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Don't like your house to smell like food? I've got a kitchen tip for that!

I have a smallish, one story house and if I cook food that is kind of smelly, like onions, the smell tends to linger in every room.  This is a pet peeve of mine and (also my husband's).  Over the years I've found a few ways to cook smelly food without smelling up the kitchen.


Use your garage!  

I use my garage quite often to cook things in.  I open the window and it airs out, especially when you open the garage door.  I'm sure my neighbors wonder what I'm cooking.

I've used two different kitchen appliances in the garage:  my crockpot and my food dehydrator.

Crockpot - I did this very thing today since I'm simmering chicken, onions, carrots and celery to make chicken noodle soup tonight.  I don't want my house to smell like onions all day, so I plugged it in on my husband's workbench.  

Food dehydrator - when I make jerky, I plug the food dehydrator in in the garage.  I don't really want my house to smell like meat for hours while it dehydrates.  It makes the garage smell yummy, and I'm glad I don't have to smell it in my bedroom.

Use your grill!
My grill has one burner on the side (don't judge me for my really dirty grill - it works at least!).  I use this little burner all the time, especially during Thanksgiving when I have to saute oodles of onions for stuffing and turkey soup. 

I use it to saute onions and peppers when I make fajitas while I grill the chicken.  Or sometimes I poke holes in an aluminum cake pan and saute them right on the grill.

I've even made soup outside on the little burner.  Stinks up my neighborhood, not my house.  :)

Plug it in on the deck.
Take advantage of your outside outlets and plug things in outside.  I'm not so sure that this is the safest option, but I think it's fine just as long as you don't plug it in in the rain or now.  I wouldn't set my crockpot outside on my deck though or something that has to cook for a long time.  I would use an electric skillet outside though.

I have cooked lots of bacon outside on my electric skillet on my deck.  I blogged about this clear back in the 2009.  You might want to put something underneath the skillet so it doesn't get your deck greasy.  (This isn't really a problem for me because my deck really needs to be replaced.)

There you have it.  My tips for cooking outside so your house stays nice and normal smelling inside.  When it does get smelly, I usually just bake banana bread or rolls or something.  Or if I really want to impress someone that's coming over, I get out the lysol and clean my wood floor.  I'd rather bake than clean any day. 

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