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Healthy Kitchen Hacks #49

Healthy Kitchen Hacks #49

*How To Downsize a Bagel* *Waffle Eggs* *How to Make Dried Fruit In Your Oven* *How to Seal a Snack Bag Without a Chip Clip* *Secret Ingredient to For Homemade Salad Dressing*

Healthy Kitchen Hacks: How to Downsize a Bagel, How to Make Dried Fruit in Oven, Make Eggs in Your Waffle Iron, Secret Ingredient to Salad Dressings and How to Close a Snack Bag Without a Clip

It’s finally back to school this week in the Segrave-Daly family household and this summer girl is trying to embracing the positives (less humidity, structure at last, college football season) vs. the negatives (beach season over, colder weather coming – wahh…..!)

But since I am a Type A, I do love me some routine which in Teaspoon of Spice’s world, is a Healthy Kitchen Hacks post every other week. Here are my favorite hacks that I’ve recently tested out – let me know in the comments below if there are any here that you think you’d try out!

1) How To Downsize a Bagel
via Katie @Mom’s Kitchen Handbook

Healthy Kitchen Hacks - How to Downsize Bagels

As you know, bagels today are often super-sized – bigger than the palm of your hand and pretty dense so I love love this hack I learned from Katie @Mom’s Kitchen Handbook new (#beautiful) breakfast cookbook Rise & Shine while I was making her Everything Bagel BLT (#delish.)

Instead of slicing your bagel in half, slice it into 3 pieces. This saves calories and you can use the middle slice for toast another time. I don’t buy bagels often but this is the only way I’m slicing them from now on!

2) Waffle Eggs
via Danika @Snapguide

Healthy Kitchen Hacks - How to Make Eggs In Your Waffle Iron

“What You Can Make In Your Waffle Iron” may need to become its own side series here on the blog. I’ve already featured Waffle Quesadillas in a previous Healthy Kitchen Hacks post and this time, it’s waffle iron cooked eggs thanks to inspiration from Danika’s post on Snapguide.

Instead of making an omelet or scrambling eggs in a pan, pour them into your greased hot waffle iron and after cooking 2 -3 minutes per side, you got a snazzy looking breakfast. For my waffle eggs, I started with four eggs and whisked in leftover taco toppings from the night before: mushrooms, roasted red peppers from a jar, spinach and shredded cheese.

Add instant robust flavor to salad dressing w. this secret ingredient + 4 more #HealthyKitchenHacks @tspbasil Click To Tweet

3) How To Make Dried Fruit in Your Oven
@Diply

Healthy Kitchen Hacks - How to Make Dried Fruit Easily in Your Oven

While this isn’t necessarily a time saver, it’s a food waste hack as it’s a way to salvage any fruit you have that is overripe or if you have a large batch of late summer fruit on your hands. And I figure you could do it once a year, similar to canning fruit at the end of the season.

I followed this simple How To Make Dried Fruit infographic. I sliced peaches and plums into 1/4-inch slices and cut grapes in half then baked in the oven on the lowest setting (around 170 degrees F.) The infographic times were spot on – the peaches and plums were done in 6 hours and the grapes to 8 hours. To store, seal in

To store, seal in ziplock bag or tupperware. Toss them into salads, mix them into grain salads or mix with nuts for a filling snack.

Extra tip: The grapes I placed cut side up on the tray dried a bit faster than those placed cut side down.

4) How To Seal a Bag Without a Chip Clip
via @MyFridgeFood

Yes, this dietitian has bags of chips and various snacks bags in her pantry (mainly popcorn, tortilla and potato chips that average no more than three ingredients on the label.) Often I use a clothespin as a handy clip but inevitably, there are times where there are no clips or pins to be found (they probably go to the same place those socks in the dryer go.)

Robin of Robin’s Bite gets the credit for sending me this hack awhile back and I finally tried it out as you can see in my first iMovie clip here:

Admittedly, it took be a few times to get the knack of it and while I’m going to go buy some more clothespins, this will be a handy trick to use once all those pins start disappearing again.

5) Secret Ingredient For Salad Dressing
via @Cooking Light

Healthy Kitchen Hacks - Whisk in this secret ingredient to any homemade salad dressing for extra robust flavor

I’ve just recently starting using nutritional yeast (and in all honesty, I’ve only used it regularly in this Pasta e Fagiloi with Greens Soup recipe.)

But now I have a new use for it – in salad dressing! I saw this hack in an issue of Cooking Light earlier this year as a way to add umami or savory flavor to any homemade salad dressing – here’s how:

Whisk in 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast per 1/4 cup of salad dressing = instant flavor boost!

And if you need some homemade salad dressing inspiration, check out my 3 Easy-To-Make Salad Dressings or Cooking Light’s 16 Homemade Healthy Salad Dressing Recipes.

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

Meal Makeover Mom Janice

Sunday 11th of September 2016

Love your iMovie! I'm going to call you a techno Queen!! As always, I learned new things with your hacks. I may have to buy some nutritional yeast. :)

Deanna Segrave-Daly

Sunday 11th of September 2016

Hah - if I could figure out the app, you definitely could. I'm fairly new to nutritional yeast myself - I have to remember that I have it in the pantry :)

Katie | Healthy Seasonal Recipes

Sunday 11th of September 2016

How cool is that no chip clip hack? I am so psyched you (and Robin) shared it since I literally just this week realized that we have somehow lost all of ours.

Deanna Segrave-Daly

Sunday 11th of September 2016

Admittedly it took me a few times to get the knack of it but I find myself using it a lot now!

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