Don’t let your kitchen tools be one-hit wonders — make them do double (or triple) duty.
Chopsticks
Soak wooden chopsticks in water for 15 minutes, then use them as skewers.
Label your herbs by gluing the empty seed packet or a cute printout from your computer to one end of the chopstick and gently pushing the other end into the dirt near the edge of the pot.
Stab some jumbo marshmallows with a chopstick, and roast them over a low flame for s’mores-tastic gooeyness.
Wrap a strong, clothlike paper towel or thin rag around the narrower tip, and use it to clean stubborn grout stains or other hard-to-reach places.
Eat Cheetos or other finger-staining foods with chopsticks.Tongs
Juice citrus by clamping it between the midsection of a pair of tongs and squeezing on both ends.
Locking tongs make a quick makeshift recipe stand.
Keep lightweight plastic spices on the topmost shelf — you can always use a pair of tongs to reach them.
Tongs are a convenient way to rotate scorching-hot pans in the oven without getting a towel or pot holder dirty.
If you have a gas stove, roast bell peppers or tortillas over an open flame using tongs to grip them.Bundt pan
Make sure all the skin on your roast chicken gets nice and crisp by letting your chicken sit comfy-cozy over the tube part of the pan.
Set corn on the cob vertically on the Bundt pan tube, and use a knife to carefully cut the kernels off; the kernels will fall into the pan.
Place your cored jalapeños opening side up in a Bundt pan (if you don’t have enough to fill it, use wads of foil to fill in the extra space so they sit upright), then pipe or spoon your filling into the peppers.Coffee grinder
A coffee grinder can be used to crush a variety of spices and dried herbs, including peppercorns, mustard seeds, dehydrated mint and more.
Put a handful of nuts in the grinder to quickly make a finely crushed topper for ice cream or yogurt parfaits or to make nut-crusted meats or cheese logs.
Make powdered sugar in a pinch by running granulated sugar through your coffee grinder.
Grind oatmeal as a replacement for store-bought cereals for baby, or sprinkle it into your bath to moisturize.Cast-iron skillet
Flip a cast-iron skillet upside down, and heat it in the oven to use as a pizza baking stone.
Put your meat between a couple of large pieces of plastic wrap, and bang it with your cast-iron skillet to tenderize and flatten.
Cast-iron skillets make handy panini presses.Melon baller
Use a melon baller to scrape out the seeds and ribs of bell peppers.
Core an apple or pear in a jiffy without losing perfectly good flesh by cutting it in half and using a melon baller to scrape out the core.
A melon baller makes cutting out the goopy centers of tomatoes a breeze.
Use a melon baller to create small scoops of ice cream for an elegant presentation of tartlets.
It can also be used to remove that hairy choking hazard appropriately called the choke of an artichoke.
A melon baller portions perfectly sized mini meatballs.Mesh strainer
Smash avocados through a mesh strainer for smoother guacamole.
No tea strainer? Improvise by putting the leaves in a small mesh strainer and making sure the water in your mug covers the bottom.
Crack an egg into a small strainer, lower it into boiling water, and hold it there (use tongs if it’s too hot) to poach eggs.
Put tough-stemmed, microwave-dried herbs like thyme in a mesh strainer fitted over a bowl, and use a wooden spoon or pestle to smash the leaves off the stems and grind the leaves as you go.
If your coffee filter breaks, just pour your coffee through a strainer straight into the mug to remove the grounds.Vegetable peeler
Use the tip of a vegetable peeler to remove the eyes from potatoes (that’s actually what it’s for… on a Y-peeler, there’s a little eyelet to the left or right that does the same).
Make pretty curls or quick shavings of chocolate or cheese.
Get perfectly shaved lettuce for your burgers by shaving a wedge with a peeler.Muffin tin
Make quick mini taco salad bowls by nestling tortillas between the cups of an upside-down tin (a 12-muffin tin can make four “bowls”).
Put raw eggs in the cups of a muffin tin, and bake them in a preheated 325-degree F oven for half an hour for oven-“boiled” eggs.
Wrap upside-down muffin tin cups in bacon, and bake for bacon cups.
Put a variety of condiments in the cups of muffin tins to create a quick, portable condiment tray.
Use a muffin tin to make giant ice cubes for punch.Spoons
Lay a wooden spoon across the top of a pot to prevent water from boiling over.
Dip the business ends of plastic spoons into chocolate or white chocolate, and allow them to dry on waxed paper to create chocolate stir spoons for coffee or hot cocoa.
Use a metal spoon to peel an orange or other citrus fruit by pushing the tip just through the flesh, with the curve of the spoon in line with the curve of the orange, and pushing — it also works for kiwi.
A metal spoon makes quick work of ginger peel.
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