Sunday, January 25, 2009

A Few Helpful Tips

*Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

*Store your opened blocks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold.

*Bell peppers with 3 "bumps" on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Bell peppers with 4 "bumps" on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

*Add a teaspoon of water to the pan when frying out ground meat. This helps pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

*To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or water (not milk) to them, then whisk as usual. Using milk produces a tougher texture than water does.

*For a an inexpensive but tasty brownie topping ~ prepare and bake brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.

*Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

*Snickers bars make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them in a food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. (amount of snickers and apples depends on your taste and how many you want to use...there is no set formula for this.)

*Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove over med-low heat until warmed through. The crust will remain crispy.

*Place cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash until all "smooshed." Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, squeeze until ingredients are mixed thoroughly. Snip the tip of the baggy and squeeze mixture into egg as if it were a pastry bag. Clean is a a simple toss in the trash.

*When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. This usually doubles it in size allowing for more frosting per cake or item.

*To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

*Recycling for the garden...Wet newspapers and layer on the garden bed floor. Top with planting soil and then plant your items. Weeds will have a hard time breaking through the paper liner but also as it breaks down over time it will become an added compost benefit.

*Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

*Place a dryer sheet in your pocket to ward off mosquitoes.

*To get something out from under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum hose. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

*Static cling problem...Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose; simply place pin in the seam of slacks.

*Can't stand those foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the window s fog, rub with the eraser. No more hand streaks on the glass.

5 comments:

Joan said...

I love those hints. I always like hearing about other peoples ideas to make our lives easier. That chicken tetrazzini looks awesome and so do those muffins. I am printing away here. That is going to be one of my meals after we get a big cold front on Wed. I hope your doing okay, still in my prayers!

mrshester said...

very cool! I'll have to remember these, thank you!!

Vintage Chicken said...

Love the helpful hints!
Some of those a new to me and I will take and use them!

Thanks for sharing!

Amy -

Mrs. B, a very peculiar person said...

Thank you for the fabulous hints ... Mrs. B

Lisa said...

Great Tips! The one with the sour cream or cream cheese in the eggs is fabulous, we have done that for years on special occasions.
Also.. regarding heating up muffins,etc, in the microwave, if you spinkle them with water then heat them up in a plastic zip loc bag, it will make them nice and moist too. Love the chalboard eraser idea on foggy windows!