Tips to Cut Vegetables Easier

 

Vegetables are not only nutritious; they also make up for some of the best meals. You can add vegetables to soups, salads, stews, steaks and make hundreds of snacks with them. But sometimes vegetables are not the easiest to cut or they could take a while to get done right. If you don’t want to spend hundreds on a fancy chopping machine, check out these useful tips to cut vegetables in seconds.

 

Microwave the squash before cutting

Vegetables with the consistency of squash and butternut can be excessively hard and even a little unyielding when under the knife. You might know that trying to slice or cut a squash can be a very tough task, that even becomes dangerous if you don’t have the proper technique. Although nobody tells this to you, trying to cut a raw squash might not be the best option for your knife or your fingers. Instead, just mark with the tip of your knife the lines where you’ll want to cut the squash later and place it on the microwave for about 3 minutes. Take out the squash and let it cool, then you’ll be able to cut through the skin of the squash easily, or even peel it if that’s what your recipe calls for.

 

Use a pastry scraper

One of the things we enjoy the most is to find different ways to make use of our cooking tools. Even though you purchase something to perform a specific task, who’s to say it’s no good for something else? When dealing with soft vegetables such as celery, peppers, avocado, carrots or lettuce, a great hack is to use a pastry scraper. By making use of this tool not only will you be able to cut even pieces and completely straight, you’ll also have a better grip in a safer manner than you would with a kitchen knife.

 

Half cherry tomatoes easily

Cherry tomatoes are delicious, fun looking, and they can be anything from a healthy snack for the kids to an important ingredient in salads and avocado toasts. But we all know it’s a real hassle trying to catch these squirmy guys that run away whenever we try to hold them down and cut them in halves. To make your life easier and slice several cherry tomatoes at once, place them in your cutting board very close together and press them lightly with a plate to hold them in place. While holding the plate, take your knife and pass it between the cutting board and the plate to slice all of them in half in one motion.

 

Peel garlic without touching it

Garlic is one of the most used ingredients to season food in the world. You can’t imagine a good pasta or a juicy steak without a little garlic, and let’s not even talk about a warm garlic bread. But let’s face it, peeling garlic is a very unpleasant task that makes it not even worth to add to your recipe. If you want to keep enjoying garlic but don’t want the hassle of peeling it and be left with the smell in your hands, simply place the garlic cloves in a small jar, seal it and start shaking. The friction that creates between the cloves will make them peel each other instantly.

 

There you have it! Useful tips to slice, cut and half vegetables in a matter of seconds. With these hacks you’ll have no excuse to start eating healthier and add them to all of your meals.