Keep It Clean

It's enough cleaning your dishes after a night of cooking—the last thing you want is to spend an hour scrubbing food remains from the oven as well, Cinderella-style. The next time you're making a particularly cheesy casserole, save yourself the future work with this easy tip:

Place a cookie sheet on the rack below a messy dish.

Here's why it's the way to go:

① It's much simpler to wash a removable pan than to awkwardly maneuver around a fixed oven.

② It does double duty: Try cooking broccoli on the pan as it's catching drips from roasting sweet potatoes above. Nothing goes to waste, and your vegetables taste like candy.  

③ That "burnt" smell is much tougher to dispel than physical remnants.

RELATED   5 Steps to Cutting Board Happiness "

The next time your pie runneth over, you won't be stuck with charred sweet-tart cherry filling in your oven for years to come.