Household Hints by Rosemary - Kitchen

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While in the midst of the holiday season in between shopping, decorating, wrapping and visiting there was plenty of cooking and baking to do. I tried to be as efficient as possible in getting the job done and having an easy clean-up. I incorporated some of Mom's tricks, as well as some I got from friends and the internet to speed up the process, and thought you'd like to have some to try.
First of all, good utensils are a must, a lot of time can be wasted looking for the correct tool for the job. Always have on hand two sets of measuring cups and spoons, a good thin spatula, several nylon scrapers, a good set of tongs, which are also great for turning meat as they don't pierce the meat and let the juices out, a set of glass mixing bowls with pour spouts and mixed size and shaped baking dishes; I prefer glass simply because they're more easily cleaned.
Serrated knives are a must to cut bread or soft vegetables such as tomatoes. It's also recommended to use a serrated knife to cut a cake in half, but my Mom always cut a long enough piece of thread, looped the ends around her index fingers, set it around the cake and pulled it towards her. She always got a nice clean cut, with very few crumbs; wait until the cake is cooled whatever method you choose.
When making a recipe that calls for cups of several different ingredients, example, shortbread cookies, put one ½ cup measuring cup in the icing sugar, one ½ cup measuring cup in the cornstarch and the 1 cup measuring cup in the flour, then there is no mixing of the ingredients in the containers, and no wash-up in between batches. Instead of sifting the ingredients, use a whisk to mix and fluff them before adding the butter.
To pit olives (if you need to!), I've been told to roll the olive on a bread board between a clean cloth and your hand, it will loosen the pit and it's easier to pop out.
To separate the whites of an egg from the yolk, hold a funnel over the bowl, or measuring cup and drop the egg inside. The white will fall into the container, the yolk will stay in the funnel. Sounds good, but I'd just as soon use the egg shell to separate the egg, then not have the funnel to wash afterward, but you may want to try it for fun.
To peel hard boiled eggs, do the same as for olives, roll the egg around a bread board or counter under your hand, the shell will crack in small pieces and it makes it easier to peel off. Always rinse and dry to remove any remaining shell. To extend the amount of filling for devilled eggs, add a small boiled potato to the mix, mash it together with the yolk, add mayonnaise, Dijon or dried mustard, salt, pepper; pipe back into the half egg and sprinkle with paprika.
Grease your baking pans with the wrapper from the butter, I save the wrappings in a small plastic sandwich bag in the freezer and take them out as needed.
Hope you'll keep these short cuts in mind and let us know if you have any to pass on.