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10 creative ways to use your blender besides smoothies

Your blender is your best friend when it comes to mixing killer morning smoothies. But blenders are way more versatile than pureeing fruits and veggies. Try these ten hacks and you’ll be getting lots more use out of your blender in no time. 1. Make sorbet High-powered blenders can crush through ice with no problem, so it stands to reason they do the same with frozen fruit. Try tossing in some frozen mangos, strawberries (or really just about any fruit) in your blender with a drizzle of honey. You blender will whip up a tasty frozen sorbet in no time. 2. Grind spices Blenders can grind spices with complete ease. Store leftovers in an airtight jar and use within three to four weeks for best flavor. 3. Make frozen cocktails Add alcohol and frozen fruit to your blender and make a boozy slushy in no time. 4. Make nut butters…

How to get rid of fruit flies in your home

The weather is warm, and your house is stocked with loads of yummy fresh fruit. This means it’s prime time to find those pesky little fruit flies floating around your kitchen. Rather than just shoo them away, here’s how to get fly-free in no time. Gnats vs fruit flies When you first spot little black bugs flying around your kitchen, you should make sure it’s a fruit fly and not a gnat. Fruit flies thrive off of rotting fruit or other high-fructose foods. They’re typically reddish orange or dark brown in color. Gnats, on the other hand, are usually grey or black, and tend to live in soil, so if you think it might be those, the issue might not be overripe produce. How did fruit flies get in my house? It might seems like fruit flies just appear spontaneously out of nowhere, or that they miraculously grow from rotting fruit.…

Why you should photograph your stove dials before a trip

After weeks of planning, days of packing and hours of travel, you’re finally relaxing on vacation — swearing you’re not going to worry about life back home. But inevitably, one thought creeps into your mind: “Did I leave the stove on?” Maybe it’s the hair straightener, or leaving the garage door open, or even locking the front door. Whatever plagues your peacefulness, Lifehacker shares this genius tip: Use your smartphone to snap a shot of your stove dials (or whatever it is you worry about most) before you head out the door. Make it a part of your usual pre-travel routine. That’s it. It’s so simple, but such a small step can save you from feeling stressed ever again when you’re away from home. If you’re lounging on the beach and anxiety about the little things back home start to pop up, whip out your smart phone and put your mind at…

Your kitchen towel could be loaded with bacteria, study shows

We were already weary of kitchen sponges, but now we know to look out for kitchen towels, too. Kitchen towels do many duties from wiping to drying, holding hot things and cleaning surfaces. They’re ubiquitous in households around the world, but now we know, those pretty patterns might be hiding some dangerous secrets. A new study from the University of Mauritius reported by the American Society for Microbiology found that family size and type of diet factor into the growth rate of the bacteria on kitchen towels that can lead to food poisoning and other serious infections. Researchers took an up close look at 100 kitchen towels after one month of use and found that 49 percent of the towels contained high levels of bacterial growth. The bacteria count increased with the size of the family and also when children or extended families were present. In households where towels  had more than…

9 genius food-related inventions given to the world by women

From frozen pizza to flat-bottomed paper grocery bags, women inventors throughout history found it difficult to get the patents — and the recognition — they deserved. But these nine brilliant women, and their inventions, persevered and helped make the world of food what it is today. 1. Flat-bottomed paper bags Paper bags used to look more like envelopes or cones, and their design didn’t allow them to stand upright on a table, making checkout or doing just about anything with your bag of groceries nearly impossible. America’s bags got an upgrade in 1868 when cotton mill worker Margaret Knight invented a machine that made paper bags with a flat bottom. But credit for the design didn’t come easy. A man named Charles Annan saw her drawings and received a patent without giving Knight credit. The female inventor took Annan to court and after a legal battle earned her own patent…

15 Foods that Can Last Forever on your Shelf

Birds are chirping and green grass is growing. It’s all a sign to American households that it’s time for a much needed spring cleaning. But your annual overhaul shouldn’t be limited to your clothing closets. Chances are, your kitchen pantry could benefit from a little tidying too. Sure, you know you need to toss that stale box of cereal. And those graham crackers you left open last weekend surely should go, too. But many other items aren’t going to be as obvious. The expiration date food system can be confusing. There are as many as a dozen different ways processed food companies stamp their goods to tell us when to toss and when to keep — Sell By, Use By, Best Before. The list goes on. A new voluntary initiative is being led by two major trade associations, Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), that will streamline…

This is the dirtiest object in your home

If you’re curious what is the leading culprit in harboring bacteria in your home, you’re about to be grossed out. It’s not your shoes, your purse, or even the toilet. It’s an object you actually claim to use for cleaning — the kitchen sponge. A new study published in Scientific Reports found that the kitchen sponge, given its constant contact with water and food particles, is a good place for bacteria to grow. The results may be unsurprising, but the amount of bacteria is where we might underestimate the situation. Sponges showed a density of 54 billion bacteria per cubic centimeter — about equivalent to the number of bacteria in human feces. Yikes. “Despite common misconception, it was demonstrated that kitchen environments host more microbes than toilets,” the researchers wrote in the study. “This was mainly due to the contribution of kitchen sponges which were proven to represent the biggest reservoirs of active bacteria…

Experts say this is the best way to load silverware in a dishwasher

At some point it’s likely that you’ve opened a dishwasher to find your spouse or roommate loaded or rearranged it in a way you felt very strongly about. Chances are, how you load a dishwasher is nearly ingrained in you at this point, and whether grounded in truth or not, you have ideas about how the task is done most efficiently. This includes the decision to load silverware handle side up or handle side down. An ongoing poll on Houzz shows that people are split nearly 50/50 on the debate. The handle-side-up argument states that knives and forks can cause serious injuries to the person who will be unloading the machine. The handle-side-down camp insists that cutlery doesn’t get nearly as clean when it’s hidden in the basket, and also that handle side pointing down allows for less silverware overall to fit in each load. So which is the correct way? TipHero looked at various…

Stop bacteria from building up in your knife block

How to Clean a Knife Block Your floors, fridge, countertops and even oven make in on to your regular cleaning checklist, but there’s one surface in your kitchen you have probably never even touched. Consider your knife block. Sure, your knives are clean when you stow them in the slots, but dust and other debris can accumulate in these small spaces anyway. Despite our usual disregard for them, knife blocks should actually be washed and sanitized monthly if use frequently. Moisture can lead to mold and bacteria build-up, so to avoid larger cleaning issues, wash knives after each use and dry each thoroughly before sliding back into the knife block. Sanitize a knife block by following these simple steps: Step 1: Remove any knives stored in the block and set aside. Turn the block upside side over the sink and shake lightly to remove large debris. Step 2: Use a…

Kitchens Painted this Color Sell For More

As it turns out, when it comes to real estate, Americans value the color blue. Zillow’s 2017 Paint Colors Analysis found that the color can add value to home when painted in the appropriate rooms. In the recent study, Zillow analyzed photos of more than 32,000 homes that were sold in the United States to see how paint color could have affected the price. Homes with soft blue kitchens were found to have sold for about $1,809 more — especially in Charlotte, NC — while homes with yellow kitchens were sold for about $820 less on average. But the benefits of blue go beyond the kitchen. Interestingly, the bathroom color seemed to have the biggest impact in sales versus any other room. Homes with blue bathrooms, most often powder blue or periwinkle, sold for about $5,400 more than expected. White paint faired the worst here. White, eggshell or off-white saw values slip…