To make the tomatoes, peel and seed them. Season very lightly with salt and black pepper. Toss in a large bowl with olive oil. Lay them on a parchment-lined sheet pan, and bake in a 200°F oven for 6 to 8 hours. Remove from the oven when sufficiently dried, and place in a sterilized canning jar. Fill with extra-virgin olive oil and use as you wish.

Combining 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice or white vinegar with enough milk to equal 1 cup is a quick and easy way to make sour milk at home. Allow the milk/lemon juice mixture to stand 5 minutes, and the milk should sour and thicken slightly. This homemade sour milk can be used in any and all recipes calling for sour milk and/or buttermilk.

Regular prepared mustard, Dijon-style, Creole (or whole-grain) or hot English mustard can add a little zip to salads, fish, and steaks. Add a bit of Dijon to your regular vinaigrette dressing, add fresh lime juice and the mustard of your choice to mayonnaise to serve with boiled or fried seafood, or how about combining Creole mustard with olive oil, salt and freshly ground black pepper to toss with boiled new potatoes?

I have so much mint I don’t know what to do! Well, I do know. I made a batch of mint jelly to keep in the pantry for later use. I put mint leaves in my ice cube trays, filled them with water, and voila! they can be added to ice tea, lemonade, or gin and tonic. Put a handfull of mint springs in a pot with equal parts of sugar and water, bring to a boil, remove it from the heat, then let it steep. Strain out the mint leaves and store the mint-flavored sugar water in clean, airtight containers in the ‘fridge. Great to use to make mint juleps. A few snipped mint leaves sprinkled on sliced tomatoes—very refreshing!

Everytime I go into my “drawer from hell” in the kitchen where everything like spatulas, wooden spoons, gadgets and corn holders are stashed, I get stabbed by the corn holders. A friend gave me a helpful tip—stick them on a wine cork! Great idea!

During the summer, store parfait glasses or sundae dishes in the freezer. When dishing up ice cream, the cold glasses slow down the melting process.

If you happen to bite into something way tooooo peppery, don’t grab for water. Rather it’s best to eat bread or crackers, or better yet dairy products like milk, plain yogurt, soft cheese or sour cream.

Ripen avocados more quickly by placing them in a paper bag with an apple or banana. The ethylene gas put out by the fruit will speeding the ripening process.

If your plastic storage containers have a funny oder, stuff balled up newspaper in them, cover (seal), and let them sit overnight. The paper aborbs any lingering food smells.

I’m not a big kitchen gadget collector, but I do use my kitchen shears for all sorts of things. If you want to chope canned tomatoes, put them in a large bowl and chop away. This controls the mess of squirting juices all over a cutting board. Use your shears to snip herbs (I use them to chiffonade basil), slice pizzas, and cut cooked chicken into serving pieces.