Interesting Tibits

These aren't receipes, but I thought some of them sounded worth trying. I'm not sure if they work though. Maybe you should try them!

DID YOU KNOW....
· 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.

· 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 in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.

· 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.

· Leftover snickers bars from Halloween 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!

· 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 window s 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 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 and 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 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 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 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 long time (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!?!

Mom's Apple Pie

This is my mom's famous apple pie recipe. It is so delicious!! I love it!

1/4 cup sugar1 tablespoon flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Dash of salt
5-6 granny apples
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour

Blend the 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon flour, cinnamon, and salt. Toss with apple slices. Spoon into pastry-lined pan. Combine softened butter, brown sugar, and 1/2 cup flour (should look like crumbs) and sprinkle over pie filling. Cover with top crust and cut slits in top of crust. Bake at 425 degrees about 35-40 minutes.

Key Lime Pie

I made this to bring to work for some party - Imagine that. It was actually pretty good. I really liked it.

Ingredients:
3 eggs, separated
1 (14-ounce) can EAGLE BRAND® Sweetened Condensed Milk (NOT evaporated milk)
1/2 cup lime juice
2 or 3 drops green food coloring (optional)
1 (9-inch) graham cracker crust

Instructions: Preheat oven to 325°F. In medium bowl, beat egg yolks on low speed; gradually beat in EAGLE BRAND® and lime juice until smooth. Stir in food coloring (optional). Pour mixture into pie crust. Bake 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Top with Cool Whip and refrigerate, covered.

Top can be decorated with very thin slices of lime. (To do this, cut really thin slices of lime, then cut the slice half way across then twist it for a cute decoration). See how easy that is? This is the way I make my lemon pie too. Just substitute the lime juice for lemon juice.

--Mom

Simple Vanilla Ice Cream

I made this ice cream for Christmas. It says "simple", but I swear I will never do it again! ha! It really isn't hard, but you have to stir that stuff for a good 45 minutes or longer. My arm was sore the next day from stirring so much. I finally had to sit on the counter top just to rest. Gotta love mom's little side notes.

1c. sugar
1/4 c. all-purpose flour ( you need all-purpose cause it doesn't have salt or baking powder in it)3/4 tsp. salt
3 c. milk
3 eggs
1-1/2 c. heavy or whipping cream
1-1/2 tbsp. vanilla extract

1. In heavy 3 quart saucepan with wire whisk, combine sugar, flour and salt. Beat in milk and eggs until well blended. Cook over medium low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and coats spoon. (Do not boil or mixture will curdle.) Cover surface with plastic wrap; cool completely, about 3 hours. Pour into ice cream maker and process.

In case you didn't know: The spoon is coated when you can run your finger over the back of the spoon and it leaves a clean line (the mixture doesn't run back together). And cover surface means to put the plastic directly on the surface of the mixture so a film doesn't form.

--Mom

5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

I don’t know if this works, but it’s a great idea.

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using)and vanilla extract, and mix again. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous) Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!

Forwarded email: Terri H.

Shoney's Broccoli Casserole

I also made this for Christmas this year. It was pretty good too considering I don't eat vegetables. Add cheese to anything for me and I will eat it! haha


6 Cups broccoli florets, chopped
1-1/4 lbs Velveeta cheese
2 eggs
3 cups cooked rice
3 cups half-and-half (in the section with the milk)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Cooking spray
1 cup Ritz crackers, crushed
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Place eggs in mixing bowl and lightly whip for approx. 20 seconds. Add broccoli florets, cooked rice, salt and pepper. Mix well. Dice Velveeta into 1/4" pieces. Place diced cheese and half-and-half in microwave safe container. Cover and microwave for 2 minutes or until cheese is melted. Add to ingredients in bowl. Blend well. Spray 9" pan with cooking spray. Pour casserole mixture into pan. Bake in a 350 degree over for 30 minutes. Top casserole with Ritz crackers and cheddar cheese and cook for 5 more minutes, or until cheese melts and crackers brown.

--Mom

Seven Layer Salad

This is a recipe from my mom. I love recipes from her. She knows me well. You will see her little inserts that she puts in there for me because she knows I have no clue. I love it. I call her standing in the middle of the grocery all of the time saying, where do I find this or what is this food? hahaha


Instead of cooking my own bacon I use the bacon bits you can buy. Also, I sprinkle a packet of ranch dressing mix on top of the mayonnaise. I use frozen peas and just run them under some warm water to thaw, do not cook them. You can layer in any way you want, just end up with mayo on top (you can sprinkle some more cheese on top).


Ingredients:
6 cups chopped lettuce
2 tb sugar
8 ounces bacon (or bacon bits)
2 cups shredded mild Cheddar cheese
6 cooked eggs sliced
salt and pepper
1 cup mayonnaise
2 cups frozen peas
1/4 cup sliced green onion
1 Ranch dressing packet

Preparation: Place three cups of the lettuce in bottom of large bowl or casserole dish and lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper. Layer egg slices in bowl and lightly sprinkle with more salt and pepper. Continue to layer vegetables in this order: peas, crumbled bacon, shredded cheese, along with light sprinklings of salt and pepper. Combine mayonnaise and sugar; spread over top, spreading to edge of bowl 2 cover entire salad. Sprinkle Ranch packet over mayo. Cover and chill up to 24 hours or overnight. Garnish with green onion.

--Mom