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Thursday, April 10, 2014

Helpful Hints

Did you know?  NO WAY !

You can flip a toaster on its side and grill cheese in it.


Reynolds Wrap has lock in taps to hold the roll in place.


The color on the bread tab indicates how fresh the bread is.
And those colors are in alphabetical order: b, g, r, w, y.


You can divide and store ground meat in a ziploc bag. Just break off how much you need and keep the rest in the freezer for later. So much easier than dividing and individually wrapping each pound or half pound.


If you place a wooden spoon over a pot of boiling water, it won't boil over.


Marshmallows can cure a sore throat. Perfect for kids who don't like medicine.


Stuffing a dryer sheet in your back pocket will repel mosquitoes. 


You can freeze cupcake batter for later use.


You can make your own laundry soap.   I am doing this (and will post about it) after we use up the soap that we have now. 


You can run a paper bag through your printer. 


You can print directly onto fabric. 


A dry erase marker can be used on most desk tops. 


You can mail anything that will take a stamp and weighs less than 13 ounces without a box?


If you break your blender jar you can replace it with a mason jar.


Cereal canisters make the perfect trashcan for your car.


Medicine cabinets are NOT the safest place for medicine.

Here are a few more.

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 chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold! (But you can scrape off any mold and still eat the cheese without changes in flavor! 

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and stronger flavored.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

To make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

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

Reheat leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, on med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza.

Easy Deviled Eggs: Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag, seal, mash, add remainder of ingredients, keep mashing, mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw the bag away!

Expanding Frosting: When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes for the same price. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

Reheating refrigerated bread: 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.

Newspaper weeds away: Plant your plants in the ground; work the nutrients in your soil. Then wet newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go, cover with mulch, and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant: squirrels won't come near it.

Flexible vacuum: To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip or slacks to eliminate static cling. It works; you will not have a clingy skirt or dress, or slacks when wearing panty hose; ... Ta DA! ... Static is gone.

Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

De-fog your windshield: Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

Re-opening envelopes: If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Voila! It unseals easily. Only for old- fashioned "lick-type “mucilage envelopes!

Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth.

Goodbye Fruit Flies: To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2" with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

Get Rid of Ants: Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed! 

Drop a small object on the carpet and can't find it. Place panty hose over the end of the vacuum hose and start vacuuming. The panty hose will keep it from getting sucked into the vacuum.

Need to cut some corn off the cob. Use your Bundt pan. Place the ear on the opening in the center of the pan, and as you slide the knife down the ear, all the kernels will collect in the main part of the pan.

 Now you know .....