Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Useful Tips

OK - I have used #2 and #11. What else have people used? Thanks, Katie for passing them on to me.


1. REHEAT PIZZA - Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove. Set heat to med-low and heat until warm. This keeps the crust crispy.

2. 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.


3. 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/calories per serving.


4. REHEATING REFRIGERATED BREADS - To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, placethem in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture willkeep the food moist and help it reheat faster.


5. 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.


6. BROKEN GLASS PIECES - Use a dry cotton ball to pick up little broken glass pieces of glass- the fibers catch ones you can't see!


7. NO MORE MOSQUITOS - Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.


8. 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.


9. 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.


10. REDUCE 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 - voila -static is gone. (OK, does anyone wear slips any more or pantyhose with pants? That is the whole reason to wear pants, no pantyhose!)


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

12. 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!


13. REOPENING AN 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. It unseals easily.


14. HAIR 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.


15. 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 dishwashing liquid, mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!


16. 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, esp. if it rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed! (my dad used a Borax/cornmeal mixture).


17. TAKE BABY POWDER TO THE BEACH - Keep a small bottle of baby powder in your beach bag. When your ready to leave the beach sprinkle yourself and kids with the powder and the sand will slide right off your skin.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Cleaning for the week

I forgot to post the Sneak Peak, this week we are cleaning out main bathroom and another room.

Monday, June 04, 2007

Great Grilling Ideas & more

If your husband is like mine, he loves to grill! Which is great for us, as we don't have to heat up the kitchen when it starts to get warm outside. We love our Tuscany grill from Costco, bought it with the cash back we got from our Costco American Express!

I still refer to Weight Watcher recipes quite often and like the e-mails they send out. You don't have to be a member to access the recipes from the e-mails, which is great. Here are some great grilling ideas and links to recipes. As you can tell, I have started using my linking tool, so click on those.

I also like to refer to Cooking Light, as I mentioned before in an earlier blog. Each of these six easy menus lets you grill once and dine twice, which makes it great for simple and easy dinners.

Eventually, I want to get a grill pan for inside, either a cast iron or this Nordicware cast aluminum reversible griddle.

Of course, the availability of great fruits this time of year is also a bonus. The other night I made a freestanding fruit tart with blueberries, 2lbs. and strawberries, 4lbs. (each $5.99). Super easy, especially if you use either frozen or refrigerated pie crusts. I omitted cream cheese as we didn't have any, but the tart turned out great anyway. Next time, I will do what I just saw in a Rachael Ray mag (my friend loans me hers to read, not like I need anymore magazines in this house), where you melt some apricot jam (I keep the Fischer-Weiser peach jam in the fridge to use for glazes or to make Couscous with Apricot Vinaigrette, last time, I used pine nuts and chives, of course I always have Kirkland raw almonds in the fridge for anything, especially homemade granola)

Real Simple also has some fruit tarts recipes on their Fake It, Don't Make It section. The rustic apple tart always looked good. Sometime this summer, when we have a crowd over, I want to try this Ice Cream Cake. YUM!

OK - let's get out and grill this weekend! Send me your favorite recipes so we can share. :-)

Marinating 101

Marinades are such a simple way to add flavor when grilling or cooking. I thought these had some good information and some good marinades to try.

http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=10141

Getting your house in summer shape

I thought this was an interesting article as I was reading online this morning. We were without Internet access for 4 days last week! We are not happy with Time Warner as it took 4 days for them to come out and tell us what we already knew - our modem was shot. Since my husband works from home as a software consultant, not having e-mail or Internet access was a real pain. Unfortunately, we don't have much choice, which is surprising to me living in the second fastest growing city in the country!



Here was the article, listing tips that most of us know, but it never hurts to get a reminder.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/SummerSizzle/story?id=3228368



Speaking of reminders, since I am not getting Flylady every day (I signed up for the digest format), I need to be on the ball to keep on top of cleaning. Here is the Sneak Peek of the Week.

http://www.flylady.com/pages/sneak_peek.asp

As well as the weekly home blessing and other routines. I try to start on Monday to get my house ready for the week.
http://www.flylady.com/pages/FLYingLessons_Routines.asp