Quick Tip for Manicotti

One of my fellow cooks and I recently discovered a quick and easy tip that makes manicotti a much easier dish to make. I don't know about you, but usually when trying to stuff manicotti noodles, they have a tendency to break and/or tear. A great way to avoid this is to use "no-boil" lasagna noodles. Put them in warm water for 5 minutes to make pliable. Put the stuffing for your manicotti on the lasagna noodle and then roll it up. This makes great manicotti and saves you the time and effort of having to "stuff" the noodles.

That is Tuesday's tip! Make some manicotti and enjoy!

Herb chopping tip!

This is for all of you cooks who like me dread having to chop up fresh herbs!

I began to panic last night when my meat loaf recipe called for "chopped" fresh parsley. Then I remembered a trick my good friend SJ had taught me.

My husband & I were over at her house one evening for dinner when I saw her doing something strange. She had a big plastic cup & a pair of kitchen scissors in her hands.

I asked her what she was doing & she explained she was chopping the herbs. She had cut off a portion of the herb & put it in her cup. She then took her kitchen scissors & cut the herb inside her cup until it was chopped into tiny little pieces.

Well, last night I tried it for myself & sure enough it was the quickest, easiest job of "chopping" herbs I've ever had!

I just rinsed out the cup & moved on.