I know I said I was giving up on making homemade yogurt after all my tries had produced less-than-stellar results... but a friend shared a jar of her really perfect homemade yogurt with me a few months ago, and I was inspired to try again.

I'm still using the same basic method I outlined in my post: heat milk to ~180 degrees, cool milk to ~115 degrees, add starter, and keep warm for ~8 hours.

But now, my yogurt has been turning out great! I know, that's crazy. How could something go from difficult to magical without even changing the recipe? Here is what I've been doing, with a few tips:

1. Heat milk on the stove on medium-low heat, with a candy thermometer stuck to the side of the pan. Don't stir, don't bother with it -- just get the milk to 180 degrees or higher. I try to do this when I'm already going to be working in the kitchen so I don't accidentally boil the milk for an hour and have a big mess on the stove to clean up. ;)

Tip: If the milk does boil, it will still make good yogurt.

2. Let milk cool in pan to 115 degrees. When it's getting close to 115, I check on it every 10-15 minutes.

3. I like to culture the yogurt in my crock pot. It's big, heavy/thick, and can be done on the counter top.

(I prefer to warm the milk on the stove rather than in the crock pot, though, because the crock pot takes so long [and hence a lot of "babysitting"] to heat up and cool down.)

Tip: To culture the yogurt in my crock pot, I first "preheat" the crock pot. Pour some boiling water (at least a cup or two) in the crock pot, turn on high, and get nice and hot. Turn off, and when you're ready to incubate the yogurt, dump out the hot water and pour in the warm milk.

4. Stir in the yogurt starter. I just gently stir it in... no whisking. Then, I put the lid on the crock pot, cover with thick towels (I get clean ones from the bathroom!), and let "grow" for 8+ hours.

5. When yogurt is done culturing, DO NOT DISTURB. This seems to be the key (for me) to really thick yogurt. I've been setting the crock (with lid on) outside to chill when it's finished culturing. Chill for 6-8 hours and yogurt should be firm!

Using these tips, my homemade yogurt has been thicker than plain yogurt from the store (but not quite as thick as Greek yogurt), without straining.

Why does it matter how thick my yogurt is? I can just strain off some of the whey to make it thicker, right? Well, yes... but here is why I want yogurt that is thick without straining:

1. Straining the yogurt is an extra step and extra dishes.

2. The end result (yogurt) is more expensive per volume when strained (you end up with less of the "yogurt" part).

3. I don't really enjoy having lots of whey on hand that I need to find uses for.

And lastly, a Plain Yogurt Eating Tip:

Frozen blueberries are our favorite fruit to add to plain yogurt! They're so sweet, and their flavor makes the yogurt irresistible! I like to add the frozen blueberries to our yogurt as we serve it.

I also love fresh or canned pineapple with plain yogurt. Pineapple is another sweet fruit that goes great in yogurt! :)

Next week, Kitchen Tip Tuesdays will be hosted by Willa at Armstrong Family Fare! Willa's stepping in to make my load a little lighter as Joshua will be recovering from another surgery at that time.

I am planning to be back at the computer blogging a little more this week... last week got away from me and I've been wearing myself out doing "life stuff"! :)

To Participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays:

Post a kitchen tip in your blog. Link to this post, and then leave your link here, so we know where to find YOU! :) No giveaways or non-tip posts, please!

In order to keep the kitchen tips more easily accessible, posts not adhering to these guidelines will be removed. We need to be able to easily find/see what your kitchen/cooking tip is. :) Thanks for your participation! :)

Leave your tip links in a comment. I'll manually add them to this post!

1. Removing labels from jars (April at I Think I Can)
2. Cooking dried beans (Keri at Growing in His Glory)
3. Sour cream and yogurt tips (Heather at Feel Good About Dinner)
4. 3 ways to cook dried beans (The Local Cook)
5. Softer hands scrub (Frugal in Florida)
6. How to make heart-shaped muffins (Anne Jisca's Healthy Pursuits)
7. Using breadmaker for jam (Tried It, Liked It)
8. Dishes within kids' reach (Gretchen at Extraordinary Ordinary Life)
9. Citrus zest in baking (Deb at Wholesome Homemaker)
10. Rolling pin substitute (Alea at Premeditated Leftovers)
11. Tupperware/storage tips (Cheryl at The Bz House that Love Built)

I'm curious as to how you keep your chest freezer organized. I've been trying to stretch my grocery trips to once every 12-14 days, and I'm happy with it so far, but my freezer is a wreck! I have a running list of its contents so I know what's in there, but with so many oddly-shaped foods in it (bags of bread, jars of broth, bags of veggies, etc), it just ends up being a huge jumble of stuff. Then I get annoyed when I have to dig through everything to find what I need. Any advice?

We have a 7-cubic-foot chest freezer, which I think is a great size for holding lots of food (if well-packed) without becoming overwhelming to organize!

Here are some tips for how I keep my chest freezer organized and under control:

1. I don't have a lot of different, little items floating around. We buy things in bulk, so I usually have 5-10 pounds or more of any given item. Fewer items = easier to keep track.

2. We find and use medium-sized cardboard boxes that fit the width of our freezer. I have a stack of several boxes that fit just perfectly along one side of the freezer. I put smaller things (like individually frozen/sealed fish fillets) in the boxes, and it's fairly quick and easy to unstack them and get to what I want -- even if it's near the bottom. I find that boxes are the most efficient space-wise for the freezer. For "tote-like" boxes, just cut off the top flaps.

3. When stacking foods, alternate types. When I stack several bags of frozen veggies, or several boxes or bags of frozen fish or meats, I try to alternate the types as I'm stacking them. This way, I never have to move 3 bags of green beans to reach the corn! ;)

4. Take foods out of their original packaging and re-package them. See the bag of Pollock in the top right corner of my freezer picture above? It's actually stuffed with 2 bags' worth of fish. Many boxed or bagged freezer items are individually wrapped inside the bag or box, and can be opened and re-stacked or re-packaged to take up a lot less space, and this helps things be less crowded and more organized.

5. Put extras of things on the bottom of the chest freezer. We froze gallons of fresh blackberries last summer, and I keep a bag handy to use from. The other bags are packed in the bottom of the freezer, where they're out of the way.

6. Go through "the little stuff" and use it! I find that "the little stuff" tends to get freezer burn if it's not used within a reasonable time frame. I keep little things like bread crumbs (from homemade bread), dry yeast, chopped nuts, etc. in the door of my small freezer so they don't get lost AND so I can remember to use them!

7. Have a freezer inventory sheet. I made a simple one on a scrap paper with lists of my freezer meals and tallies (in pencil) for the number of each. Why tallies in pencil? It's easy to erase tallies as they're used -- or to add a couple more on later if I've made extras of something! So much nicer than crossing out a number to write a new one. :)

8. Every couple of months (or before any big shopping trip or stock-up), go through the freezer. I pull almost everything out, look over what I have, and stack it back in a reasonable fashion. It probably takes me 10-15 minutes to do this with my chest freezer, and afterward I have a much better idea of what I need to buy, or what I need to focus on incorporating in our menus. :)

9. THINK before you freeze. Some of my freezer untidiness is simply a result of freezing something to avoid having to eat it. Leftovers that we didn't really like? NOT a good candidate for the freezer. Sure, it'll keep the food from spoiling, but we probably won't feel like eating it later, and I'll just end up shuffling it around and around until it's so freezer-burned I throw it away.

The same thing applies to packaging. When I take the time to properly package something for the freezer, it stays fresher and I won't dread the possibility of freezer burn later. I've had food that I thought was probably freezer burned (due to my poor packaging) and I ended up waiting until I was SURE it WAS freezer burned, and then tossed it. How sad! It's much better to plan ahead and/or take the time to package well before freezing. :)

And on a related note -- label everything, even if you're sure you won't forget what it is.

10. Hmmm, I think I am out of freezer tips! ;) Anyone have a good one for my #10?! :)

By the way -- I'm sure that upright freezers are easier to organize than chest freezers, but I love having a chest freezer. Chest freezers are more economical than upright ones in a variety of ways (price, operating cost, usable space) which is why we decided on a chest freezer.

I've also found that packing my chest freezer efficiently (especially the cardboard box tip -- #2 above) has really eliminated most of the frost accumulation. Only the top few inches of my chest freezer has a thin layer of frost -- the rest is completely frost-free -- after a whole year of use without defrosting! :) So -- I guess that's the #10 tip. ;)

Related posts:

Freezer meal tips
Labeling frozen food
Frozen food tips
Freezing casseroles without tying up a dish (video)

To Participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays:

Post a kitchen tip in your blog. Link to this post, and then leave your link here, so we know where to find YOU! :) No giveaways or non-tip posts, please!

In order to keep the kitchen tips more easily accessible, posts not adhering to these guidelines will be removed. We need to be able to easily find/see what your kitchen/cooking tip is. :) Thanks for your participation! :)

Leave your tip links in a comment. I'll manually add them to this post!

1. Use Pam to set nail polish (Frugal in Florida
2. Buttermilk substitute (Living So Abundantly)
3. Tart-making tips (The Local Cook)
4. Ground turkey and chopping olives tips (Robin at Happily Home After)
5. Shred chicken in your mixer (Shannon at Chickens in My Kitchen)
6. 15 green and frugal foodie tips (The Cheapskate Cook)
7. Meatloaf meatball tips (Tried It Liked It)
8. Cookie sheet comparisons (Gretchen at Extraordinary Ordinary Life)
9. 5 alternative uses for dish racks (Rachel at Trial and Error Home Ec)

Here's an update to my post from 5 years ago about cooking with cast iron! I've been using it a TON for my freezer cooking the past few weeks! :)

P.S. Freezer cooking/pantry challenge update coming tomorrow, and a family/photo/Q&A post shortly after. Joshua is recovering well; thanks for caring! :)

One of the things I really enjoy about living a frugal lifestyle is the creativity involved! It's also exciting to me when I make new discoveries and learn new things. Although I've had a cast iron skillet since we were married, I'm just now putting it to good use. And of course, I'm wondering why I waited so long!

I grew up cooking with stainless steel cookware, for the most part. When Joshua and I got married, he had some Teflon cookware, and I got addicted to that nice big Teflon skillet, real quick. I mean, there was no scrubbing! I always dreaded cleaning stainless steel after cooking scrambled eggs, or anything with cheese... so much work! With Teflon, washing pans was as simple as washing a plate or cup, or maybe even easier, since the food didn't "dry on", it fell off!

Of course, I had my doubts about the safety of cooking with Teflon (and recent studies have indicated that it really isn't safe!) but it's easy to live in the here-and-now and just not want to give up convenience!

Although I've had this cast iron skillet since we first were married, I had bought it unseasoned (it was cheap that way!) and had worked on seasoning it but still much preferred Teflon. Yes, I knew that cast iron takes time to season... I just kept reaching for the easier (temporary) solution: Teflon.

Until recently, that is, when our Teflon skillet started wearing out, and food started sticking and burning. I decided to start using my cast iron skillet with a passion, and turn it into my new, "natural" non-stick skillet.

And you know what? I love it! I really do, and I'm liking it more and more all the time. Have you ever met someone who was attached to their cast iron cookware? (It seems most people are, when they've seasoned it themselves and used it for years and years!) Well, that's me... in a few years. ;)

Here's what I know about cooking with cast iron (it isn't much!):

Don't use sharp or metal utensils on it. (Update: I still usually use wooden utensils, but using metal isn't necessarily harmful.)

Wash with hot water, no soap. (Update: I usually scrub with a brush in hot water, and sometimes add a drop of soap. My preference is to wash the cast iron skillet LAST, in the only-slightly-soapy dish water that's leftover, and then scrub under very hot water, rinse, and dry.)

After washing, dry with towel and then heat the empty skillet on a burner for a few minutes to make sure it's really dry.

Tips for keeping a well-seasoned cast iron skillet:

Use your cast iron for browning ground beef or turkey, or any cooking that already has a high fat content. This will speed along the wonderful seasoning of the interior of your cookware!

Conversely, cooking acidic foods like tomatoes or applesauce in cast iron will eat away at the seasoning. This doesn't harm your cast iron cookware, and will add some iron to your diet. Keep in mind that simmering chili or applesauce in cast iron could change the flavor of your food slightly.

Seasoning tip: Coat the inside of the skillet with oil or shortening and set it on your stove's heat vent (from the oven) when it's in use. This is a nice "extra" way to season cast iron, especially when doing lots of winter baking! :)

By the way, for those of you who don't have a cast iron skillet but are interested, mine is Lodge brand, from Wal-mart and (I think) cost about $8. I think they still sell them for under $10. Sometimes you can find them at thrift stores, flea markets and garage sales, too.

Some of my favorite things to do with my cast iron skillet:

Make homemade refried beans. Mmmmmm!!! Somehow refried beans seem to taste better when made in a cast iron skillet! :)

Brown ground beef for tacos, casseroles or to freeze (for easy meal-assembly later)

Make turkey breakfast sausage patties or crumbles (pictured above). SO delicious -- I'll share the recipe later this week! :)

Stir-fry veggies. (I do use some oil when cooking veggies or non-greasy things like chicken breasts in my cast iron skillet. It's well-seasoned but still not quite like a Teflon non-stick pan would be, in my opinion.)

Pan-fry cod or pollock. A little oil, a little seasoning (garlic, salt, pepper -- very lightly!) and the fish cooks in just a few minutes per side. I've been serving my pan-fried fish with rice or cooked pasta, and sometimes a red or white sauce. It's a nice change from grilled or baked fish! :)

Fry pancakes. Except I now have a cast iron griddle for pancakes and don't usually need to pull out the skillet, too. I got the griddle for $39 on Amazon.com and while I like it, I wouldn't say I quite *love* it... :)

To Participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays:

Post a kitchen tip in your blog. Link to this post, and then leave your link here, so we know where to find YOU! :) No giveaways or non-tip posts, please!

In order to keep the kitchen tips more easily accessible, posts not adhering to these guidelines will be removed. We need to be able to easily find/see what your kitchen/cooking tip is. :) Thanks for your participation! :)

Leave your tip links in a comment. I'll manually add them to this post!

1. Streamlining making water kefir (Katie at Kitchen Stewardship)
2. Covering large bowls (Frugal in Florida)
3. 10 things to do with stale bread (The Local Cook)
4. Cleaning a burnt on pan (Gwen at Gwen's Nest)
5. Drying ziplock bags (Anne Jisca at Anne Jisca's Healthy Pursuits)
6. Stretching meat for people who don't like beans (The Cheapskate Cook)
7. Asparagus tips (Where The Kudzu Grows)
8. How to turn a brownie recipe into a cake (Cheryl at The Bz House That Love Built)
9. What to make from things you already have (Cheryl at The Bz House That Love Built)
10. Tips for making chicken tenders in bulk (Alea at Premeditated Leftovers)
11. Ground beef time saver tip (2 Make Ends Meet)
12. Uses for orange peels (Rachel at Trial and Error Home Ec)
13. Serving brussels sprouts (Jodi at Lg Family Farm)

Jessica at Good Cheap Eats is hosting Kitchen Tip Tuesdays for me this week so I can be available for Joshua as he undergoes surgery on Tuesday.

Head over to Good Cheap Eats to read Jessica's post and others' tips or to submit your own tips and links! :)

As I've been working on freezer meals, I thought of a few freezer tips to share. :)

Separating frozen foods:

Freeze foods in a stack with TWO LAYERS (of waxed paper or something) between each item in order to remove the items individually. I've learned this the hard way (no pun intended) when trying to separate frozen hamburgers that I had placed a single layer of waxed paper between.

Two layers = easy separation, peel off waxed paper. One layer = possibly impossible to separate.

The same goes for freezing casseroles in a dish and planning to remove the frozen casserole from the dish: put two layers in the dish before filling for easy removal. :)

Steel wool scouring pads:

Store your in-use steel wool scouring pad ("Brillo" pad) in a ziplock bag in the freezer between uses to slow rust. Also, don't rinse out the pad unless necessary (not at all if possible) because washing away the soap speeds rusting.

(For the record, I no longer use steel wool scouring pads; I use Bar Keeper's Friend on our stainless steel cookware.)

Storing small or bagged items in the freezer:

For the little bags of nuts, dry yeast, ground flax seed, wheat germ, or other such items that are best stored in the freezer, use a wire or plastic mesh basket to hold all the odd shapes and sizes of things -- and keep them from falling out! :)

Stacking food in the freezer:

Maximize freezer space by stacking same-size items together.

When I'm stacking frozen fruits or veggies, I like to stack them in a "pattern" of sorts -- corn, green beans, peas; corn, green beans, peas. This prevents me from needing to move too many bags of food while trying to get to the kind that ended up all on the bottom! :)

Next week (January 24, 2012) Kitchen Tip Tuesdays will be hosted by Jessica at Good Cheap Eats.

To Participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays:

Post a kitchen tip in your blog. Link to this post, and then leave your link here, so we know where to find YOU! :) No giveaways or non-tip posts, please!

In order to keep the kitchen tips more easily accessible, posts not adhering to these guidelines will be removed. We need to be able to easily find/see what your kitchen/cooking tip is. :) Thanks for your participation! :)

Leave your tip links in a comment. I'll manually add them to this post!

1. Dust-free KitchenAid mixer bowl + 8 more tips (Heather at Feel Good About Dinner)
2. Freezer food labeling tip (SnoWhite at Finding Joy in my Kitchen)
3. Tip for freezing grated cheese (Anne Jisca at Anne Jisca's Healthy Pursuits)
4. Spice organization (Liz & Doug at Pocket Change Gourmet)
5. Handmade pasta tips (The Local Cook)

Forgive me if I'm silly for having just figured this out, but... :)

As I was making a cup of coffee last week, I suddenly realized that I could add ground spices to the coffee as I was brewing it!

I started with cinnamon and coffee, and made a delicious cup of... cinnamon coffee!

Then yesterday, I made a chai spice blend with some freshly ground allspice and cardamom (in my suribachi), nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon. Mmmm... it tasted wonderful!

There was no powdery residue in my coffee, since my coffee-making method uses a paper filter. Using ground cinnamon and other spices might not work so well in a French Press. Try cinnamon bark chips or coarsely-ground spices instead? :)

Anyway, I'm just a little excited that I can take a bag of "plain" coffee and vary the flavors according to my mood... so easily! :) And, my "homemade" flavors tasted so good -- much better than a lot of the flavored coffees I've tried. :)

My favorite way to make coffee is with the AeroPress coffee/espresso maker Joshua got for my birthday last year! You can read my AeroPress review here. :)

See also: Cozy and Warming Chai Tea Lattes for a Winter's Day (No snow yet this year in Seattle...)

To Participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays:

Post a kitchen tip in your blog. Link to this post, and then leave your link here, so we know where to find YOU! :) No giveaways or non-tip posts, please!

In order to keep the kitchen tips more easily accessible, posts not adhering to these guidelines will be removed. We need to be able to easily find/see what your kitchen/cooking tip is. :) Thanks for your participation! :)

Leave your tip links in a comment. I'll manually add them to this post!

1. Cookie baking tips (Willa at Armstrong Family Fare)
2. Sweet potato puree tips (Heather at Feel Good About Dinner)
3. Make-Your-Own (DIY) tips (Adrienne at Whole New Mom)
4. Snowflake birthday party tips (Christy at One Little Word She Knew)
5. Essential sauces tips (The Local Cook)
6. Tomatillos tip (Jenny at Entrusted With)
7. Individually freezing bacon w/o cookie sheets (Gwen at Gwen's Nest)
8. Cooking and baking tips (Cheryl at The Bz House That Love Built)
9. Tenderizing chicken (Living So Abundantly)

Happy new year! :) We enjoyed having Joshua home from work today and having one last day off from our school work. Plus, I got to go out for coffee and new-baby shopping with a friend! I am not ready for a "normal" week to resume early tomorrow morning! ;)

It's cold and windy outside, and I'm putting chili on our menu plan this week. I'll probably make White Chili since I'm out of beef. I love how chili is easy, filling, and affordable! It freezes well, too.

Here are a couple chili tips! :)

Quickly thicken chili

To quickly thicken chili, stir in a can of refried beans or a small can of tomato paste.

Frozen peppers

Buy fresh peppers on sale (I like to use bell peppers) and freeze them. I usually freeze the peppers in halves and then dice as needed! That way it's easy to get a little of whatever color(s) you need for your meal and they're not frozen together in a frosty lump.

Using dried beans

If you're cooking for more than just 1 or 2 people, using dried beans can be well worth the little hands-on time it takes. I think dried beans taste better than canned, and cooking them in my crock pot is nearly effortless! Beans (or lentils!) are an affordable way to stretch chili, and leftover cooked beans can be frozen for later use.

Flavor options

Try adding a little ground cinnamon or a few semi-sweet chocolate chips to your chili!

Personally, I like adding a bit of brown sugar to tomato-based chili. I also love freshly-ground cumin in chili! Fresh spices are the best. :D

Dip it

Serve thick leftover chili as a dip with corn chips, or as a "relish" for hot dogs.

Wrap it

You can also serve chili in a warm flour tortilla. Sprinkle in some cheese, dab on sour cream, and even crumble in a few corn chips for a tasty chili cheese burrito!

See also: Tips for cheaper chili

To Participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays:

Post a kitchen tip in your blog. Link to this post, and then leave your link here, so we know where to find YOU! :) No giveaways or non-tip posts, please!

In order to keep the kitchen tips more easily accessible, posts not adhering to these guidelines will be removed. We need to be able to easily find/see what your kitchen/cooking tip is. :) Thanks for your participation! :)

Leave your tip links in a comment. I'll manually add them to this post!

1. Tips for homemade baby food (Willa at Armstrong Family Fare)
2. Baking tip (Rachel at Trial and Error Home Ec)
3. Salad making tips (The Local Cook)
4. Tips for fluffy mashed sweet potatoes (Living So Abundantly)
5. Saving money on lunch meat (Heather at Feel Good About Dinner)
6. Softening coconut oil in the winter (Stacy at Stacy Makes Cents)
7. Cooking with lentils (Finding Joy in my Kitchen)
8. Using frozen eggs (Anna at Kolfinna's Korner)

I've enjoyed having a relaxing 4-day weekend with Joshua at home. We both love to cook, so with his extra time off we made gingerbread men with the kids, grilled some salmon, and I went through some cooking magazines from a friend.

Having no electricity on Sunday afternoon threw a wrinkle into my plan for chicken gravy and biscuits, so we had a snack lunch of cheese and crackers instead. Eliyahu made us laugh by his many comments along the lines of "This is the best lunch ever!! I mean, it's too bad we have no electricity, but I really love this cheese and crackers!!!" ;)

And now tomorrow feels like it should be Monday, but it's Tuesday! I didn't make a menu plan for this week yet, but I'll make a partial one and give a shopping update. (Hint: We got eggs and bananas and are going to hold off until after the holidays to go to Costco.)

Kitchen tips! Here a few shortcuts when you're baking cookies. :)

Rolling cookies in sugar:

When making a cookie recipe that requires the balls of dough to be rolled in sugar, put some sugar in a container with a tight-fitting lid and place dough balls in a single layer in the container. Put the lid on and gently shake to coat the balls with sugar! :)

Marking tops of peanut butter cookies:

To quickly mark the tops of peanut butter cookies, use a potato masher to mark a grid on each cookie. Dip the masher in flour first so it doesn't stick. My friend Tanya says she dips her fork in flour before marking peanut butter cookies, too. :)

Cookie dough chilling tip:

To save time waiting for cut-out cookie dough to chill, roll your just-made dough between two layers of waxed paper or parchment paper, to desired thickness. Chill the layers (fridge or freezer) and then cut cookies from each layer.

See also: Tips for cutting out cookies and softening butter

To Participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays:

Post a kitchen tip in your blog. Link to this post, and then leave your link here, so we know where to find YOU! :) No giveaways or non-tip posts, please!

In order to keep the kitchen tips more easily accessible, posts not adhering to these guidelines will be removed. We need to be able to easily find/see what your kitchen/cooking tip is. :) Thanks for your participation! :)

Leave your tip links in a comment. I'll manually add them to this post!

1. Cinnamon-sugar blends/tips (Adrienne at Whole New Mom)
2. Remembering griddle temps & setting the table (Stacy at Stacy Makes Cents)
3. Tips for making successful deviled eggs (Heather at Feel Good About Dinner)
4. Veggie pizza tips (Cheryl B. at The Bz House That Love Built)
5. Christmas cookie tips (Christy at One Little Word She Knew)

My kitchen tip this week is from the archive. These cookies? Still yummy. :)

As I was baking molasses spice cookies yesterday, I thought of a couple butter tips to share! :)

I have two Rubbermaid butter dishes (so handy, with a lid that snaps tightly!) and I keep them both filled and not refrigerated, so that we never run out of soft butter to spread on bread, etc.

Ever open the butter dish to realize that it's almost empty, and the rest of the butter is in the fridge? This happened to me way too many times growing up, so I have always kept two butter dishes out in our home!

Having extra butter at room temperature is also handy for those last-minute cooking-baking frenzies. Without a microwave to soften butter, I've frequently raided one or both butter dishes for some soft butter for whatever baking project I hadn't planned ahead!

And finally, when I'm cutting a stick of butter for a recipe and there's, say, 3 tablespoons left over, rather than wrapping the little piece and putting it back in the fridge, I check to see if it can fit on a partly-empty butter dish. If so, I add it to the butter dish, and avoid all the random pieces in the fridge. :)

By the way, these cookies are so delicious! My mom has made molasses spice cookies with raisins for as long as I can remember, and they're one of my dad's favorites. Now, I make them especially for Joshua -- although we all really like them! :)

To Participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays:

Post a kitchen tip in your blog. Link to this post, and then leave your link here, so we know where to find YOU! :) No giveaways or non-tip posts, please!

In order to keep the kitchen tips more easily accessible, posts not adhering to these guidelines will be removed. We need to be able to easily find/see what your kitchen/cooking tip is. :) Thanks for your participation! :)

Leave your tip links in a comment. I'll manually add them to this post!

1. Cold/softening butter tips (Rachel at Trial and Error Home Ec)
2. Removing baked-on grease (Annie at Annie's Home)
3. Cleaning cookware (Kirstin at Loving Life)
4. Ground beef in bulk (Money Saving Habits)
5. Making powdered sugar (Cammie at Life...More Abundantly)
6. Using sour milk (Rachel at Trial and Error Home Ec)
7. Help -- homemade hollandaise tips (The Local Cook)
8. Cutting/packaging fudge for gifts/parties (Heather at Feel Good About Dinner)
9. Drinking glasses tip for families (Adrienne at Whole New Mom)
10. How to cut a pineapple -- tips (Stacy at Stacy Makes Cents)
11. Adding eggs to a hot recipe (Cheryl at The Bz House That Love Built)
12. How to freeze unbaked apple pie (An Oregon Cottage)

I love having a dishwasher! I stuff mine as full as possible (yes, I've practiced this technique!) and these days it gets a run once a day, after dinner.

I have the heat-dry setting turned off, so before I go to bed I open the dishwasher door, pull out the racks, and shake off any excess water from the plastics.

Everything is dry by morning and those early risers (aka my 4 kids!) who are awake at 5am help put things away while I pack Joshua's lunch for work. (This post has some of my dishwasher tips!)

I also like washing some unconventional things in the dishwasher. Here are a few I've done:

1. Toothbrushes! This is especially helpful when the toddler has gotten into the other kids' toothbrushes and done something unsanitary with them (before we started keeping them on the kitchen windowsill for easier access and less mess). My dishwasher detergent has chlorine in it, so it's definitely killing some germs! (Home dishwashers don't get hot enough to sterilize by heat.)

2. Plastic hair brushes and combs. I don't need to wash mine very often, but putting them in the dishwasher is an almost effortless way to clean them! :)

3. Plastic kitchen scrub brushes or vegetable brushes. I use my plastic scrub brush all the time, since I hand-wash my wooden utensils and my cookware. Running it through the dishwasher (usually weekly, for me) gets it nice and clean.

4. Soap dishes, toothbrush holders, and any other small "containers" that end up needing a good Spring cleaning once a year or so.

5. Kids plastic toys (or the plastic containers for them). We also wash toys in the bath tub. That's even more fun for the kids! :)

6. Plastic clothes hangers. If they're really dusty from being in the back of the closet, or dirty from hanging outside on the clothesline, I do a big load of them in my dishwasher. They come out shiny clean!

7. Stove burner pans. Mine don't come 100% clean in the dishwasher, but they do pretty well when I catch spills and wash the pan the same day if possible! :)

8. Glass tray from the microwave. Although normally, I don't let it get bad enough to need more than a quick wipe with the dish rag...

9. Lids for my plastic bean or grain-storage buckets.

10. Metal mesh screen from the kitchen stove hood. You know that screen that gets clogged with grease and dirt? :) I love getting it CLEAN. :)

11. Plastic dust pans. I put these in when I do a load of plastic clothes hangers.

Tips:

I like to put the non-food, non-mouth items in a separate cycle from our dishes if possible.

I also do not use the heated-dry setting (instead, I open the door and allow to air dry). I've never had anything melt on the bottom rack (like plastic hangers, scrub brushes, etc.).

What do you like to add to your dishwasher that's on the unconventional side? :)

Related:

Figuring out how to efficiently load a dishwasher 

Poll: How often do you run your dishwasher?

Help! How do I use a dishwasher?

2 tricks for washing small stuff in the dishwasher

To Participate in Kitchen Tip Tuesdays:

Post a kitchen tip in your blog. Link to this post, and then leave your link here, so we know where to find YOU! :) No giveaways or non-tip posts, please!

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1. Making hamburger patties without mess (Heather at Feel Good About Dinner)
2. Tea from pine trees (The Local Cook)
3. Easy wheat-free lunch ideas (Jenna at Blessed Roots)
4. Canned "cream of" soup substitute (Willa at Armstrong Family Fare)
5. Cutting dried fruit (Finding Joy in My Kitchen)
6. Turning pan handles in (Kolfinna's Korner) 
7. Croutons tip (Alea at Premeditated Leftovers)
8.