| How to Freeze Brussels Sprouts Posted: 30 Jul 2018 01:00 AM PDT If you recently harvested brussels sprouts from your garden or got a lot of them on sale at the grocery store, you may be wondering how you're going to eat them all before they go bad. Luckily, you can store your brussels sprouts in the freezer for up to a year so you have plenty of time to enjoy them. If you want your brussels sprouts to keep their flavor and nutritional value for longer, blanch them before stashing them in the freezer. EditFreezing without Blanching - Take the brussels sprouts off the stalk. If they're already off of the stalk, you can skip this step. Otherwise, grab the individual sprouts and pull them away from the stalk until they snap off. Once all the sprouts are off, dispose of the stalk.[1]
- Soak the brussels sprouts in warm water for 10 minutes. Soaking the brussels sprouts in warm water is an easy way to clean them before storing them in the freezer. The water will wash out any dirt or particles underneath the leaves on the sprouts.[2]
- Rinse the brussels sprouts with fresh water and then pat them dry. Use a dishcloth to carefully dry each of the sprouts. It's important that they're completely dry before you store them in the freezer or ice crystals could form on them.[3]
- Place the brussels sprouts in sealable plastic freezer bags. Depending on how many brussels sprouts you have, you may need to use several bags. Once the bags are full, press out any excess air with your hands and seal the bags.[4]
- You can also make it so each freezer bag has 1 serving of brussels sprouts in it. Then, when you're ready to cook, you can grab a bag and not have to worry about doing any measuring.
- Write the date on each bag with permanent marker. Writing the date on the bags will save you the trouble of having to remember how long the brussels sprouts have been in the freezer. You can also write the future expiration date on the bag so you don't have to count out the months every time you want some brussels sprouts.[5]
- Store the bags of brussels sprouts in the freezer for up to 12 months. After 12 months, the brussels sprouts may start to lose their flavor and texture. If the brussels sprouts are dry or discolored when you take them out of the freezer, it could be a sign that they've developed freezer burn. They're still safe to eat, but they may not taste as good.[6]
- If you want the brussels sprouts to maintain their color, flavor, and nutritional value for longer in the freezer, it's a good idea to blanch them before you freeze them.
EditBlanching and Freezing - Boil a pot of water and separate the brussels sprouts by size. Divide your brussels sprouts into 3 piles: a small brussels sprouts pile, a medium pile, and a large pile. Each pile needs to be blanched for a different amount of time.[7]
- If all your brussels sprouts are the same size, you can just make one big pile.
- Prepare a large bowl of ice water. You'll transfer the brussels sprouts to the ice water right after you boil them to complete the blanching process. Fill the bowl three-quarters of the way full and put in about 1 ice cube tray of ice.[8]
- Boil your small brussels sprouts for 3 minutes. Once the pot of water you put on the stovetop is boiling, carefully drop the pile of small brussels sprouts into it. Leave the pot uncovered and set a timer for 3 minutes.[9]
- Transfer the small brussels sprouts from the boiling water to the bowl of ice. Use a ladle to carefully scoop the brussels sprouts out of the boiling water. Immediately dunk them in the bowl of ice water and leave them in there to chill for 3 minutes.[10]
- Take the brussels sprouts out of the ice water and pat them dry with a dishcloth. You want the brussels sprouts to be completely dry before you freeze them. Once the brussels sprouts are dry, they're blanched and ready to be frozen.[11]
- Repeat with the other brussels sprouts, but use longer boiling times. Boil the medium brussels sprouts for 4 minutes, and the large brussels sprouts for 5 minutes. Immediately submerge them in ice water when they're done boiling, and let them chill for the same amount of time they boiled for. Remove them from the ice water and pat them dry with a dishcloth.[12]
- Place the blanched brussels sprouts in sealable plastic freezer bags. No need to keep them separated by size anymore. Once they're in the bags, press out the excess air with your hands and seal the bags shut.[13]
- Write the date on the bags in permanent marker. That way you'll know how long the brussels sprouts have been in the freezer for. You can also write the expiration date for the brussels sprouts on the bags so it's easier to tell if they're still fresh.[14]
- Keep the brussels sprouts in the freezer for up to 12 months. The brussels sprouts should hold their flavor and texture for 12 months in the freezer. After that, they may develop freezer burn and no longer taste good. If you notice that the brussels sprouts are dry or discolored when you take them out of the freezer, it could be a sign that they're freezer burnt.
EditThings You'll Need EditFreezing without Blanching - Bowl
- Plastic freezer bags.
- Dishcloth
- Permanent marker
EditBlanching and Freezing - Pot
- Bowl
- Ice
- Dishcloth
- Plastic freezer bags
- Permanent marker
EditSources and Citations EditQuick Summary
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| How to Avoid Puffy Eyes in the Morning Posted: 29 Jul 2018 05:00 PM PDT Looking in the mirror in the morning to discover you have puffy, swollen eyes is a drag. Puffy eyes can be caused by fluid pooling in the sensitive skin under the eyes, or as the result of eye irritation. If puffy morning eyes have got you down, don't worry! There are some things you can do to prevent them from happening. EditChanging Your Sleep Habits - Get 7-9 hours of sleep every night. Not getting enough sleep can make your eyes puffy and swollen when you wake up in the morning. Try to get in the habit of going to sleep and waking up at the at the same times every day so you know you're getting a full 7-9 hours.[1]
- Avoid eating food or looking at a screen right before bed. Eating and screen-watching can impact the quality of sleep you get at night. If you're not getting a good night's sleep, your eyes are more likely to be puffy in the morning. Make it a habit to stop eating and looking at screens an hour before you go to sleep.[2]
- Sleep on your back at night. When you sleep on your stomach or sides, gravity works against you by pulling fluids down into the sensitive skin around your eyes. When that happens, your eyes are more likely to look puffy and swollen in the morning. Sleep on your back so fluids are being pulled away from your under-eye area throughout the night.[3]
- Sleeping on your back may take some getting used to. Make an effort to fall asleep on your back every night. If you wake up and you're on your side or stomach, make yourself turn over onto your back. Eventually, your body will get used to sleeping that way.
- Use an extra pillow to elevate your head while you sleep. Just like sleeping on your back, elevating your head while you sleep can help prevent fluids from pooling in the thin skin around your eyes. Instead of sleeping with 1 pillow at night, sleep with 2 so your head is slightly raised.[4]
- If sleeping with 2 pillows gives you a sore neck, try sleeping with 1 pillow folded in half so it's thicker, or use pillows that aren't as stiff.
- Wash your face with warm water and a gentle cleanser every night. Not only is washing your face every night good for your skin, it also helps clear away any gunk and debris from your eyes that could irritate them while you sleep. When your eyes are irritated, they tend to get puffy and swollen. Keeping the skin around your eyes clean will reduce the chance that you'll wake up with puffy, irritated eyes in the morning.[5]
- You can also wash your eyes in the morning by splashing your face with cold water. The cold water will clear out your eyes and help reduce any puffiness.
EditMaking Lifestyle Changes - Eat less than 2,300 mg (0.16 tbsp) of sodium per day. A high-sodium diet can lead to things like increased blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke, and it can also make your eyes puffier.[6] Sodium makes the body retain more fluid, and since fluid around the eyes is what makes them look puffy and swollen, you want to avoid eating too much of it.[7]
- An easy way to cut down on the sodium you eat is to limit how much processed foods and restaurant meals you're eating.
- Avoid sugar and artificial sweeteners. Both sugar and artificial sweeteners cause inflammation, which can lead to under-eye puffiness. When baking or sweetening your coffee or tea, try using healthier alternatives to sugar and artificial sweeteners, like honey and stevia. When you're buying packaged foods, read the ingredients list and look for things that are low in sugar and artificial sweeteners.[8]
- Drink less alcohol. Drinking excessive alcohol causes bloating and dehydration, which can make your eyes look puffier. It also impacts the quality of sleep you get, making the problem even worse. Try not to drink more than 1-2 drinks a day. If you do drink more, remember to drink water too so you stay hydrated.[9]
- Quit smoking. Smoking damages and weakens the already-sensitive skin under your eyes, which makes your eyes more prone to being puffy in the morning. If you smoke, try to quit so you have a better chance of waking up with eyes that aren't puffy. If you're having trouble giving up smoking completely, cut back and see if that helps.[10]
EditAddressing Underlying Causes - Use over-the-counter eye drops if allergies are making your eyes puffy. Swollen, puffy eyes in the morning can be a sign that your allergies are acting up. If your eyes are also watering and itching, try over-the-counter allergy eye drops to soothe your eyes so they're less puffy and irritated. You can also try a saline eye rinse to clear out your eyes.[11]
- Be diligent about taking your contacts out if you wear them. If you're getting a good night's sleep and leading a healthy lifestyle but your eyes are still puffy in the morning, it could be a sign that you're leaving your contacts in for too long. Sleeping with your contact lenses on or wearing them for long periods of time can cause your eyes to swell up. [12]
- Get in the habit of taking your contacts out in the evening so you don't accidentally fall asleep wearing them.
- Use eye creams and sunblock to combat aging around your eyes. As people age, the skin around their eyes gets weaker and more prone to swelling. If you notice your eyes are becoming puffier in the mornings as you age, start applying an anti-aging under-eye cream to the skin under your eyes every night. Also, gently apply sunscreen to the skin around your eyes whenever you're going to be outside to protect them from the sun.[13]
- If your puffy eyes persist and you're experiencing pain or discomfort, visit your doctor. There could be a more serious underlying cause.
EditSources and Citations EditQuick Summary
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| How to Use Alexa Posted: 29 Jul 2018 09:00 AM PDT This wikiHow teaches you some of the most useful Alexa abilities and the voice commands you need to use them. Once you have set up a new Echo you might not know where to begin. Since there are so many different abilities it can be hard to know where to start, so this will help you get to know some Alexa abilities you will want to start using on a day-to-day basis. You may also want to give Alexa's wikiHow skill a shot. EditAsking General Questions - Ask for the time. Get the current time or the time in different cities around the world. You can also ask about when different days are.
- "Alexa, what time is it in London?"
- "Alexa, when is Easter?"
- Ask about the weather. Ask about local weather, the weather in a particular city or a weather forecast for either.
- "Alexa, what will the weather be like on Tuesday in Chicago?"
- "Alexa, is it going to rain?"
- Get current traffic info. To enter in your home and work address in the Alexa app, tap ☰, then Settings and tap Traffic. You can also ask about traffic to a certain location.
- Say "Alexa, check traffic," to get the travel time to the work location you set.
- "Alexa, how long will it take to get to 45th Street?"
- "Alexa, what's the traffic like to Home Depot?"
- Get a flight status.
- "Alexa, what's the status of American Airlines flight 4444?"
- Check stock prices. Say the name or spell the symbol of any stock on the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ.
- "Alexa, check Amazon stock."
- Alexa, stock price for A-M-Z-N."
- Get a definition, use the thesaurus or get the spelling of a word. If you're reading or writing something, you don't even need to look away from the page, just ask:
- "Alexa, what does 'flocculant' mean?"
- "Alexa, what's another word for 'big'?"
- "Alexa, how do you spell 'maintenance'?"
- Do mathematical calculations. Ask Alexa to add, subtract, multiply, divide, get the square or cube root, power or factorial. You can only use one operation at a time though.
- "Alexa, what's 92 divided by 14?"
- "Alexa, what's the square root of 5?"
- "Alexa, what's 100 factorial?" (Hint: It's a really big number.)
- Alexa may know other math questions as well, so give it a try if you're not sure. For instance, she can answer some questions about prime factors, give you the value of 'pi' or 'e' and calculate sine, cosine or tangent.
- Get measurement conversions. Convert to or from any imperial or metric units of volume, weight, distance or temperature or get conversions to and from different currencies. This can be especially helpful when you are cooking.
- "Alexa, how many milliliters in 2 and a half cups?"
- "Alexa, 10 kilometers is how many miles?"
- "Alexa, how much is 100 dollars in Australian dollars?"
- Ask general knowledge questions. Try asking about things like facts about geography, general info on celebrities or historical figures, about movies or TV shows, nutrition facts on food, and various other facts and figures. You can also ask Alexa to search Wikipedia and she will read several lines from the article.
- "Alexa, what's the population of Chicago?"
- "Alexa, where was Abraham Lincoln born?"
- "Alexa, what year was '12 Angry Men' released?"
- "Alexa, when does 'Game of Thrones' air?"
- "Alexa, how much saturated fat is in a steak?"
- "Alexa, how far away is the moon?"
- "Alexa, how tall is a giraffe?"
- "Alexa, Wikipedia 'fractals.'"
EditEntertainment - Listen to music. Listen to Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Prime Music, iHeartRadio or SiriusXM. You can also
- "Alexa, play dance music on Pandora."
- "Alexa, play Post Malone."
- "Alexa, play Maggot Brain by Funkadelic on Spotify"
- You can now play music over multiple devices if you have more than one Echo.
- Listen to Podcasts. Alexa will play the latest episode of the podcast you request. While you can play/pause, fast forward or rewind, if you ask Alexa something else while listening, you will lose your place in the podcast.
- Play Audible audiobooks. As long as you are logged in to your account, your playback position should be synced between the Echo and any other devices you listen on.
- "Alexa, play Ready Player One."
- "Alexa, resume my book." (Plays the audiobook you last listened to.)
- "Alexa, go back/forward" (Goes back or forward 30 seconds.)
- Play most Kindle Books. Using text-to-speech Alexa can read many Kindle books from where you last left off and keep your place. [1]
- "Alexa, play the Kindle book, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry."
- "Alexa, pause/resume."
- "Alexa, set a sleep timer for 15 minutes."
- Play music over Bluetooth. Just pair any Bluetooth-enabled device, like your phone, to play anything on Alexa.
- After the device has been paired initially just say, "Alexa, enable Bluetooth." or "Alexa, connect." to pair that device again.
- This is often a better option for playing podcasts than Alexa's native ability since you have more control over playback and won't lose your place.
- Play a game. There are many game skills available for Alexa in the skill store. Popular ones include:
- Jeopardy! There are also Sports and Teen versions of the game. Remember to answer in the form of a question! "Alexa, play Jeopardy!"
- Song Quiz. This popular game will match you against an opponent and ask you to identify clips of music. "Alexa, start Song Quiz."
- Twenty Questions. Play this classic game and try to stump Alexa. "Alexa, play Twenty Questions."
- The Magic Door. This is basically a choose-your-own-adventure novel being read out loud to you. "Alexa, open The Magic Door."
- Go to the skill store to browse through many other games skills.
EditPractical Features - Use Timers. You can manage and pause timers from the Alexa app.
- "Alexa, set a timer for 12 minutes and 30 seconds."
- "Alexa, set an 'chicken' timer for 15 minutes."
- "Alexa, check timers."
- Set alarms. You can even set an alarm to wake you up with a particular artist, song or genre of music. Manage alarms from the Alexa app.
- "Alexa, set an alarm for 4 pm."
- "Alexa, set an alarm for 7 am to the Beatles on Pandora."
- "Alexa, set a repeating alarm for 8 am every weekday to 80s music on Spotify."
- Set reminders. Alexa can remind you to do something at a specific time or after a certain amount of time has passed.
- Reminders will also go off on your phone through the Alexa app, so you will be sure to be reminded even if you aren't nearby your Echo.
- "Alexa, remind me to take out the trash in 1 hour."
- "Alexa, remind me to go to the bank at 4:30 pm."
- Connect your calendar. Go to the Alexa app and tap ☰, Settings and Calendar. Follow the steps to link your account. Currently, Google, Microsoft (Outlook, Office 365 or Exchange) and Apple accounts are supported. Now you can ask Alexa about events on your calendar or add an event to your calendar.
- "Alexa, add an event to my calendar." (Alexa will then prompt you for the day, time and name of the event.)
- "Alexa, what's next on my calendar?"
- "Alexa, what's on my calendar for Thursday?"
- Get shipping updates on Amazon orders. Alexa will also give you a notification when a package has been delivered or will be delivered that day.
- "Alexa, check my packages."
- Make phone calls or call through the Alexa app. Alexa can make outgoing calls simply by asking her to dial any U.S., Mexican or Canadian number. If you have contacts added on the Alexa app you can also make a voice call, send text messages (over the Alexa app), or use the drop in feature if you have set it up.
- "Alexa, dial 555-555-5555."
- "Alexa, send a message to Susan." (Alexa will then prompt you for the text message you want to send)
- "Alexa, call Susan."
- You can also send and receive voice calls and Alexa messages from the Alexa app. Tap on the speech bubble icon at the bottom of the screen. If you haven't yet set up messaging yet, it will walk you through the set up.
- Listen to your flash briefing. Set up what news services you want to get in your flash briefing by going into the Alexa app and tapping ☰, Settings and then Flash Briefing. Alexa will now read breaking stories from these services whenever you ask her to.
- "Alexa, read my flash briefing."
- Get used to saying commands without stopping what you are doing or looking at the Echo. This isn't necessary and it will help you fit Alexa's abilities into your life more seamlessly. Ask about the weather or traffic while you are tying your shoes, play some music while you are in the middle of cleaning dishes, or set an alarm from your bed.
- If you are a Prime subscriber, you may not know that this includes access to millions of songs through Prime Music, whose library you can search and access by simply asking Alexa to play any artist, song or genre of music. "Alexa, play rap music."
- Play the current free Audible audiobook by saying, "Alexa, what's free on Audible?"
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