiling rice to make the grains water.


Source - Goodhousekeeping Magazine

Kitchen Tips

Almonds: To remove the skin of almonds easily, soak them in hot water for 15-20 minutes.

Ants: Putting 3-4 cloves in the sugar container will keep the ants at bay.

Biscuits: If you keep a piece of blotting paper at the bottom of the container, it will keep biscuits fresh for a longer time.

Butter: Avoid the use of butter. If it is essential to use, use a butter containing low saturated fat or with plant stanols (which avoid absorption of cholesterol by our body) or similar substitutes.

Apples: Apply some lemon juice on the cut surface of the apple to avoid browning. They will look fresh for a longer time.

Banana: Apply mashed banana over a burn on your body to have a cooling effect.

Bee and Scorpion Sting Relief: Apply a mixutre of 1 pinch of chewing tobacco and 1 drop of water. Mix and apply directly and immediately to the sting; cover with bandaid to hold in place. Pain will go away in just a few short mintues. [submitted by Pam R, pr1190@yahoo.com]

Bitter Gourd (Karela): Slit Karelas at the middle and apply a mixture of salt, wheat flour and curd all round. Keep aside for 1/2 an hour and then cook.
Stuffed Karela

Celery: To keep celery fresh for long time, wrap it in aluminum foil and place in the refrigerator.

Burnt Food: Place some chopped onion in the vessel having burnt food, pour boiling water in it, keep for 5 minutes and then clean.

Chili Powder: Keeping a small piece of hing (asafoetida) in the same container will store chili powder for long time.

Chopping: Use a wooden board to chop. It will not blunt the knife. Don't use a plastic board, small plastic pieces may go with the vegetables.

Coriander/Mint: You can use dried coriander and mint leaves in coarse powder form in vegetable curry or chutney, if fresh ones are not available.
To keep them fresh for a longer time, wrap them in a muslin cloth and keep in a fridge.

Cockroaches: Put some boric powder in kitchen in corners and other places. Cockroaches will leave your house.

Coconut: Immerse coconut in water for 1/2 an hour to remove its hust.

Dry Fruits: To chop dry fruits, place them in fridge for half an hour before cutting. Take the fruits out and cut them with a hot knife (dip it in hot water before cutting).

Dough/Rolling pin: If the dough sticks to the rolling pin, place it in freezer for a few minutes.

Egg peeling off: Make a small hole in the egg by piercing a pin before boiling it. You will be able to remove its skin very easily.

Egg fresh: Immerse the egg in a pan of cool salted water. If it sinks, it is fresh; if it rises to the surface, it is certainly quite old.

Garlic: Garlic skin comes off easily if the garlic cloves are slightly warmed before peeling.

Ghee: Avoid the use of ghee. If it is necessary, substitute it with canola oil. Even for making halwa, you can partly substitute it with oil.
If you are making ghee at home, add a few pieces of meetha paan leaves in the process (remove afterwards) to produce ghee with longer self-life.

Green Chilies: To keep the chilies fresh for a longer time, remove the stems before storing.

Green Peas: To preserve green peas, keep them in a polythene bag in the freezer.

Idlies: Place a betel (paan) leaf over the leftover idli and dosa batter to prevent them sour.
Do not beat idli batter too much, the air which has been incorporated during fermentation will escape.
If you add half a tsp of fenugreek seeds to the lentil and rice mixture while soaking, dosas will be more crisp.

Fruits: To ripen fruits, wrap them in newspaper and put in a warm place for 2-3 days. The ethylene gas they emit will make them ripe.

Frying: Avoid deep frying. Substitute deep frying with stir frying or oven bake. Don't pour the oil, but make a habit of spraying the oil in the utensil for cooking. Heat the utensil first, then add oil. This way oil spreads well. You will use less oil this way.

Left Overs: Don't throw away the foods left over. Store them in Fridge. Use them in making tasty dishes.

Lemon/Lime: If the lemon or lime is hard, put it in warm water for 5-10 minutes to make it easier to squeeze.

Lizards: Hang a peacock feather, lizards will leave your house.

Milk: Moisten the base of the vessel with water to reduce the chances of milk to stick at the bottom.
Keep a spoon in the vessel while boiling milk at medium heat. It will avoid sticking the milk at the bottom of the vessel.
Adding half a tsp of sodium bicarbonate in the milk while boiling will not spoil the milk even if you don't put it in the fridge.

Mixer/Grinder: Grind some common salt in your mixer/grinder fro some time every month. This will keep your mixer blades sharp.

Mosquitoes: Put a few camphor tablets in a cup of water and keep it in the bed room near your bed, or in any place with mosquitoes.

Noodles: When the noodles are boiled, drain all the hot water and add cold water. This way all the noodles will get separated.

Onions: To avoid crying, cut the onions into two parts and place them in water for 15 minutes before chopping them.
Wrap the onions individually in a newspaper and store in a cool and dark place to keep them fresh for long time.

Oven: Watch from the oven window to conserve energy because the oven temperature drops by 25 degrees every time its door is opened,
To clean the oven, apply a paste of sodium bicarbonate and water on the walls and floor of the oven and keep the oven on low heat for about half an hour. Dried food can easily be removed.

Paneer: To keep paneer fresh for several days, wrap it in a blotting paper while storing in the refrigerator.
Do not fry paneer, immerse it in boiling water to make it soft and spongy.

Papad: Bake in microwave oven.
Wrap the papads in polythene sheet and place with dal or rice will prevent them from drying and breaking.

Pickles: To prevent the growth of fungus in pickles, burn a small grain of asafoetida over a burning coal and invert the empty pickle jar for some time before putting pickles in the jar.

Popcorn: Keep the maize/corn seeds in the freezer and pop while still frozen to get better pops.

Potato: To bake potatoes quickly, place them in salt water for 15 minutes before baking.
Use the skin of boiled potatoes to wipe mirrors to sparkling clean.
Don't store potatoes and onions together. Potatoes will rot quickly if stored with onions.

Refrigerator: To prevent formation of ice, rub table salt to the insides of your freeze.

Rice: Add a few drops of lemon juice in the water before boiling the rice to make rice whiter.
Add a tsp of canola oil in the water before boiling the rice to separate each grain after cooking.
Don't throw away the rice water after cooking. Use it to make soup or add it in making dal (lentils).
Add 5g of dried powdered mint leaves to 1kg of rice. It will keep insects at bay.
Put a small paper packet of boric powder in the container of rice to keep insects at bay.
Put a few leaves of mint in the container of rice to keep insects at bay.

Samosa: Bake them instead of deep frying to make them fat free. Don't fry the filling potato masala.
Preserve the samosas in freezer. For eating, take out of the freezer two hours in advance and bake them over low temp.

Sugar: Put 2-3 cloves in the sugar to keep ants at bay.

Tadka: Use sprouted mustard seeds (rayee) and fenugreek (methi) seeds for your tadkas. Both of them when sprouted have more nutritional values. Also this add flavour to the dish and can be more beneficial, besides giving decorative look to the dish. Submitted by MS Itisha Madhav ( itisha_madhav@yahoo.com)

Tomato: To remove the skin of tomatoes, place them in warm water for 5-10 minutes. The skin can then be easily peeled off.
When tomatoes are not available or too costly, substitute with tomato puree or tomato ketchup/sauce.
Place overripe tomatoes in cold water and add some salt. Overnight they will become firm and fresh.

Tamarind:Tamarind is an excellent polish for brass and copper items. Rub a slab of wet tamarind with some salt sprinkled on it on the object to be polished.
Gargles with tamarind water is recommended for a sore throat.

Utensils: Use nonsticking utensils. Use thick bottom utensils, they get uniformly heated. For electric stoves, use flat bottom utensils.
Add a little bit of common salt to the washing powder for better cleaning of utensils.

Vegetables: Don't discard the water in which the vegetables are soaked or cooked. Use it in making soup or gravy.
To keep the vegetables fresh for a longer time, wrap them in newspaper before putting them in fridge.
Chop the vegetables only when you are ready to use them. Don't cut them in too advance. It would spoil their food value.

Sink (Blocked): To clear the blocked drain pipe of your kitchen sink, mix 1/2 cup sodium bicarbonate in 1 cup vinegar and pour it into the sink, and pour about 1 cup water. In an hour the drain pipe will open.

Soup Salty: Place a raw peeled potato in the bowl, it will absorb the extra salt.

Yoghurt (Home Made): To set yogurt in winter, place the container in a warm place like oven or over the voltage stabliser.

Yogurt: If the yogurt has become sour, put it in a muslin cloth and drain all the water. Then add milk to make it as good as fresh in taste. Use the drained water in making tasty gravy for vegetables or for basen curry.
To keep the yogurt fresh for many days, fill the vessel containing yogurt with water to the brim and refrigerate. Change the water daily.