Food poisoning is related to unsafe food, a dirty kitchen, and dirty kitchen appliances. If you follow some safety rules, food poisoning will never occur.

Your Refrigerator

1. Freezing does NOT kill bacteria; it only controls their growth. Common bacteria grow rapidly at 60° F to 120° F. Keep the temperature of the refrigerator below 50° F. Keep the freezer temperature at about 0° F.

2. Don’t take foods out of the refrigerator until you’re ready to cook them.

Dishwashing

3. Clean well with hot water to kill bacteria.

4. If washing dishes by hand, leave them to drain rather than using a tea towel. If you use a tea towel, change it often. Paper towels are a better option.

5. Dishcloths are a prime spot for bacteri 10 Critical Ways To A Perfectly Food-Safe Kitchen Recipe

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Hassle-Free Holiday Baking: 6 Easy Days to Perfect Christmas Cookies

by Mimi Cummins

Like many people, I love the idea of making a large assortment of Christmas cookies during the holidays, but I find it difficult to find the time to get it done. As a working mother, cookbook author and webmaster of Christmas-Cookies.com ( http://www.christmas-cookies.com ), I am a very busy woman, but baking Christmas cookies every year is a must. Over the past few years, out of frustration and necessity, I have developed a system for organizing my Christmas baking. This system allows me to make a large variety of holiday treats without taking too much time out of my busy schedule. By dividing the tasks up into 6 days, I can spend a coup Hassle-Free Holiday Baking: 6 Easy Days to Perfect Christmas Cookies Recipe

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Holiday Recipe: Filled Cookies

by LeAnn R. Ralph

From the book: Christmas In Dairyland (True Stories From a Wisconsin Farm)

When I was a kid growing up on our dairy farm in Wisconsin 40 years ago, cookies with a date filling were my dad's favorite kind. Here is the recipe. 3/4 cup butter or margarine (softened) 3/4 cup shortening 2 cups sugar 3 eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla 5 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt several tablespoons of milk if the dough seems too dry Jam: blackberry, black raspberry, strawberry, red raspberry, plum conserve, apple conserve, or date filling (recipes for plum and apple conserve and date filling are included below.)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter, margarine, sugar Holiday Recipe: Filled Cookies Recipe

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