Kitchen Quick Tips - Storing Nuts

Vacuum seal nuts in mason jars then store in the freezer to keep them fresh until needed.  This will prevent the nut oils from becoming rancid.

Pecans

I wrote about flea market food a couple of days ago.  The flea markets we have visited both here, while traveling and at our vacation home have been meccas for delicious foods.  Most of them have large sections where you can buy local produce and fresh baked bread at very reasonable prices.  Some of them have indoor sections where you can buy fresh meats, cheeses and eggs.  I have discovered some really need foodie finds at the flea markets like chicharron de harina, prickly pear, boiled peanuts and sugar cane.

My husband's sister and our nephew visited us over the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend while we were at our vacation home.  We took them to one of our favourite flea markets.  This is a larger flea market with a wonderful selection of foodie finds!

There is a large Latino population in the general vicinity of our vacation home which means we can find a lot of Latino ingredients at the flea markets.  They generally are very inexpensive and while I can't take a lot back to our home in Ontario, I do manage to bring back a few things.  Florida, of course is known for it's citrus fruit so there are some rather good bargains on citrus fruits at the flea markets.  Florida borders on Georgia, home to peanut and pecan growers.  We stopped in Georgia on one of the trips   we drove down to Florida.  I bought pecans for a couple of our kids but never bought any for ourselves as I thought they were a bit costly.  A booth at the flea market was selling fresh, cracked pecans for $3.  I'd say there was about 2 lb worth of pecans.  The shells had be cracked just enough to open them for easy eating.

When we got back to our vacation home, I poured the pecans into a serving bowl then set on the table for impromptu snacking.  Was that ever a popular bowl!  They were delicious.  I should have brought some home with me.  I definitely will be buying some to bring home during our winter vacation.

Kitchen Quick Tips - Nut Substitution

If a cookie or cake recipe calls for nuts you can substitute oatmeal browned in a bit of butter for a nice flavour and crunch.

Kitchen Quick Tips - Coconut

Revitalize dried out shredded coconut sprinkle a little milk over it then mix and let sit to soften.