Join Golden Grain's Show Us Your Shorcut contest for a chance to win $500 (and vote for my entry!)

This is a compensated post

I love to cook, but I hate spending more time than absolutely necessary in the kitchen. There's so much going on in my life, the less time I can spend preparing food, the better!  That's why I love kitchen shortcuts that help me save time and effort.  I'm not talking about shortcuts in taste or quality, I'm talking about little tips and tricks that result in a dish that's just as good, or better.  I'm talking about ways to keep a kitchen clean.  I'm talking about tips like:

1) Get your water for pasta boiling faster by boiling most of it an electric pot (boil a little bit in the pot at the same time so you're not pouring boiling water into a cold pot).

2) Cook double batches of dishes and freeze the leftovers.

3) Line baking sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil to save your oven fries/chicken strips/baked anything from sticking to the pan and causing a cleanup headache.

Recently I learned about a GREAT kitchen shortcut from Golden Grain Pasta.  Wait for it, wait for it...... the next time you're making spaghetti , use new Golden Grain Pot-Sized Pasta, the only spaghetti noodles that come in a length that fits into your pot!  Cue the trumpets and rainbows!  How awesome is that?  I've always found it annoying to stick a bunch of spaghetti into a pot of boiling water and not having it fit.  If you break the spaghetti in half beforehand, you end up with a shower of broken pasta everywhere.  If you wait till the bottom part softens, then push the whole length of the spaghetti noodles into the pot, chances are you'll burn your hands when boiling water splashes on you or when you accidentally touch the pot.  This is one of those products that you wonder why no one has come up with it before (see: sliced bread, squeezable ketchup, bottled water).  It's such an easy way to make your life simpler without sacrificing taste!

To celebrate the launch of Pot-Sized Pasta, Golden Grain is running a "Share Your Shortcut" Promotion on Facebook, inviting fans everywhere to share the little tips and tricks that make their lives easier. The entry who receives the most votes will win a $500 gift card!  I could sure use $500, so I joined the contest with this life-changing shortcut:

Yup, it's that simple.  Instead of cooking your rice in a pot on the stove, microwave it.  Use the same proportion of rice and water that you usually do, but instead of putting it into a pot, put it into a microwaveable container.  Then cook it in the microwave for 20-22 minutes on high (you'll probably have to adjust the cooking time based on your microwave and on how much rice you're cooking).  You'll end up with perfect, fluffy rice without having to watch your pot for scorching.  Even if you have a rice cooker, you'll want to switch to microwave cooking, because it will be one less pot to wash!  You can cook, serve and store the rice all from the same microwaveable container.  We have a rice cooker, but after I discovered this tip, I no longer make rice any other way.  We eat rice almost every day, so this tip makes my life so much easier!

Is that a cool tip or what?  If you agree with me, I'd love a vote for my entry on Facebook!  Here's the link to my entry:

http://bit.ly/1ekIkCx

You can vote up to once per day.  Just by voting, you'll be entered to win one of six weekly drawings for $100 -- so it's a win-win situation for everyone!  Thanks in advance for your help!

Disclosure:I received a gift card as compensation for this post. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.
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