Healthy Kitchen Hacks #24

Healthy Kitchen Hacks #24
*Clever Way To Chop Up Hot Peppers * How To Freeze Raw Onions * Make Your Own Healthy Frozen French Fries * How to Roast Pumpkin Seeds in 15 Minutes * How to Keep Opened Red Wine Fresher Longer*

The days are getting shorter, my CSA share had a butternut squash in it this week and I’m no longer sweating in the kitchen.

This week’s hacks reflect my nesting/storing-food-for-the-winter urge – along with making the switch to drinking red wine (I’m pretty much a Prosecco/white wine girl all summer long.)

So, here they are….this week’s Healthy Kitchen Hacks:

1) Clever Way To Chop Up Hot Peppers
via @Food52 and Sommer @A Spicy Perspective

We’ve all done it. Touch your face, lips or god forbid, your eye, after chopping hot peppers and you’ll be scarred rewarded by a burning sensation that lingers for hours.

Enter this hack from Sommer where using a hand grater to prep hot peppers also acts as a barrier between that spicy hot pepper juice/pulp and you. The stem even makes for a nifty handle while grating.

Note: Before grating, I cut my jalapeño pepper in half into two strips so I could remove the white membrane (<—-where most of that heat is – not in the seeds like previous thought!)

Use your grated hot peppers in Sommer’s Garlic Lime Baked Salmon, my Loaded Veggie Nachos or this Green Lentil Chili from Sarah @The Organic Dietitian.

2) How to Freeze Raw Onions
via Alice @UNL Food

Onions seem to be one of those veggies I either have too many of or not one in sight when I need one in a last minute recipe. That’s why I love this hack from Alice on the best way to freeze those extra onions (I’m still getting them in my weekly CSA share.)

When you’re ready to cook, caramelize them in your slow cooker (hack from @Robinsbite) to make this Caramelized Onion, Pepper & Cheddar Pie.

3) Make Your Own Healthy Freezer French Fries
via @Super Healthy Kids

Potatoes are another constant in my CSA share lately so I jumped onto this hack for making Healthy Freezer French Fries from @Super Healthy Kids when I saw it. Granted, the initial prep is not exactly a shortcut but the results for me were 6 bags of frozen potato and sweet potato fries that I can dump and bake the next night I’m out of veggie ideas for dinner.

4) How To Roast Pumpkin Seeds In 15 Minutes

Tis the season for all things gourds and Serena’s got the hacks on how to best roast those pumpkin seeds and do it fast.

And don’t forget about the other winter squash seeds. Butternut squash, acorn squash and spaghetti squash seeds are just as delicious roasted – case in point: Sweet & Spice Butternut Squash Seeds.

5) How To Keep Opened Red Wine Fresher Longer
via @PureWow

If I’m being totally honest, this isn’t always an issue at Chez Segrave-Daly (aka open wine bottle lingering in the fridge for weeks) but I know I’ll find this trick of using an empty seltzer bottle to store wine useful after entertaining when we may have several half full bottles.

Now, I haven’t tested this hack to completion yet (my half full red wine seltzer bottle is only about a week old) but time will tell. Another option for leftover wine – cook with it!

Would you try any of these hacks? Do you have healthy kitchen or healthy living shortcuts to share? Shoot us an email ([email protected] or [email protected] ) or share below and we’ll try them out.