Handy Tips

IDEAS WORTH KNOWING
  
  
    1-- Ripen bananas slower or faster.  

    Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected   .   .   at the stem, they ripen faster.
  
  
    2--No mold cheese.  

    Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and lot        .   mold.
  
  
  
    3--Peppers 

    Peppers with three bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating.  Peppers with four

    bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.
  
  
    4.  Reduce ground beef grease

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

    meat while cooking.
     
  
    5.  Rich scrambled eggs or omelets 

    Add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat    

    them up.
     
    6. Cool brownie treat 

    Make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies.    

    Let set for a wonderful minty frosting
     
  
    7.  Adding garlic 

    Do so 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.
  
    8.  Leftover snickers bars make a delicious dessert.   

   Simply chop them up with the 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!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!
  
  
    9.  Reheat Pizza
  
    Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low.   This

    keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza.
  
  
    10.  Easy Deviled Eggs
  
    Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag.  Seal, mash till they are all broken up.
    Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly,
    cut the tip of the baggy squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away
    when done easy clean up.
  
  
    11.  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 with

    the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.
  
  
    12.  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.
  
  
    13.  Newspaper weeds away
  
    Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. 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 but they will not get through wet

    newspapers.
  
  
    14.  Broken Glass
  
    Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.
      
  
    15.  No More Mosquitoes
  
    Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.
  
    16.  Squirrel Away!
  
    To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The

    cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.  I have a

    wicker footstool – used a bit of spray cooking oil and cayenne pepper;  my cat doesn’t

    claw it any more.
  
   17.  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.
  
  
    18.  Reducing Static Cling
  
    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. Place pin
    in seam of slacks and ...ta da! .... static is gone.
  
   19.  Measuring Cups
  
   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.
  
   20.  Foggy 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.
  
   21.  Reopening 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. Viola! It unseals easily.
  
   22.  Hair Conditioner
  
   Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs.  It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves

   your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but      

   didn't like when you tried it in your hair.  Shampoo with built in conditioner works great

   as soap instead of the soft-soap or bar-soap.  It cleans your hands and moisturizes –    

   great in winter.
  
   23. 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!
  
  
    24. 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 to worry about pets or small children being harmed!