Helpful Tips

I got this in an email awhile back and thought I would share:

- 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!

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

- Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help 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 heavy cream in and then beat them up.

- For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed.  Melt Andes mints and pour over brownies.

- 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.

- Leftover Snickers bars from Halloween can be be used to make tasty treats.  Chop them up with a food chopper.  Peel, core and slice a few apples placing them in a baking dish.  Sprinkle snickers on top and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  ummm...we never have any leftover snickers.  Them puppies are gone the night we get home. ;o)

- Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove.  Set to med-low and heat until warm.  This keeps the crust crispy and not soggy.

- For deviled eggs put cooked egg yolks in a ziploc bag.  Seal, mash until they are all broken up.  Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing until mixed thoroughly.  Cut out a corner of the bag and squeeze into egg.  Throw away the leftover bag. 

- When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few mintutes.  This doubles it in size.  You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount and eat less sugar and calories per serving.

- 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.

- Use wet newspapers to keep weeds away.  Start putting in your plants and work the nutrients in the 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 newspaper.

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

- Keep a dryer sheet in your pocket.  It will keep the mosquitos away.

- To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle them with cayenne pepper.  It won't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

- To get something out of the heat register or under the refrigerator 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 and you won't have a clingy skirt or dress. The same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose.  Place pin in hem of slacks and tadah! 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 out the cup.  Add your ingredient such as peanut butter and watch how easily it comes right how. Or you could use Pam cooking spray.

- If you get foggy windshields buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glovebox of your car. When the windows fog up rub it with the eraser and it works better than a cloth.

- If you seal an envelope and realize you forgot to include something place it in the freezer for an hour or two.  This will make it unseal easily.

- Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. (I've been doing this for years.)  It's cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs smooth.  It's also a great way to use up conditoner you bought, but didn't like. 

- To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it halfway with apple cider vinegar and two drops of dishwashing liquid.  Mix well.  You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever.

- To get rid of ants put small piles of cornmeal where you see them.  They eat it and take it home.  They can't digest it so they die.  It may take a week or two, especially if it rains, but it works and it's not harmful to children.

- The heating unit went out on my dryer. The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.) He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink and ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material .. I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like. Well ... the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's there. It's what is in the drye r sheets to make your clothes soft and static free ... that nice fragrance too. You know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box ... well this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very longtime (and to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out and wash it with hot soapy water and an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long! How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I'd share!


Note: I went to my dryer and tested my screen by running water on it. The water ran through a little bit but mostly collected all the water in the mesh screen. I washed it with warm soapy water and a nylon brush and I had it done in 30 seconds. Then when I rinsed it .. the water ran right thru the screen! There wasn't any puddling at all! That repairman knew what he was talking about!