Food for Thought: Make your holiday cooking stress-free

Planning your Thanksgiving menu?

To help ensure your day is as stress-free as possible here's one chore you don't want on your to-do list -- running the self-cleaning cycle on the oven.

Instead wipe it down inside with plain water and save the deep cleaning until after the leftovers are history.

That's advice from Angie Hicks, founder of Angie's List, a website where consumers can rate and review contractors and companies.

Hicks ran a survey of appliance repair companies and found that electrical components on many ovens are far more likely to fail after a cleaning cycle.

If that happens, repairs could be costly and parts not available quickly enough to ensure your holiday bird is roasted, not raw.

Some other cooking tips from Angie's List are:

-- Don't open the oven door to peek at what's cooking. Doing that can lower the inside temperature by 25 degrees, which increases cooking time and wastes energy.

-- Use energy-efficient small appliances such as microwaves and slow cookers whenever possible.

-- Check the gasket. If there's moisture on the outside of the door, the gasket likely needs to be replaced. Gaskets help maintain proper cooking temperatures and seal in the heat.

New spin on greens

There's a new product out that takes some of the work out of rinsing salad greens, herbs and other produce -- Spin 'n' Stor Salad Bags.

These reusable plastic bags have a reservoir at the bottom which collects excess water from freshly washed greens when the bag is closed and whirled around in circles. When finished, just drain the collected water and store your greens in the crisper drawer in the bag.

No bulky salad spinner to store and no more paper towels wasted patting greens dry.

Check it out at www.argeecorp.com. Or order a package of four bags for $3.99 plus shipping by calling 800-449-3030.

New read

The book: The Entertaining Encyclopedia: Essential Tips and Recipes for Perfect Parties by Denise Vivaldo.

Cost: $25

Best for: Can't-miss tips, techniques and recipes that ensure the success of any event that anyone can host, any time. Vivaldo has included all the ideas, menus, and recipes to create a cozy movie night or to host an exotic dinner party featuring foods from around the world.

Get more: Read more book reviews and literature news in Sunday's Desert Living.

*Loretto J. Hulse: 582-1513; lhulse@tricityherald.com. To receive a recipe via e-mail each Tuesday register at tricityherald.com and click on newsletters. If you already are registered, click on edit account and newsletters to select Recipe of the Week. This exclusive recipe does not appear in the newspaper.