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I am always looking for ways to make cooking easier!  Over here, I cook a LOT.  Pretty much just about every single meal.  And if something helps me do that faster, easier and more enjoyable, you can bet I want to share it.

5 Random Cooking Tips to Make Life Easier!

1. My very first tip is to get an InstaPot.

Seriously. I totally resisted getting one, but thank GOD my sweet mother-in-law sent me one for my birthday this summer.  HOLY CHEESE CANNOLIS!  How did I ever live with out it?

My pride.  Sometimes pride gets the best of me.  I really thought that this InstaPot thing wasn’t “real” cooking.  But every thing I’ve made so far in it has been delicious.  Tender and tasty and cooked to perfection…

Let’s talk about dry beans.

Dry beans used to be so gross to me.  Cooking them on the stove or in the crockpot… neither gave me very good results. They always tasted like a cereal box. And not the fruity pebble kind. More like GrapeNuts or Puffed bran.

But the beans I’ve made in my InstaPot have been amazing.  It’s like some other person came in and cooked them for me.  That’s really what the InstaPot is like… having some extra hands in the kitchen.  If I forget to put the roast in the crock pot, look down and it’s 4PM?  No worries. Throw it in the Insta Pot and an hour later, tender, juicy Pork Roast.

Never heard of it?  It’s basically an electric, programmable pressure cooker.  Check it out here.

 

2.  Make Your Own Baking Powder!

What?  Who knew you could do that?  I seriously hate running out of baking powder.  I have the flour and salt and sugar all mixed together and then WHAM.

I’m stuck in the middle of a muffin mix rave without the life of the party.  Thank goodness for this tip!  Now my party can rock on all night long.

Visit How to Make Baking Powder at Creek Line House to get the instructions!

 

3. How to Make Vanilla Extract

About two years ago, a friend of mine told me that she makes her own Vanilla Extract.  I did a full on face plant.  I’d never heard of anyone EVER making their own vanilla extract!

It’s so easy and you can save soooo much money!  Vanilla extract, the REAL stuff, is like liquid gold and it’s totally priced that way.

So why not just make your own!

Visit this post at Sarah Hearts to see how to make your own vanilla extract!

4. How to Freeze Basil

This year, I’m going to do this!  Every summer I try to grow basil and keep it alive and for the first time ever, I won!  I won, I won, I won!  Usually, I’m a big, fat, basil-growing loser, but I made it a huge priority this summer to keep that plant watered and now I have a huge pot full of gorgeous, aromatic, green leafy basil.

To see the instructions, just visit this post on how to freeze basil from Wholefully.com.

 

5.  How to cook the perfect sausage patty!

For years, I burned my sausage.  It always came out as dry, circular pieces of char that would have been better off being whacked around on a hockey rink instead of being served to alive, human eaters.

Now, I know better!  I figure out how to cook the perfect sausage patty and here it is!

Just visit this post to get the low-down on how to cook the perfect sausage patty!

I hope the 5 random cooking tips have helped spark all kinds of a-ha moments for you today.  Be sure to subscribe below for more tips and tricks and fun decorating ideas!