Quick Tips.

There are times when Brad's pacing in the kitchen, or fidgeting at the island, patiently (ha!) waiting for dinner, when he asks questions or points things out to me. It takes every fiber of my being not to smack him sometimes, but at least he's being attentive. The hovering isn't an every day occurrence, but both he and Bean circle when they're hungry. You're probably laughing right now, but I promise you wouldn't be if you were the one responsible for feeding these 2 vultures.

I can usually determine how hungry they are based on the speed of the rapid-fire questioning that occurs... or how many times they say my name. I'm not upset by this at all, and honestly, I've gotten used to it - but it occurred to me that maybe some of these things I do would be helpful to others.

For instance, buy cheese by the block and shred it yourself. I found that I seem to get more for my money, it lasts longer, it's cheaper and I always end up having more than plan to use - so it's great to add to other dishes. My time saving tip is to grate/shred the whole block at once. It's so great to skip that step the next time you need to use cheese. It may seem insignificant, but your time in the kitchen should always be stress-free, easy & fun.

If you don't have an herb mill, don't sweat it. I love (love, love, love) fresh herbs in my food, but you don't always have to chop them. Use those fancy, sharp kitchen scissors (that seem to get used for everything), make sure they're clean, and use them to cut your herbs. Huge time saver.

Kitchen scissors are also great for cutting up foods for our little ones - easier, faster & safer than a knife sometimes.
Use them to cut pepper strips, green onions, cherry tomatoes, etc. - so much faster.

You can use applesauce instead of eggs when you're baking. It's a great way to cut back on calories or when you're running low on eggs. Hey, we've all been there.

I use cinnamon (& nutmeg) in a lot of stuff. It can change the entire taste, smell and outcome of a dish/dessert/beverage. Aside from the numerous health benefits, it tastes great.

Re-use those cottage cheese, sour cream, large yogurt & dip containers. 90% of the storage containers in my house are from something else, and the others are glass. It's easy to refill them with something, slap a label on it, use it 50 times, then recycle it.

Chop your veggies ahead of time and store them in the aforementioned containers. Onions, peppers, mushrooms, beans, squash, etc. can be cut & stored. If you're going through the crying process that goes along with cutting onions, why not do several onions and get it over with. I like to avoid onion tears as much as possible.

If you're a carnivore, meat preparation the day you purchase it can be HUGE when it comes to saving time. Trim the chicken and remove the pork & beef fat (if you plan to) before you safely freeze them. 

Lastly, always, always, always put a wet paper towel over whatever dish you're heating up in the microwave. We all eat leftovers, we want them to taste good - nobody likes dried out food. (This is especially true when reheating pancakes. If you don't cover them, they turn into a Frisbee.) 

I hope some of these tips were helpful to you.