Keeping a house clean is important and keeping your cleaning arsenal simple and healthy is even more important.
Store your DIY concoctions in glass bottles, which contain no harmful chemicals and are better for the environment than plastic. Look for a brown variety to help keep light from breaking down compounds within.
Use essential oils. They smell wonderful, but many plant-derived essential oils also possess antimicrobial attributes, meaning they can help negate unwanted elements such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Add a drop or two to a cleaning solution to amp up the aroma and the cleaning power.
All-Purpose Cleaning Spray
Make this your go-to cleaner.
1 1/4 Cups Water
1/2 Cup White Vinegar
10 Drops Essential Oil
Pour ingredients into a glass spray bottle, using a funnel if you have one, and mix contents. Spray liberally on surfaces and wipe clean with a soft cleaning cloth.
Sink Scrub
Works on porcelain, stainless- steel, acrylic, copper, stone, and solid surfaces.
2 Cups Baking Soda
20 Drops Essential Oil
Castile Soap Or Dish Soap
Put baking soda in container. Add essential oils and stir to combine. Wet sink, sprinkle scrub liberally, add a squirt or two of castile or dish soap, and scrub. Rinse thoroughly.
Glass & Mirror Cleaning Spray
Toss the blue stuff and use this instead.
2 Cups Water
2 Tablespoons White Vinegar
2 Tablespoons Rubbing Alcohol
5 Drops Peppermint Essential Oil
Pour ingredients into a glass spray bottle, attach sprayer, and shake to mix.
“Work With What You Got!”
©Tiny New York Kitchen © 2020 All Rights Reserved
Fire things up with popular hot sauces. Whether you’re just starting to heat things up or you’re looking for new options there’s a sauce to spice up any meal.
HARISSA
This thick North African sauce combines hot peppers with garlic and other seasonings. It’s traditionally served with couscous, but harissa can also add flavor and fire to everything from meat and fish to vegetables and eggs.
SRIRACHA
While there is sriracha from Thailand (it’s named after the town where it was created in the 1930s), the wildly popular one used in everything from wings to Bloody Marys is produced in Southern California. Both feature fresh red chilies, sugar, salt, garlic, and vinegar.
GREEN HOT SAUCE
Most hot sauces are red because they’re made with red peppers, but there are green versions, which are typically made with jalapeños and/or poblanos and sometimes tomatillos. Green sauces can be milder or more herbal, but heat levels vary from sauce to sauce.
LOUISIANA STYLE
Most hot sauces are based on the Louisiana style formula of chilies, vinegar, and salt, and puréed into a thin red liquid. Which peppers are used, how they’re processed, and additional ingredients make for endless variety.
MEXICAN HOT SAUCE
South-of-the-border sauces tend to use the same Louisiana style combination of chilies, vinegar, and salt, and have a similar flavor, but if you’re eating tacos, why not reach for a bottle from Mexico? Many include chipotles, which are dried and smoked jalapeños, and add smoky flavor.
“Work With What You Got!”
©Tiny New York Kitchen © 2019 All Rights Reserved
The best way to be a good cook is not to worry about being a perfect cook. Give up on perfection, or at least any ideas you may have that perfection is a fixed thing against which you must measure everything you do. Nothing we cook will look will look exactly the same as a picture in a magazine or taste the way our friend’s dish did. Even a familiar recipe will not offer the same result from one day to the next time we make it.
We at Tiny New York Kitchen like to experiment with flavors. Often we reach into our well-stocked pantry and use the essential flavor builders to take a dish to the next level.
Essential Flavor Builders To Keep On Hand:
Vinegars: Vinegar’s complex tang is the secret ingredient in many recipes. We shake a bit of sherry vinegar into bean soup, and add rice vinegar to coleslaw dressings. If you had to choose just one vinegar, we would recommend the mild rice vinegar, but we also keep balsamic, sherry, malt, and cider vinegars on hand.
Anchovies: A filet of anchovy blended into a marinade or dressing adds savory flavor without being too overtly fishy.
Chili Paste: We keep chili paste or bottled Sriracha for drizzling over rice and adding to meat marinades.
Red Pepper Flakes: Many dishes get better with a little kick from red pepper flakes.
Soy Sauce: Soy sauce is a way to add umami flavor and a little salt to dressing and soups.
“Work With What You Got!”
©Tiny New York Kitchen © 2018 All Rights Reserved
Let’s face it; most of us eat way too much salt. A high-sodium diet can increase risk of high blood pressure (hypertension), which can lead to cardiovascular and kidney disease. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend limiting sodium intake to less than 2,300 mg per day, which is about 1 teaspoon of salt. The good news is that reducing the amount of salt you use will retrain your taste buds to sense other flavors. You won’t even miss it.
Bland food is such a bore, but how can we keep sodium in check without sacrificing flavor?
Here are some suggestions to reduce salt in your diet:
Remove the salt shaker from the table when you eat.
Limit process foods, including cured, pickled, salted, or brined products.
Focus on fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables without sauces or seasonings.
When choosing canned options, look for “no salt added” or “low sodium.”
Cook at home so you have control over how much salt you add.
Flavored vinegar, onions, garlic, and citrus also add tons of flavor without the sodium.
Herbs and spices are the key to flavor. Add dried varieties during cooking and fresh herbs at the end of cooking or when plating a dish. Thyme, mint, lemongrass, dill, basil, oregano, chives, and parsley are great herbs to use. Spices like pepper, ginger, chili powder, and cinnamon are excellent spices to flavor your food.
“Work With What You Got!”
©Tiny New York Kitchen © 2018 All Rights Reserved
Know Your Vinegar
Pickling season is here and it’s important to know about the various vinegars. Vinegar is usually made by oxidation of the alcohol in wine, cider, or malt. Vinegar provides the tart pucker flavor in pickles, but it also acts as a preservative. If a recipe calls for vinegar, it will most likely call for a particular type. If a recipe does not specify the type, use a vinegar that fits the recipe. White vinegar has a sharp flavor and is used for pickling and in recipes where a clean, strong taste is desired. Cider vinegar, made from apples, has a faint fruity flavor and is used in recipes where a slightly milder taste is preferred. You can replace white vinegar with cider vinegar in pickling recipes, as long as the cider vinegar has a 5% acidity level.
Since vinegar is very acidic, bacteria grow very poorly in it, or not at all. However, vinegar will still deteriorate if exposed to air and/or heat. Keep your vinegar capped and store it in a cool, dark, dry place. Vinegars can be flavored by adding slightly bruised herbs or fruit, heating the vinegar almost to body temperature, and sealing the bottle.
www.tinynewyorkkitchen.com
“Work With What You Got!”
© Victoria Hart Glavin Tiny New York Kitchen © 2016 All Rights Reserved
Homemade Fruit & Vegetable Wash
I’ve made the mistake of buying premade produce wash and have spent way too much money to find out that many of them don’t really work that well. It’s easy to make your own and you’ll save plenty of money as well. You’ll just need to invest in a decent spray bottle.
INGREDIENTS
1 Cup Water
1/4 Cup White Vinegar
3 Tablespoons Lemon Juice
Pour into spray bottle and use by spraying produce, wipe thoroughly, and rinse. It’s that easy!
Makes About 1 1/4 Cups
“Work With What You Got!”
© Victoria Hart Glavin Tiny New York Kitchen © 2016 All Rights Reserved
Pantry & Freezer Staples
How long do pantry and freezer staples last? Staple items are known for their long shelf life, but they don’t stay fresh forever! Use this handy list to determine how long you should keep them on hand.
Freezer
Hamburger & Stew Meats: Shelf Life: 1 to 2 Days Storage: 3 to 4 Months
Ground Turkey, Veal, Pork, Lamb: Shelf Life: 1 to 2 Days Storage: 3 to 4 Months
Bacon: Shelf Life: 7 Days Storage: 1 Month
Sausage (Raw From Pork, Beef, Chicken or Turkey): Shelf Life: 1 to 2 Days Storage: 1 to 2 Months
Fresh Steaks: Shelf Life: 3 to 5 Days Storage: 6 to 12 Months
Fresh Roasts: Shelf Life: 3 to 5 Days Storage: 4 to 12 Months
Chicken or Turkey (Whole): Shelf Life: 1 to 2 Days Storage: 1 Year
Chicken or Turkey (Cut Up): Shelf Life: 1 to 2 Days Storage: 9 Months
Lean Fish: Shelf Life: 1 to 2 Days Storage: 6 Months
Fatty Fish: Shelf Life: 1 to 2 Days Storage: 2 to 3 Months
Fresh Shrimp, Scallops, Crawfish, Squid: Shelf Life: 1 to 2 Days Storage 3 to 6 Months
Pantry
Baking Powder: Shelf Life: 18 Months Storage: Keep In Dry Place In Airtight Container
Beans (Dried & Uncooked): Shelf Life: 1 Year Storage: Store In Cool & Dry Place
Chocolate (Semisweet & Unsweetened): Shelf Life: 18 Months Storage: Keep In Cool Place
Cocoa: Shelf Life: 1 Year Storage: Keep In Cool Place
Cornstarch: Shelf Life: 18 Months Storage: Store In Airtight Container
Flour (White or Whole Wheat): Shelf Life: 6 to 8 Months Storage: Store In Airtight Container or Freeze To Extend Shelf Life
Nuts (In Shell & Unopened): Shelf Life: 4 Months Storage: Freeze to Extend Shelf Life
Spices & Herbs (Ground): Shelf Life: 6 Months Storage: Store in Airtight Containers In Dry Areas Away From Sunlight & Heat. Before Using, Check Aroma – If Faint Replace.
Sugar (Brown): Shelf Life: 4 Months Storage: Store in Airtight Container
Sugar (Confectioners’): Shelf Life: 18 Months Storage: Store in Airtight Container
Sugar (Granulated): Shelf Life: 2 Years Storage: Store in Airtight Container
Vinegar (Unopened): Shelf Life: 2 Years
“Work With What You Got!”
© Victoria Hart Glavin Tiny New York Kitchen © 2016 All Rights Reserved
English Stew (1860)
English stew is the name given to the following excellent preparation of cold meat. Cut the meat in slices, pepper, salt, and flour them, and lay them in a dish. Take a few pickles of any kind, or a small quantity of pickled cabbage, and sprinkle over the meat. Then take a tea-cup half full of water; add to it a small quantity of the vinegar belonging to the pickles, a small quantity of catsup, if approved of, and any gravy that may be set for use. Stir all together and pour it over the meat. Set the meat before the fire with a tin behind it, or put it in a Dutch oven, or in the oven of the kitchen range, as may be most convenient, for about half an hour before dinner-time. This is a cheap, simple way of dressing cold meat.
“Work With What You Got!”
© Victoria Hart Glavin Tiny New York Kitchen © 2016 All Rights Reserved