Knowledge Weighs Nothing

How To Cook Pasta In Just One Minute

pasta

Pretty much everyone eats pasta and noodles (unless you are gluten intolerant). I think most people cook their pasta for between ten and fifteen minutes, but there is a way of cutting the cooking time down to just a minute or two. This obviously saves cooking time and money spent on cooking fuel/energy. It’s also useful for cooking pasta when camping etc as it dramatically cuts down on the fuel required for cooking.

How To Cook Pasta In Just One Minute

It’s very simple actually – all you need to do is soak your pasta or noodles in cold water for 90 minutes or so before cooking. Doing this allows the pasta to absorb water and soften before cooking. It is this process that makes pasta usually take longer to cook from scratch. By doing this beforehand, it only takes a minute or two (depending on how you like your pasta) for the pasta to warm through, activate the starch and soften further.

There you go – pasta and noodles cooked and ready to eat in one minute.

(Image from: Wikipedia)

10 Time Saving Kitchen Hacks You Need To Know

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We have featured quite a few posts about life hacks, DIY and kitchen hacks previously. Everytime we do a post on hacks, I get loads of messages asking what exactly are hacks and life hacks? Simply put a hack is a new term used to describe a tip, trick or technique for getting something done quicker or easier than usual.

The kitchen hacks on the post below by ‘Empowered Sustenance’ are amazing. Each one is genuinely useful day-to-day, my favourites are the avocado one (which I’ll be trying shortly!) and the cheap DIY Magic Bullet blender using your own blender and a mason jar. Check out the full list of kitchen tips and tricks on the link down below.

10 Time Saving Kitchen Hacks You Need To Know

(Image from: Empowered Sustenance)

How To Make Mountain Pies (The Best Campfire Food There is!)

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If you don’t know what a mountain pie is, it is basically a grilled sandwich that is cooked in a small device called a mountain pie maker. A mountain pie maker is like a small skillet with a lid and a long handle. You prepare your sandwich, the same as if you were using a sandwich maker at home, place it in the mountain pie maker and place it in the campfire to cook. The result is truly one of the most delicious and satisfying things you can cook outdoors on a campfire or firepit.

Mountain pie makers can be purchased for between $15 and $50. The one we use and highly recommend is the Rome #1705 cast iron mountain pie maker. It can be purchased from Amazon for $19.99. If you purchase one, I guarantee you that it will become one of your favourite things ever! In fact you’ll probably go on to buy several!

How To Make Mountain Pies (The Best Campfire Food There is!)

(Image from:  via Instructables)

How To Cook On A Clothes Iron (Eggs, Bacon, Sausages, Burgers & More)

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Cooking on a clothes iron is probably most useful for students and people who stop in hotels frequently. However if you cook on gas at home, and the gas is off, you can still cook some food using this method.

How To Cook On A Clothes Iron

Some things you can cook beneath the iron (as with the cheese toasties in the photo), but for most things it is easier to invert the iron and wedge in position somehow. You’ve now effectively got a stove top! Depending on the method used, you will need: a clothes iron, some tin foil and two clothes pins. Cooking times will be dependant on the power of individual iron.

To cook toasties – turn on the iron so it heats up. Make the toasties in the usual manner, then wrap them well in tin foil (so no juices etc can escape and make a mess or damage the iron).  I recommend double wrapping everything when cooking on a clothes iron, just to be safe.  Now place the wrapped toastie on a heatproof surface and place the iron on top (as in the photo). Let it cook for a minute or two, keeping a close eye on things, and then turn it over and cook the other side.

To Cook Eggs, Bacon, Sausages & Oats etc – invert the iron and wedge it securely in position. It is very important that the iron remains in position and level during the cooking. Otherwise your cooking food could slide off and make a mess everywhere. Now turn on the iron so it heats up.

Take some tin foil and make a foil dish (again double wrap to be safe) to fit the hot plate of the iron. Your dish wants to have raised pinched out sides to catch the fats/juices that come out of the foods cooked. You’re basically making a tin foil skillet without a handle.

Once the iron has heated up and your tin foil pan is made – just cook your food the same as you would on a small camp stove. Keep an eye on things at all times and be careful not to knock the iron etc. When the food is ready, use two wooden clothes pins to lift up and remove your tin foil pan from the heat and then enjoy your meal.

Notes: Cooking on a clothes iron is potentially dangerous and messy if you don’t exercise common sense and take care. You could also risk damaging the iron too. If you are careful and take precautions though, this method works perfectly well. The most important safety point is to never leave food cooking on a clothes iron unattended!

(Image from: >Jerry Pank)

8 Easy & Delicious Crock Pot Freezer Meals

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We have two young kids and we both work. With kids, school and work, it can be difficult Monday to Friday to find the time to prepare healthy home cooked food. My wife always manages to make us something delicious to eat, but sometimes the cost of this is the mealtimes are much later in the evenings, which isn’t ideal for the kids.

If like us you are busy in the week and struggling to find time to make healthy home cooked meals, one option is to take some time on the weekend and prepare some freezer meals for the week(s) ahead. Below is a post containing 8 crock pot freezer meals from ‘Mommy’s Fabulous Finds’. I am particualrly liking the look of the crock pot pulled pork recipe! Make some of these on the weekend and then you have some easy crock pot meals for the week ahead.

8 Easy & Delicious Crock Pot Freezer Meals

(Image from: Mommy’s Fabulous Finds)

Turn Your BBQ Into A Pizza Oven With This DIY Clay Oven Top (Removable)

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If you have ever tried stone baked pizza or bread, you’ll know why so many people are building pizza/clay ovens in their backyards. The thing is – not everyone has the room to build a full-on clay oven. Also for others, a clay oven will only get the occasional use for parties and BBQs etc. Well now there is a solution for both of these groups of people!

The DIY tutorial below explains how to make a removable clay oven top that can be placed on top of a BBQ to transform it from BBQ to pizza oven! Now that’s a cool idea! Obviously this won’t work well on small BBQs, but you should be able to bake pizzas and bread if you built one of these DIY oven tops to fit a medium to large BBQ. It would probably work best of all on brick built BBQs. Check out the tutorial below for more information.

Turn Your BBQ Into A Pizza Oven With This DIY Clay Oven Top (Removable)

(Image from:  via Instructables)