Healthy Kitchen Hacks #50

*How to Pit an Avocado Safely* *A Breadmaking Timeline* *Trim Brussels Sprouts Easily* *The Right Amount of Water for the Rice Cooker* *How to Make Pineapple Boats*

Whoop! It’s #HeathlyKitchenHacks #50! That means we’ve tested out over 250 ways to help you do things a little faster – or better in the kitchen. We publish these hacks on Wednesday. They are the shortcuts and “ahas” that we’ve actually tried in our kitchens in the past few weeks.

We’d love to hear about if you plan to try these out – or maybe you already have?

1. The Easiest Way to Pit and Peel an Avocado
via Janice & Liz @Meal Makeover Moms

I’ll admit, I’ve been doing it all wrong: I was the one slicing an avocado in half around the pit, twisting off half, and then whacking my sharpest knife into the pit, while holding that half in my hand. And then lecturing my kids: “This is not safe!”

Now, thanks to Janice and Liz, I’ve learned a much safer way to pit an avocado. In their recent Facebook LIVE video sponsored by California Avocados, they show you how to pit and peel the green fruit. The Meal Makeover Moms also share other exciting news:

The serving size of an avocado is now 1/3 of an avocado, up from the previous 1/5 of an avocado.

Avocado lovers like me are rejoicing…and continuing to eat our 1/2 of avocado serving…anyway.(:

2. How Long Does Bread Need to Rise?
via Rachel @Delicious Balance

I have friends who bake bread weekly. I wish that were me. But it’s not.

I think, “Who has time to wait around for bread to rise?”

But with this helpful timeline from Rachel, I realized, “I do have time!” She gives a simple map for how long her Oatmeal Brown Bread takes to rise. And it’s really not that long. Best of all, I was able to schedule my day to measure out the simple ingredients in the morning and time for the hot bread to come out of the oven right as my kids were arriving home from school. #Momoftheyear

Now you can too.

3. Prep Brussels Sprouts for Success
via Cooking Light Magazine

Did you know that after the first frost, Brussels sprouts turn sweeter on their long stalks? (My farmer father taught me the same is true for carrots, parsnips and rutabagas.)

Look for Brussels sprouts to start appearing at the farmer’s markets and in supermarkets now. And when you find them, check out the tips from the October issues of Cooking Light Magazine on prepping sprouts. The editors share a colorful recipe for Fresh Brussels Sprouts Salad along with these Prep-Wise tips:

• For quick and even cooking: Score the end of each sprout with a small “X.”
• For larger Brussels sprouts: Use the end of a verticle vegetable peeler to remove a cone-shaped piece from the core.

Use these tips for prepping our most popular Brussels sprouts recipes:
Slow Cooker Brussels Sprouts with Apples (pictured above)
Bacon Braised Brussels Sprouts

4. The Right Amount of Water to Add to a Rice Cooker

I love how brown rice, white rice and black rice comes out in the rice cooker: Perfect every time. (While on the stovetop, not so much.)

This perfectly cooked rice is probably thanks to a hack I learned from a dear friend I lived with during grad school. She was Taiwanese and cooked rice almost daily. She showed me this fool-proof way of measuring the correct amount of water for your rice cooker:

1. Add your desired amount of rice to the rice cooker.
2. Fill the rice cooker with water to cover the rice plus enough water to reach the first knuckle of your pinky finger when the very tip of your pinky is just touching the top of the layer of submerged rice. (Make sure your rice is in a flat layer.)

Try it. It works every time with any type of rice.  Measure the Perfect Amount of Water to Cook Rice + 4 more #HealthyKitchenHacks via @Tspcurry Click To Tweet

5. How to Make Pineapple Boats
via Amanda @Feed Me with Amanda

How beautiful are these? (As is every photo on Amanda’s blog!)

And talk about impressive, imagine serving Amanda’s Pineapple Ginger Chicken in these pineapple boats to guests or even your kids…resulting in wide smiles. Served like this, fruit salad would be a big hit – and even qualify as a fancy dessert.

These pineapple boats are not hard. Amanda gives simple instructions for slicing and scooping.

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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.)