Tag: holiday cooking

About Spices (So many bad puns I could make, but won’t)

Do you have an area of your house that you’re really proud of?  That you like so much that occasionally you think it should have it’s own spotlight or theme song?  

Ok, maybe that’s just me.  But today that area of my home is my spice drawer.  A small project with a big impact, one that makes me happy when I see it and makes my life and cooking easier.

Need to get a handle on your spices, just in time for holiday baking and feasts?  Here’s how!

Sort what you have:

  • Clean off a counter.
  • Collect your spices from all the places you have them stashed in the kitchen and pantry.
  • Line them up on the counter and put them in alphabetical order.  Trust me on this one.  Many kitchens have at least a few duplicates, 2 or 3 jars of the same spices.

Get rid of spices past their prime: 

  • Once you know what spices you have on hand and how many, review what you have to determine if some of the spices are no longer spicy.
  • Ever wonder how long spices last?  A quick google search yielded a lot of information!  The cooking and spice websites seemed to agree:
    • whole spices can last 4 years;
    • ground spices last 3-4 years;
    • dried leafy herbs can last from 1-3 years (color is an indicator, too – herbs usually are green, even when dried, but can turn brown with age!); and
    • extracts are good for 3-4 years, except for vanilla which can last longer.
  • One website suggested that you can just use more of an older spice or herb to make up for lost flavor from age but that could get confusing!  If you open the jar and don’t strongly smell the spice, it’s time for it to go.
  • Make a list of spices you purge, so you know what you may need to replace.  Keep in mind, some items are seldom used, so you don’t have to replace those until you need them again.  However, if you tossed the black pepper or basil, replace them soon!

Decide where and how to keep your spices:

  • Store your herbs and spices in a spot convenient for cooking but not next to or above a heat source.  Prolonged heat will ruin the flavor and aroma of spices and herbs.
  • My spices are in a drawer near (but not too close) to my stove.  I have this great insert for my drawer, seen here from a side view.  Unfortunately, I’ve had it so long that I can’t find an exact replacement.  I found something similar to this on a quick Amazon search, for “spice drawer organizer insert”
  • A client who bakes –  a lot! – had a basket of savory herbs and spices (curry, basil, oregano) and a basket of sweet spices (cinnamon, nutmeg,
    baking extracts) in her cabinet so she could grab what she needed depending on her task at hand.
  • Of course, there is the lazy susan option, a great idea for all those little bottles.  Sometimes the spices fall over like bowling pins, but this is option improves visibility.  

Maintain the system:

  • Buy big spice containers (often cheaper per ounce) and share with friends or family!  I love shopping at Costco, but their containers are huge!  Vanilla extract lasts forever, and we use a lot of cinnamon, so those are two items I buy in large sizes.
  • Consider growing your own herbs. Even just a pot on the windowsill can keep you in basil for a long time!  (I love my basil, oregano and lavender plants!)

This little project can reap big benefits!  Give it a whirl this week!

How To Get a Holiday Meal to the Table On Time!

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During a recent kitchen organizing and menu planning appointment, a client asked “How do you get Christmas Dinner on the table all at once?”  So we came up with some Time and Project Management strategies to help with this challenge!  Here they are, maybe they’ll help you, too!

Keep some parts of the menu simple.  When planning your holiday meal menu, choose a complicated dish or two, if you want.  But not every dish!  Keep at least some parts of the meal simple, to make up for the time-consuming and complicated ones!  For example, pair a simple salad or veggie side dish with a more complicated dessert or entrée.  Better yet, accept guests’ offers to bring a menu item to share.

Prep as much as you can in advance. Hours and even days before your big meal, you can

  • Grate cheese
  • Dice vegetables
  • Make dessert
  • Assemble salads
  • Clean your serving dishes
  • Pre-make entire side dishes, per recipes (like these potatoes.)

Lay out your serving and cooking dishes in advance.  If you plan to serve your dinner buffet-style, lay out the serving 016dishes on your serving table, to ensure there are enough dishes and room for everything.  Use a post-it note or index cards (a friend uses her old business cards) to denote what goes in each dish, so it will be easy to direct your helpers to set up the buffet at mealtime.

Remember that your guests are gathered together for festivities and fellowship.  A complicated menu can be fun and delicious, but folks are together to be together first, and for a great meal second.

Mix your heat sources, and have a plan to keep food warm.  For example, plan to make some of your menu items in the oven, some on the stove top and some in a crock put.  Spreading things out means more space on the stove top or in the oven to get menu items ready to eat on time.  Also, with many menu items cooking at once, some may be ready ahead of your meal time.  Have a plan for keeping food warm until it’s served.

Leave a little wiggle room in your schedule.  Choose your meal time, then aim to have everything ready 20 minutes before that (because something is likely to get delayed!).

Use Project Management Ideas To Make Dinner Happen On-Time!  Let’s use a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner as an example.

  • Pick your Dinner Time, say, 4 pm.
  • Starting with your longest cooking item, like the turkey, determine when you need to start your prep and cooking to get everything on the table at the same time.
  • The turkey takes 5 hours, so start it 6 hours ahead of meal time.  This allows the turkey time to “rest”, and with the turkey out of the oven for that last hour before meal time, you’ll have more oven space for rolls or casseroles (and you can start on the gravy!).
  • Using your meal time of 4 (3:45) pm, work back from your deadline to determine when you need to start a certain task. Mashed potatoes are my example, but you can do this with any menu item:
    • Mashing the potatoes takes 10 minutes or less; boiling the potatoes takes 10-15 minutes; and peeling and dicing potatoes and boiling the water takes 15 minutes.  Plan for at least 30 minutes, start to finish, but 35-40 minutes may be more realistic.
    • If you have more than one dish to get in the oven at the same time, obviously you need to start your prep a little earlier!

Keep some of these ideas in mind the next time you host a big meal, to minimize stress and get the food to the table on time!