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andy ousehold ints |
These are some really good tips to know, especially the last one about the dryer sheets.
Peeling Bananas - Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little "stringy things" off of it. That's how the primates do it. Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.
Storing
Cheese - Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will
stay fresh much longer and not mold!
Bell
Peppers - 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.
Ground
Beef - Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help
pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.
Scrambled
Eggs/Omelets - 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.
Brownie
Treat - For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt
Garlic
- 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.
Chocolate
Covered Apples - Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious
dessert. Simple 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.
Reheat Pizza - Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.
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.
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.
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 - 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 they will not get through wet newspapers.
Broken
Glass - Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of
glass you can't see easily.
No
More Mosquitoes - Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the
mosquitoes away.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Foggy
Windshield? - Hate foggy windshields? 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!
Reopening
Envelope - 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.
Conditioner
- Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's a lot 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...
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 & you don't have the
worry about pets or small children being harmed!
INFO ABOUT CLOTHES
DRYERS - 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, 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
dryer 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 t his stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen.
This is also what causes dryer units to catch fire & potentially burn
your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for
a very long time (& to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that
filter out & wash it with hot soapy water & 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 & 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 & a nylon brush
& 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!