Refrigerator

A lukewarm can of soda placed in a refrigerator can take about 45 minutes to chill. On the other hand, a lukewarm can of soda placed in a bowl of ice, water, and table salt can take less than 5 minutes. Don't have ice lying around? Wrap your can or bottle in a wet paper towel ...more

We've all seen the blue screen of death at least one time in our lives. I grew up using a Windows PC about the size of a small refrigerator and that damn screen popped up at least once a day. Thankfully, errors like these happen much less often, but now that our smartphones ha ...more

About ten years ago, Western research figured out that green tea was a nutritional powerhouse. After all, in Asian countries where green tea is consumed throughout the day, cancer rates tend to be much lower, although there are probably other factors contributing to that fact, ...more

The microwave oven is a monumental technological achievement that's saved college students and single people from starvation for decades. Almost 97% of all American households have one, which makes it the most-owned kitchen appliance in US homes right after the refrigerator. ...more

Unless you're vegan or lactose intolerant, butter is an indispensible ingredient. However, butter is no one-trick pony. It can take many forms that make it even more versatile and useful in the kitchen. Clarified butter has many advantages over regular butter—but there are cer ...more

Some food jars seem like they're actually designed to prevent you from enjoying every last bit inside. The remnants of sticky foods like Nutella and peanut butter are almost impossible to scrape out with a knife or spoon, and it's a shame to throw out something that tastes so ...more

I'm starting a laminate tile installation next Thursday. I thought I will show what is involved from start to finish. It's going in a kitchen and two bathrooms. There is ceramic tile in these rooms now and I'm installing the laminate tile right over the ceramic tile. The probl ...more

Need to get a painful splinter out of your skin? Apply some bacon grease onto the affected area and place a band-aid on it overnight. The bacon grease will soften the skin tissue and draw out the splinter, making it easier to remove with tweezers the next day. After cooking y ...more

There are hundreds of delicious ways to enjoy caramel, from chocolate confections to sticky caramel apples and carnival bags of caramel corn. Caramel might be the special sauce that makes every dessert taste better, but it's also surprisingly simple to make. In about 7 minute ...more

My father never cooked a meat without some kind of marinade. He always used a slew of ingredients: salt, pepper, Season-All, Cajun seasoning, vinegar, olive oil, liquid smoke, Worcestershire, hot sauce, onions, lemons... I'm pretty sure this isn't a complete list, but I've hon ...more

When you come home from the grocery store, you probably put away every single fruit and vegetable in the bins and drawers in your refrigerator. Any fifth grader knows that fridges work to preserve food, thus everything should go in there, right? Nope! Chances are, you've been ...more

Makeup can get expensive, but removing it from your eyes shouldn't have to be. Thankfully, some DIY eye makeup remover probably already exists in your refrigerator, kitchen pantry, or medicine cabinet. Most oils work great for removing eye makeup from your eyelids. You can ch ...more

Ever wonder why when you defrost meat, there's all that pink liquid at the bottom of the plastic bag? That liquid is called "purge," and it's not good. What happens is that ice crystals form and expand within meat as it freezes, which puncture the cell membranes. When the mea ...more

Whipped cream is one of the most iconic dessert toppings around, but the full-fat version is not the most forgiving when it comes to fat content. With the holidays just around the corner, learn how to spare yourself a few calories—especially if you love the creamy texture of w ...more

Though nobody's going to hide the fact that they're getting sloshed on major holidays, you might want to be more discreet when it comes to your morning pick-me-up or lunchtime tipple during the rest of the year. It used to be that having four martinis at lunch was acceptable a ...more

I used a plastic water filter for years. Who wouldn't? It cuts down on buying bottled water, which, as it turns out, is pretty much the same as unfiltered tap water. Plus, bottled water is terrible for the environment and your wallet, too. Water that costs only pennies a day a ...more

Frozen meat is a saving grace for weeknight meals. Whenever I crave a certain protein, all I need to do is defrost it. Sometimes, I don't even need to defrost it in order to use it. But every once in a while, I would pull a frozen chicken breast out of my freezer only to see ...more

Rather than reaching for aspirin the next time a headache strikes, try grabbing a drink of lemonade instead. Not only can it help ease your head pain, but it can also help relieve stress, anxiety, and depression. But not just any old lemonade will do the trick—reach for the la ...more

When it comes to proper tomato storage, conventional kitchen wisdom (and Alton Brown) state that tomatoes are best stored at room temperature—not in the refrigerator. Supposedly, refrigerated tomatoes develop a mealy texture and lose their flavor if they are exposed to cooler ...more

Certain foods like garlic, onions, and shallots are food staples for a reason—they're unbelievably flavorful and cost very little. However, with their papery thin skins, they're also a pain to peel. We've already shown you how to peel a garlic clove more easily using the micr ...more

If you look at the label on your favorite processed snack, there's a good chance you have no idea what half the ingredients are. It's nothing new, but with natural and organic foods becoming huge trends, we're hyper-aware of all the "chemicals" we eat. But the word "chemical" ...more

I have a theory that chocolate chip cookies are the gateway drug to cooking. The recipe is easy, no special equipment is required, and at the end, you get warm, fresh-from-the-oven cookies that are simply irresistible. It's how I got hooked on baking and cooking, and anecdotal ...more

Are ants invading your living space? Start peeling some raw onions. Or add a sprinkle of black pepper to your floor and countertops. Or make yourself some coffee and sprinkle the leftover coffee grounds in areas where ants have been spotted. Somewhere in your pantry shelf or r ...more

Whether or not you have a feline companion at home, a bag of cat litter makes for a handy household staple that can help prevent grease fires, add traction to slippery icy steps, remove grease spots, preserve your fresh flowers, and clear algae from your backyard koi pond. No ...more

There are a lot of techniques out there for how to cook the perfect steak, from flipping it multiple times to applying a spice rub or dry brine to aging the beef. But it turns out that there's a super-easy way to make a great steak at home, and all you need is a good cast-iron ...more

Foodborne infections often occur through the contamination of equipment, food-prep tools, and unsanitary surfaces. A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reminds us that breast pump parts are part of the food-delivery chain — and they can bec ...more

Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to cool down during the hot summer heat without blasting the A/C in your house and opening the refrigerator every few minutes to feel the cold, machine-made air blow against your overheated face. Below are 8 weird and unexpected ways ...more

Food is a necessity, sure, but every now and then it's so satisfying to eat something because it is fun and delicious. While eating a whole tub of homemade ice cream might satisfy your need for gluttony, there's a way to take it even further—make your dinnerware edible. The B ...more

We've showed you how to make Butterfingers and Kit Kats, as well as custom-shaped chocolates, but have you ever thought about making your own gourmet chocolate bars? It's a fairly simple process, once you understand tempering, and there are endless flavor possibilities when y ...more

When I was 12, for some mysterious reason, my dad put my little brothers and me in charge of cooking the Thanksgiving turkey. Naturally, my brothers and I spent the rest of the day playing hide-in-seek in the backyard and forgot all about the humble bird defrosting in the sink ...more

How many of us actually drink enough water? It's one of the easiest ways to improve your health, but most people don't get nearly as much as they should. We've grown so accustomed to soda, coffee, and sugary juices that water just seems bland by comparison. That's why drinks l ...more

When there's no more pickles in the pickle jar, most of you probably dump the remaining brine down the drain and recycle the bottle. While recycling is commendable, throwing out good pickle "juice" is not. You can use that leftover liquid in cocktails, bread, and potato salad ...more

Please read the following in Rod Serling's voice. Picture, if you will, a mother. She comes home after a long day at the office, relieved that she took some chicken breasts out to thaw and will be able to make a quick and easy dinner for her family. She opens her refrigerator ...more

Last week, I showed you why your refrigerator is one of the best tools in the kitchen when it comes to saving money and preserving food at its tastiest. But did you know your freezer is another underutilized ally in the cooking game? Chances are, you've been using your freeze ...more

Oatmeal may not be the most exciting breakfast option in the world, but in uncooked form the oats can be used to neutralize odors in your refrigerator, relieve your dog's itchy skin, soak up kitchen oil spills and treat your poison ivy or chicken pox itch. Sick of cooking oat ...more

While some parents prefer to preserve an element of surprise upon delivery of their baby, most choose to learn the sex from their doctor as soon as they can. More recently, some are even opting for a more "festive" route: announcement in the form of a "gender party", where the ...more

Chicken breasts have gotten a bad rap. Dry, flavorless, boring... poor white meat gets no love, and dark meat gets all of the credit for being sinfully flavorful and delicious. But the truth is, even though chicken breasts are lower in fat and calories, they can also be incred ...more

There are a lot of frustrations when you're dealing with cramped living quarters, but you can do a lot of good cooking in your tiny kitchen if you make the most of your space. These storage hacks will make it easy to cook delicious meals, no matter how limited your square foot ...more

Even the best-maintained kitchens occasionally get a fruit fly infestation. These critters descend, lay eggs (up to 500 at a time!), and then disappear usually only after extreme cleaning efforts (i.e., finally attacking that weird puddle of goo behind your refrigerator). And ...more

A lot of fruits start to turn colors once they've been cut due to an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase that turns the fruit colors when it's exposed to oxygen. You can prevent this reaction in apples with a honey-water bath, but what about avocados? Many claim that leaving the ...more

Lemon peels have long been known for their ability to be home remedies for cleaning and medicinal needs. In the kitchen, they are equally as useful and can transform many common dishes and drinks into more memorable ones with just a hint of citrus. To give you some ideas, belo ...more

A little cooking mistake can lead to tough meat, spoiled food, and even a bacterial explosion in your kitchen if you're not careful. These five simple, easy-to-fix kitchen mistakes are some of the most commonly made in households around the world. Luckily, you can correct thes ...more

During the summer, fresh strawberries are everywhere: at your neighborhood farmers market and in many desserts like strawberry shortcake and strawberry rhubarb pie, to name just a couple. Bringing home a few baskets of the ruby red fruit always seems like a good idea... until ...more

If you've never heard of cookie butter, it must be because you live in a town where there's no Trader Joe's. It was their most popular item in 2012, and when it started to become popular, the Internet promptly went nuts, posting recipe after recipe using it as an ingredient. F ...more

The biggest problem with plastic wrap is also its most useful trait: its incredibly clingy nature. Plastic wrap seems to stick to itself or you before you can get it over the plate, bowl, or food you're trying to preserve. And once you do manage to get it in the right position ...more

Tomorrow's the 1st of April which means it's the one day of the year you can put aside the daily grind, and go at it Dwight Schrute and Jim Halpert style. Yes, there are easy apps to do your dirty work, but if you're old school and you like to do it the old fashioned way, here ...more

In this series on weaponized lasers, I'll be exploring the function, operation, strength and building instructions for three basic laser weapons; CO2, Diode, and Flashlamp. These laser types are just a few of many, selected because of their simplicity and basic construction (d ...more

Eggs are incredibly important to cooks, and not just because they're tasty and a complete protein (many erratic genius/artist types make a point of eating an egg or two for breakfast). Yes, they are great when perfectly poached, scrambled, hard-boiled, and even scram-boiled, b ...more

Unlike wine, you can't re-cork or stopper leftover bubbly after you've opened it, but all is not lost even if you haven't managed to finish every last drop. You can use your leftover champagne to make light-as-air crêpes or pancakes, to create a detox face mask, to cook seafoo ...more

Many of you have heard of "ricing" cauliflower. If you haven't, you're missing out making this one-note vegetable into a variety of main and side dishes. The ricing process is so simple, fast, and easy that even the most novice cook can swing this. One you complete this prep s ...more

Most of the time we only use the microwave to reheat or defrost, but you can actually save a lot of time by using it for cooking. These genius recipes make the most of this underused appliance, and also turn out some pretty tasty dishes. First: Is It Safe to Cook in the Micro ...more

Bad news, guys. The shelf life for liquor leftovers does not apply to your two-buck chuck. While an opened bottle of your favorite whiskey will stay respectable for ages thanks to its high ABV (which makes it inhospitable to outside elements), an opened bottle of merlot will s ...more

Everyone and his mother (and grandmother) has a chocolate chip cookie recipe that he swears is the absolute best recipe, guaranteed to produce a chocolate chip cookie so good it will make you weep with joy. The problem with that is that everyone—relatives included—has a differ ...more

This is a simple twist on the classic mojito cocktail, but instead of rum, I used Vodka. Because I like mojitos on the sour side, I added extra lime juice compared to what a classic mojito recipe calls for (about a 1/4 cup more). This drink also calls for freshly made mint inf ...more