Personally I like shortcuts…I know shortcuts get a bad rap but that is only when they are misused… for example margarine instead of butter, printed mass produced thank you cards versus hand written notes, leaving your Christmas lights up year round. These “shortcuts” can save you time and in the case of butter, save you money, but to me it’s all about taste. Yes, I said it… if you still have your Christmas lights up at the 4th of July I question your decorating taste.
I was thinking of the shortcuts I use daily that make my life a little bit easier—a Sonicare toothbrush, because brushing my teeth is such hard work. Just kidding, I prefer the Sonicare because it’s a shortcut to getting that fresh from the dentist clean every day.
I round all my checks up to the next dollar in my checkbook because then it’s easier to subtract. A bonus to this shortcut is I have a little extra “bank” in the bank at the end of the year. And I even consider my laundry chute a shortcut to me carrying all the dirty clothes to the basement laundry room. A better shortcut would be getting them back upstairs and put into drawers but we can’t have everything. There are cooking shortcuts that can be very delicious and save you time without your meals feeling like “fast food.” I love dried noodles…. really easy and probably saves me at least an hour when making soup. I have made many batches of homemade noodles and when I switched to dried I didn’t tell my family…they have yet to notice and I say if it isn’t broke don’t worry about it.
This also goes for store-bought pie crusts that come in the dairy case. The Pillsbury crusts are wonderful and I have many guests comment on my homemade pie crust. Yes, I made the crust—I pressed it into the pan and made the filling—tiny fibs won’t break your halo and a little tarnish can be rubbed off.
My favorite kitchen shortcuts are kitchen appliances. I don’t know how my great grandma Marion made cookies without a standing mixer! Boiled eggs are quick and easy with the little counter egg maker and rice is delicious in a microwave rice cooker.
Of course the sweetest shortcuts are through the woods to a neighbor’s house.
Having a place out of the city is a shortcut toward the mental reset I need. Rachel Maddow
Taste of Home columnist Sandy (Anderson) Holthaus lives on a farm in South Haven, MN with her husband, Michael, and their children Zoe, Jack and Ben. Her heart remains on the North Shore where she grew up with her parents, Art and LaVonne Anderson of Schroeder. She enjoys writing about her childhood and mixes memories with delicious helpings of home-style recipes.
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