1- Drop fresh celery leaves in the pot while cooking shrimp to destroy the odor.

2- To easily get a rolled pie crust off board and into the pie pan, fold it lightly in half, then in half again. Unfold it in the pie tin.

3- If you only need half an onion at a time, save the root half. It will last longer.

4- Chopped fruit and nuts will disperse more evenly in cake batter if they’re lightly floured before adding them.

5- Always break lettuce in pieces never cut it with a knife.

6- To keep noodles or rice from boiling over, add a tablespoon of butter or oil to the water.

7- Pastry made with cold water is flaky. Pastry made with hot water is crumbly.

8- Grease salad molds with mayonnaise before filling them. Salads will come out easier and will have a mice flavor. Wet your fingers before working with molded salads.

9- For easy cake decorating, first draw the designs on the frosted cake with a toothpick. Then fill an empty plastic ketchup squeeze bottle with colored frosting and squeeze it out slowly over the toothpick lines.

10- Hard-boiled eggs will peel easily when cracked and placed in cold water immediately after taking them out of the hot water.

11- You can cut meringue pie cleanly by coating both sides of the knife lightly with butter.

12- When a recipe calls for adding raw eggs to a hot mixture, always begin by adding a small amount of the hot mixture to the beaten eggs slowly to avoid curdling.

13- When pan-frying, always heat the pan before adding the butter or oil.

14- Over salted soup or vegetables? Add cut, raw potatoes and discard them once they have cooked and absorbed the salt.

15- Cream will whip faster and better if you first chill the cream, bowl and beaters well.

16- A few drops of lemon juice added to whipping cream helps it whip faster and better.

17- Brown sugar won’t harden if an apple slice is placed in the container. If brown sugar is brick-hard, grate it with a cheese grater.

18- Fried potatoes will be deliciously golden brown if sprinkled lightly with flour before frying.

19- To get more juice out of lemons, quickly heat them in hot water for several minutes before squeezing them. Or roll them to soften them.

20- Guaranteed: no tears in your eyes when you peel onions. Just run cold water over them as you peel them.

21- Cook potatoes and other root vegetables in their jackets to prevent loss of vitamins and minerals.

22- A boiled egg should never be boiled. Simmering produces tastier, better results. This is true of “hard-boiled” eggs.

23- A little oatmeal adds much flavor and richness when used as a thickener for soups.

24- For cupcakes and small fancy cakes, grease pans well on the bottoms, little or none on sides fill them only half full.

25- When measuring flour, level the cup without packing the flour by passing a knife over the top to scrape off the surplus.

26- You won’t waste flour if you dust it from a large salt shaker onto meats, fish or patties, instead of dipping the food into the flour. It’s easier, too.

27- To determine whether an egg is fresh, immerse it in a pan of cool, salted water. If it sinks, it is fresh, if it rises to the surface, throw it away.

28- Eggs will beat up fluffier if they are allowed to come to room temperature before beating.

29- For baking, it’s best to use medium to large eggs. Extra –large eggs may cause cakes to fall when cooled.

30- If you want to reuse a marinade (that has had raw meat in it) as a sauce, heat the marinade to boiling, then boil 1 minute before serving.

31- Add your leftover cooked oatmeal to your meatloaf recipe instead of bread crumbs.

32- If your bread is browning too fast, try placing a dish of water on the shelf just above the bread, the added humidity in the oven will slow down the browning.

33- For higher loaves of bread, don’t omit the salt from yeast breads. Salt controls the growth of the yeast.