05 Sep 30 Ways to Use An Ice Cube Tray
An ice cube tray is great for making miniature desserts, storing things like herbs or stock for easy use later on, and making unique ice cubes for cold drinks. Consider buying silicone ice cube trays; they make it easier to remove things when frozen. Once whatever you’re making is frozen, you can transfer the cubes to a ziplock bag for storage in the freezer. Here are some things to try.
1. Make chocolate-covered cheesecake bites.
Great for portion control. Vegan and non-vegan recipes here.
2. Freeze your herbs in olive oil so they don’t go to waste.
Hard herbs like oregano, sage, thyme and rosemary work best for this. You want to pack the ice cube trays with ? herbs and ? olive oil. Find more information on when to use these herbs here.
5. Freeze baby food for future use.
Buying baby food can be expensive. Make your own, freeze it, and then thaw it out when you’re ready to use it. More information here.
6. Freeze homemade tomato sauce.
This won’t take long to thaw in the microwave.
7. Make thick smoothies out of frozen yogurt and bananas.
Freeze Greek yogurt and bananas in ice cube trays to make your smoothies super creamy AND healthy.
9. Freeze buttermilk for future use.
Never again let half a container of buttermilk go to waste (it will last up to three months frozen). Just be sure to measure out how many tablespoons of buttermilk there are in each ice cube. When you’re ready to use in a recipe, just thaw and add.
10. Make delicious slushies that won’t taste watered-down.
Freezing and blending cubes of juice means more flavor and less hassle. Try thissweet wine slushie made with wine ice cubes.
13. Make chocolate ice cubes and add them to vanilla milk.
A prefect way to cool off in the summer. Recipe here.
14. Make ice cubes with leftover wine.
If for some reason you have leftover wine (er, never), make ice cubes for sangria or to cook with in the future.
15. Freeze homemade pesto for future use.
For a little bit of summer during the winter.
16. Make crazy interesting cocktails.
The piña colada ice cubes are alternating layers of pineapple juice and coconut milk. Recipes here.
17. Make hot chocolate on a stick.
This is really cute and would make either as a sweet treat or as a little gift for a friend. I’d do it for that special person on a special day, eg Vday or Anniversary. Recipe here.
18. Freeze fruit juice and add it to seltzer water.
This is a great idea. I find it hard to consume water sometimes, but adding some flavour like lemon, lime or even placing a strawberry inside, gives the water some pizow and makes it fun to drink.
19. Use your ice cube tray to portion out homemade cookie dough.
This i have to try! Next time you make cookies, bake half of them and put the rest into an ice cube tray to freeze. Then when you want something sweet, you can just take one cookie out and bake it.
20. Freeze greens to add to smoothies.
I have to yet to give this a try, but I will when I’m making smoothies again in the morning. Prep day would be a Sunday. Cook the greens first, puree in your food processor or blender, and freeze in ice cube trays. When you’re ready to make your smoothies, just pop in a couple green ice cubes. Hmm i wonder if this works for the chlorophyll liquid in a bottle.
21. Make easy frozen yogurt.
I’m a huge fan of yoghurt and it’s something i eat on a daily basis. Put yogurt in ice cube trays for a frozen yogurt treat without using an ice cream maker. Bon Appétit recommends Yoplait Whip because it maintains a fluffy texture even when it’s frozen.
22. Freeze homemade chicken and vegetable stock for future use.
Only thaw what you need! It should be OK to use for up to two months.
23. Freeze up watermelon
Since taking on the GM Diet Plan, I’ve found a new love for watermelon so this is a brilliant idea. Got some leftover watermelon? Freeze watermelon puree and add the cubes to your lemonade – colorful and delicious!
Make Watermelon Ice Cubes at Babble
24. Wormy Ice Cubes
Halloween part idea! Make worms pop out of your ice cubes.. eewww.. Lol. Good fun and yummy dessert on the table. Who doesn’t like gummy snacks man. I’d go balistic if i saw this, hehe. Find out how to make Gummy Worm Ice Cubes at Babble
25. Frozen Milk Cubes
If coffee isn’t your poison (it’s definitely not mine), how about a delicious smoothie? This is the alternative if you don’t want to use banana or yoghurt like idea no. 7. Instead of using regular ice cubes which water the smoothie down and make it thin, next time try frozen milk ice cubes! Not just a way to make better smoothies, freezing milk in an ice cube tray is also a fantastic way of preserving something which would otherwise have gone off.
26. Frozen Fruit
Whenever I head to work, i bring with my those fancy water bottles, but my water ain’t that fancy. So this is a way to give your water a better kick. Fruit frozen into ice cubes is a wonderful way to garnish a drink. If you’re using small fruit – such as cherries or grapes – place them into the ice cube tray and top with water before freezing. If you’d like to use something larger, such as a kiwi or strawberries, peel/hull the fruit and finely chop it up. Loosely fill the ice cube moulds 2/3 of the way up with the fruit, before topping with water and freezing.
27. Mini Magnum Ice Cream Treat
28. Freeze Egg Whites
I’m a big user and eater of egg whites. Egg yolks aren’t necessarily evil, I just make it choice to eat mostly whites. So here’s a cool idea when I bake stuff next time. Use up the yolks for one recipe, then save the whites for later (perfect for making meringue cookies, or angel food cake – just be sure to bring the whites to room temperature first before use !) Always make sure your ice-cube trays are perfectly clean when freezing egg whites, especially if you’ve used them for things containing oil or grease. Egg whites will last in the freezer for about three weeks.
29. Banana Protein Bar
banana protein bars
I found this interesting recipe, might be a bit hard to stick into an ice cube tray but it could be possible. Perfect for a grab and go breakkie. The recipe is over here and i’ll be trying it myself soon too 🙂
30. Just as an Organiser
pic from cantinhodabbel.com.br
This says it all. not related with food, use you ice cube trays as a mini organiser on your table or fro your trinkets. Smart right?
Hope you found these interesting and useful. If you have any more ideas on how to use an ice cube tray, leave me a comment below. 🙂
No Comments