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Home & Garden Articles
5 Ways To Avoid Burning Your Holiday Dinner
Mon 19 Feb 2007 - 14:34
5 Ways To Avoid Burning Your Holiday Dinner
By Leah Perry
Whether you're hosting the annual family gathering, trying to find space for all the raw and cooked food or just juggling a busy life, this special time of year is rife with opportunities to ruin all your plans. However, never fear! There are simple ways to make your kitchen work for you during the festivities and for the rest of the year.
Get organized!
First of all, start off with a good idea of what you need for your holiday preparations. Look through and straighten up your cupboards; you might find items you didn't even know you had. This will save you time and money and prevent you from running to the store a dozen times.
Next, organize your tools and ingredients beforehand. This will make serving and cleaning up a cinch. This may seem easier said than done. How, one might ask, do you go about doing creating this type of organization?
Find your lost counters and drawers
Large appliances often swallow up counter space. The easiest way to regain your surfaces is by installing an appliance lift. These install easily into most cabinets, and glide in and out with minimal effort. Take your appliances out when you want them and have them stored neatly away when you don't. By keeping your appliances in the cabinets instead of on top of the counter, you'll have a larger work surface and will eliminate the strain of lifting heavy machinery.
Another organizational hazard is the mess that utensils create in drawers. Keep you utensils tidy and easy to reach by utilizing a simple insert. With separate sections and universal sizes, drawer inserts are the best way to make sure that you can always find the right spoon, rather than accidentally grabbing for the garlic press.
It's a matter of taste
No dish is complete without a dash of this or a sprig of that. But where did you put "this" and "that"? In all of the rush of cooking you just might grab a jar of cream of tartar, which won't enhance your cookies quite like powdered sugar. However, it is possible to avoid this chaos. A spice rack fitted specifically for your cabinet doors will hold all the spices you know you have, and some that might have been hiding in a dark corner of your cupboard. Everything will taste just right, and you'll know just where to find the nutmeg when you need it.
Your kitchen is not a garbage dump
So, you've peeled and cut up, sautéed and roasted, baked and boiled every piece of food in your home. What's left? A trash bag that has long ceased holding the mountain of garbage you've produced. Instead of involving the entire household in a massive haul of rubbish, purchase a nicely sized slide-out garbage can. This type of can may be placed under the sink or in any convenient cabinet. You'll be able to toss the trash as you need to and, at more manageable intervals, will be able to take the full bags out. Most importantly, the smell and the mess will be isolated within your slide-out can and will be out of reach from your nose.
Cleaning it all up
At the end of your festivities you will, undoubtedly, be tempted to throw all those dirty dishes out and start over. Don't worry, once you start to clean, it will go very quickly- if you could only find the sponge! If you have a false cabinet front in your sink, you are in luck. Tip-out trays fit into these wasted areas and keep your sponges and accessories neat and dry. Also, rinse off your dishes as you put them in the sink. You'll see the difference.
The house is clean, the kitchen is organized and the food is cooked. Now, it's time to serve the food, enjoy the company and relax after your hard work. You've earned it!
Freelance writer and home improvement expert, Leah Perry is newly married. She writes about the different techniques of home design and decorating as she applies them in her own house. For more great ways to organize your home, check out ModularKitchenCabinets.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Leah_Perry
http://EzineArticles.com/?5-Ways-To-Avoid-Burning-Your-Holiday-Dinner&id=450405
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