Dear Home Ec 101, If I put flaxseed oil and yogurt in my hot oatmeal, will their beneficial qualities be destroyed by the heat? Signed, Goldielocks Heather says: If you allow the oatmeal to cool to a temperature comfortable for eating before adding your flax oil and yogurt you should be just fine. Now, there …
Dear Home Ec 101, I’ve always read that onions and potatoes should be stored well away from each other because if stored together they will cause each other to rot. But I frequently see kitchen renovation magazines that toot the joy of “basket drawers” stacked on top of each other, one filled with onions and …
Dear Home Ec 101, A friend and I were talking earlier today. She is a big fan of doubling casseroles and freezing half for later. I was telling her that I don’t because I usually freeze my meat before cooking it and you can’t refreeze meat. She said that as long as you cook it …
Dear Home Ec 101, I’m going to try to do a lot of baking this holiday season, can you explain the difference between baking powder and soda? If I run out what can I use as a substitute? Thanks, Rising in Raleigh Heather says: I’ve mentioned before that baking is a matter of chemistry. Both …
Ivy says: Ah, the urban legend. We got an email from a reader concerning an email forward that has been floating around for awhile. It reads like most urban legend stories, a warning about the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and a similar product by ScotchBrite. Our reader figured the story was untrue, and writes that …
Dear Home Ec 101: Please solve an argument between my husband and myself! When heating up the oven, I don’t wait for the required temp to reached before putting the food in, but do give extra time in case it wasn’t quite hot enough. My husband says that you have to wait until the temp …
Heather says: Commenter Keter raises some interesting points: Formaldehyde in clothing also makes it more flammable, and can cause contact dermatitis. Washing will remove the chemical treatment. Baking soda adsorbs (yes, that’s spelled right, it is a chemical process, no a physical one) some of it, but does not neutralize it. Try soaking the clothes …
Dear Home-Ec 101, I bought some new jeans and they smell strongly of chemicals? Could you please tell me what that awful chemical smell is on some new jeans? Also, how can I get rid of that chemical smell? I tried adding 1 cup of vinegar to wash with laundry detergent 3 times, and they …
From the comments: I’ve heard from a friend that the way Febreze works is by “gluing” the molecules causing the smell to the fabric. So you may not smell it anymore, but it is most definitely still there… doesn’t normally bother me, but it seems to bother some people heh. Assuming that what my friend …
Dear Home Ec 101: Okay, I’m new to cooking. Why do I need to pound the chicken breasts with a mallet or rolling pin? Like, why do I need to pound them at all? ~Are you really telling me to beat my meat? Heather says: I sure am. Meat is nothing more than muscle. I …