Cupcakes and Commentary » Helpful Tip of the Week

Cast Iron Pan Cleaning

Cupcakes — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 11:31:27 +0000

Super helpful tip I found from watching Live with Kelly, and from Real Simple Magazine.

Cast Iron Pan Cleaning…

Combine sea salt, with olive or vegetable oil to make a paste, scrub pan with sponge (you’ll want a sponge that has a scrub-side, you can find some at Target, Costco, Walmart that are gentle on non-stick and cast iron pans) and paste and then rinse clean with hot water.

It just so happened that I had made a chorizo and cheese dip with my cast iron skillet the night before. It was pretty yucky and after many attempts of scrubbing the pan, my husband could not get it clean. So I used the tip for the cleaning after seeing it on the show.

Before…

After…

Tada! It did take some elbow grease and I let the paste sit on the pan for about an hour before I scrubbed it to help. I can’t believe I haven’t heard this tip before, but it is really helpful as you aren’t supposed to clean a cast iron skillet with soap, so this is a great alternative.

Generic vs. Brand Names

Cupcakes — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 02:05:08 +0000

As the economy is lingering at a stalemate between bad and really bad I have been trying to be a more thrifty shopper, especially when it comes to groceries. Therefore, I have divulged into the world of generic foods. Now this is only for my husband and myself. I grew up with the mantra (and still hold on to it) that there are just certain things I won’t buy generic. One is diapers. Another is baby food. And the third is probably ice cream. I’m committed to Blue Bell ice cream. Or maybe Haagen Dazs on occasion. But I refuse to go there. If I’m going to spend the money to buy a treat it might as well be a good one. Which isn’t necessarily thrifty, but we don’t buy ice cream that often. However everything else is fair game. I have lately been comparing and trying different generic products with brand name products to see if I notice a difference. I will share my highly detailed and of course well tested (by my husband and I, haha) knowledge of what I have found to be better, worse, or exactly the same. I will update as I try new things, but here are my first encounters.

Brand Name Rice Cereal vs. Generic Rice Cereal
The reason I bought it generic: Generic rice cereal is about 1.50 to 2.00 less than the brand product. I put fruit on my cereal anyway, and I don’t care if there is a toy in the box.
The verdict: To me it tastes exactly the same. Rice cereal is rice cereal. AND I made rice treats out of it and they tasted excellent.

Brand Name Marshmallows vs. Generic Marshmallows
The reason I bought it generic: Generic Marshmallows are again about 1.00 to 2.00 cheaper.
The verdict: In something cooked (Like the rice treats) they tasted fine. However, plain one’s taste odd to me…a bit Styrofoam-ish.

Brand name tomatoes (plain diced, crushed, whole, paste, and sauce…we eat a lot of things with tomato in them) vs. Generic tomatoes (the same list)
The reason I bought it generic: About 1.00 cheaper.
The verdict: I haven’t eaten them plain (such as in a gazpacho, or a bruschetta spread) but in cooked foods I honestly can’t tell a difference.

Salt, Salt, Salt

Cupcakes — Thu, 28 May 2009 21:25:41 +0000

Did you know that there are different types of salt? I’m sure you are questioning my cooking skills right now, but even though I knew there were different types of salt I didn’t know that certain ones are used in certain recipes even if they aren’t specifically stated. Three types are kosher salt, sea salt, and then your everyday table salt. Table salt is actually stronger than kosher salt. So if you are ever watching a food cooking show (as I frequently am during the week) and they state they add a pinch of kosher salt, and then you make the recipe later and add a pinch of table salt you may find the dish is more salty than you planned. As someone who doesn’t really like a lot of salt I found that this was good to know. I also realized from this that I should add kosher salt to my spice rack. Unfortunately it is really difficult to find kosher salt (where I live) in the local grocery store. However, I did find sea salt. This is not the same as kosher salt! Sea salt has larger grains (much larger) and will add a different taste to your food. I could have put this in my cooking beginnings section, but this happened about a month ago haha. I’m a cook in progress. And I’m still searching for kosher salt. I’ll let you know if I find it!