The best way to keep your knives sharp (especially if you have them rattling around in a drawer) is to protect them with these simple DIY knife guards. They're easy to make and practically FREE!

Here is a amazingly simple recipe for Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches. One of the best things about this recipe, besides that fact that it's delicious, is that it freezes really well. I just wrap serving size portions in plastic wrap, freeze them and when I really need a pulled pork sandwich, I can either pop one…

My favorite summertime crockpot recipe is for Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwiches . There is minimal prep, it's inexpensive, you can cook it overnight, it doesn't heat up the kitchen and it makes enough for dozens of sandwiches. The best part is that they freeze really well...I wrap the cooked pork in individual size portions…

If the type of fruit your drying tends to turn brown when exposed to air (like bananas, for example) all you have to do is give them a quick, 2-3 minute soak in lemon juice (unsweetened pineapple juice also works) after slicing and let them drip dry before placing in the oven. The natural flavor of the fruit won't be…

IMHO, I think the best way to start (especially for big cloves of garlic) is to cut the clove of garlic in half. For each half, place the garlic piece flat side down and cut into long thin slices. Turn the garlic strips 90 degrees and slice again into small pieces. Then sprinkle with salt and chop until the garlic is…

Love this tip...just make sure you label each bag to prevent UFOs (Unidentified Frozen Objects) from clogging up your freezer. When soups are frozen, they can be hard to tell apart, and I find, when I don't know exactly what it is, I tend to just leave it in the freezer until it is one big bag of freezer-burned…

The most important thing to remember is to keep shaking the pot so the unpopped kernels stay at the bottom to make sure they get the heat necessary to pop them all. Those unpopped pieces can do some serious damage to a tooth filling. And, keeping the lid ajar allows the steam to escape and it helps keep the…

This is a dry sink, which is actually a decorative piece of furniture. It's more like a desk or a cabinet then an actual sink...there is no water involved.

I use a variation of this method on the dry sink right by my front door. I screwed in five screw hooks on the back of the sink that's against the wall, about a quarter inch from the top so they are out of sight, and ran the wires from my chargers though them. All the things I need are now waiting for me at the door…

Just soften a few chocolate chips in the microwave and either drop them into the cone or just dip the point of the cone into the melted chocolate, give it a second to harden, and you're good to go...and that last bite is always a chocolatey treat!

I'm sure that crockpot bread is better then any store bought bread, but it sounds like the crust may not be great, and that's one of my favorite things about a fresh baked bread. If you would like an easy to make great tasting bread with an incredible, crispy crust, try this No-Knead Seeded Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread…

The simple, classic cookbooks ("Rombauer's "Joy of Cooking", Pepin's "Complete Techniques", Child's "The Way to Cook", Bittman's "How to Cook Everything"...etc. ) are a great place to start, but it's the internet that really makes cooking easy, interesting and fun. Just google what you like to eat, and you'll find…

Cut the end off the celery bunch and immerse the stalks cut side down in a glass or jar filled with water and store in the refrigerator...it keeps the celery fresh and crispy for at least a week or two. Every few days, cut a 1/8" sliver off the bottom of the stalks and change the water and the celery will last even…

It makes sense to me. I think it's related to the "conditioned response" shown in the experiments Pavlov did with dogs. You associate delicious looking food (high-fat, high-calorie) subconsciously with great taste and that acts as stimulus to your brain to expect the food to taste great.

When I blogged that tip, I obviously didn't mean to suggest you go out and buy newspapers just for that purpose....believe it or not, some people still subscribe to newspapers and almost everybody gets community-type free newspapers in the mail. This is just a great way to get additional use out of them. You could…

Or you can just try this simple and cheap DIY hack and make your own knife protectors.

Another great way to stop wasting paper towels is instead of using layers of them to absorb grease after cooking fried foods, take a few pages of newspaper and top that with one paper towel. Then put the bacon, or whatever you want to degrease, on top of the paper towel. The towel absorbs the grease, which is then…

The best way to keep bread is on the counter at room temperature, cut side down on a cutting board and covered with a dish towel. After 2 days, if you still have a lot left, you should wrap the bread well, put it in a freezer bag and freeze it. Never store any bread in the refrigerator, because the average cold…

A great (and practically FREE) way to help keep your knives sharp is to make these DIY Knife guards. It takes all of 5 minutes, uses stuff you already have around the house, and they really do help keep a nice sharp edge on all your knives.

A very simple way to help keep your non-stick pans from getting scratched is to just place a paper towel between them when stacking and storing them.