Everyone has a few shortcuts to make things faster or easier in the kitchen. Here are some of our favorites. What are yours?

1)  Salad dressing in a jar

Make your delicious, go-to vinaigrette dressings in a small jar. Just add your ingredients and shake vigorously — then refrigerate what you don’t use in the same jar.

2)  Use the last bits in the jar

Use every last bit of condiments like mustard, honey or jam by making salad dressing right in the almost-empty jar. Add oil and your favorite vinegar or citrus juice to the jar, then shake well to combine. Yum!

3)  Pre-washed organic greens save time

Shorten your meal prep time with our pre-washed organic greens. They’re ready to go right out of the package into salads, soups, sautés and more — no washing, drying, trimming or slicing needed!

4)  One-step bell pepper prep

Prep bell peppers in one easy step. With a small knife, simply cut all the way around the top of the pepper, then pull on the stem. The seeds and stem should come right out in one piece! Now you’re ready to chop or stuff.

5)  Big, fancy ice cubes

Make big, fancy ice cubes in a mini muffin tin. Add slices of lemon, cucumber or herbs to the cups — rosemary and cucumber for fancy gin & tonics, lavender sprigs for lavender lemonade — and fill them about halfway with fresh water. If the ice doesn’t want to pop out of the tin, just runs a little cold water over the bottom, section by section, and the cubes slip right into your hand.

6)  Use white beans to thicken and boost nutrients

Purée white beans and stirs them into her soups and saucy dishes (like mac & cheese, mmmm!) for thickening without gluten — the beans add creamy body, not to mention protein and fiber, too.

7) Keep recipes visible

Post printed recipes on a cabinet above the kitchen counter with a removable adhesive clip. The page stays clean, visible and out of the way — and it’s easy to make notes while cooking’s in progress.

8)  Slice cherry tomatoes or grapes quickly and easily

To slice small round ingredients like cherry tomatoes, tuck them between two flat plastic lids. Then, holding the top lid to steady it, slice horizontally between the lids with your knife. Perfect halves, ready to use!

9)  Faster roasted veggies

Cut veggies into your cast iron skillet while the oven heats. Then, as the veggies start to caramelize, put the whole pan into the oven to finish roasting in about half the time it would take to use the oven alone.

10)  Multitasking wine bottle

In a pinch, you can use a wine bottle as a versatile kitchen tool. Its weight is good for pounding meat into the perfect thickness for cutlets or rolls; it can also work as a rolling pin for pastry or biscuit dough.