Glass is making a comeback after many years of plastic taking the lead. Nothing tastes as good coming out of a glass and whether you are drinking a hot tea or a glass of juice no one wants the taste of plastic to mar their drinking experience. If you purchase quality glass fixtures for your home, there is much less of a chance that they will shatter easily and with relatively ease of care glass utensils and jars can last a long time.
When you go to the store and see the same size mayonnaise jar in plastic or glass, which will you buy? You can try buying both and see which one has a better taste and is more long lasting in your fridge. Chances are good that you will become sold on glass if you are not already but that does not necessarily mean that those store-bought glass mayo jars are strong enough to use more than once. There are many ways to temper glass and the label will not necessarily inform you how that jar was made. Let’s look at some bright ways to chase away the winter blues using glass mayo jars.
Here in the Northeast the winds are cooling down as the temperature drops and the boots and feather jackets are being taken out of storage. Suddenly it seems that barbeque season has officially ended, and this cooking apparatus is dislocated from its gas source and covered or put into the garage or shed. But for those of us who are cold blooded carnivores there is always a barbeque available for grilling somewhere outdoors. No, the indoor grill pan, or stove attachment will not hold a candle to the taste and smell of grilling outdoors. All we need to do is put on those feathered friends and maybe some cooking gloves and bring the finished delectables indoors to vanquish. Neither rain, sleet or snow will discourage a true barbeque lover even if he or she must hold an umbrella in one hand and flip those burgers and dogs with the other hand.
If you are one of us cookout fans you will be interested to hear how to throw an amazing cookout picnic indoors and make it as elegant or down to earth as you, your family and your guests favor. If you have a nice size dining area either in the kitchen or a formal dining room, a buffet table is the way to go. Maybe you are stuck indoors in the cold and just want to bond with family and friends or perhaps there is a birthday that you want to celebrate and prefer to be home rather than go out to a restaurant. First, get some courageous soul to volunteer to brave the cold and man the barbeque outdoors by telling him or her that the fire will keep them warm (and it really does). If that volunteer happens to be your husband, then assure him that you will take care of all the indoor tidings if he agrees to venture close to the wind.
We will now leave that barbequing part to the husband and turn to his wife to give her some great ideas of how to jazz up a winter cooking. Instead of cold beer and soda on ice, hot drinks such as apple cider and flavored teas will warm any cold hearts easily and remember to keep some fresh cinnamon sticks on hand to finish those drinks off to perfection. Of course, some mixed drinks will warm some cold handed guests, but we will not encourage those in this article since people must drive home.
Invest in Slow Cookers
Crock pots are a great way to keep those beans and soups nice and hot without having to keep going over to the stove to serve them and these appliances come in varied sizes and prices.
Some soup ideas are mushroom and barley, butternut squash, cream of chicken, zucchini, and old-fashioned vegetable. I would try one soup that’s blended for kids who prefer not to see the vegetables live (such as the zucchini, butternut squash and cream of chicken) and one soup with distinct pieces floating around (such as vegetable and mushroom and barley).
You may ask why someone would make an investment in more than one slow cooker, but you will be surprised at how often they can be used once you try them. There is even a slow cooker that I own that is large, rectangularly shaped that would be perfect for a bread pudding or apple crisp, so slow cookers are not just deep pots but come in shallow versions as well.
I was so impressed when I was at Bar Mitzvah last week and the condiments were displayed in mayonnaise jars. Thirty-two-ounce mayo jars fit in perfectly to the slightly informal yet elegant decor with slightly dimmed blue lighting. These jars showed up with the different color salads such as Cole slaw (white, green, and orange), cranberry sauce (red), potato salad (white), cucumber salad (green) carrot salad (orange), and pickles (forest green), just some of the blends that I recall readily. The hot food was slightly raised towards the rear of the buffet table and the salads were at the front end slightly lower, each one in their individual mayonnaise jar. I was imagining that for a summer barbeque to have mayonnaise jars with metal airtight lids. This would be perfect to keep salads fresh and away from bugs and mosquitos. A shallow tray with crushed iced strategically placed could keep the balanced jars cold.
Well, the same will hold true with a winter cook-in. After the homemade or purchased salads are ready, they can be placed in practical crystal-clear mayonnaise jars, covered, and placed in the refrigerator till ready to be used. A fair amount of salad will fit nicely into one jar and when the salad is used up it will be so easy to replenish. These jars will take up less space than typical salad bowls freeing your buffet for other stuff and giving the feeling of openness that is so attractive.
Can Store Bought Jars be Reused?
Most folks today are trying to conserve and cut down on garbage that loads up landfills or gets shipped to the other side of the world. However, we do not recommend reusing the jars that you have bought filled with jam, peanut butter, or mayonnaise in your kitchen. An efficient canning jar must have two specific features. They must be made from tempered glass that can withstand high temperatures and must have a distinctive seal conceived in the lid.
Sometimes there can be a miniscule chip or crack in the jar which will make it dangerous to refill with food even if the salads are at room temperature or colder. Also, you may want to place hot varieties of cooked or steamed vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower or string beans and you cannot know for sure if these store-bought jars will crack and you will have to throw out the food.
There is no comparison in the quality of reused mayonnaise jars to those that are bought new from reputable companies. A jar that is purchased new from a company that stands behind their products will be more likely to take a return if the jar is damaged. Did you even try removing a label from a typical mayonnaise jar? You must first soak it in hot water because a simple wipe with a cleaner such as goo gone will not work efficiently. Remember, if you use boiling water there is a chance that your jar will crack. Also, the look of a used jar cannot have the same crystal-clear clarity as a jar specifically bought for multiple purposes. There are many types of glass and many different ways of manufacturing these glass items and a one-time use glass jar cannot be as strong and durable as one that is purchased for multiple uses.
A quality new mayonnaise jar that is made in the United States of America may seem like a fanciful purchase when you can just utilize one that would go into the garbage, however, when you buy a quality item you treat it with respect and take care of it.
Final Words
Tropical climates such as Florida and California are not the only places that have year-round barbeques. Here, in the Northeast, folks barbeque all year with the eating taking place indoors either in the kitchen, den or even the dining room and there are many happy occasions when cooking is appropriate. Today there are just so many indoor barbeque options from grill pans to Solaire® infrared grills to keep grilling all season long. To lend an air of elegance while still being informal use specially purchased new thirty-two-ounce mayonnaise jars that go from the refrigerator to the table.
These jars will keep your food fresh longer whether the food is hot or cold. Make sure that the label on the jar states if these jars can be used for canning and other hot food methods of cooking.