FUN AND RECIPES!

This is where we'll be adding Fun Activities and Recipies! We welcome information and ideas from you. Please feel free to send your ideas and recipes to Fun And Recipe Ideas

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Great Tips (listed 9/9/08)

• Here's some really cool tips that I had emailed to me and thought I would share:
  
• 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 omlets 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 you want a stronger taste of garlic.
• Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food processor. 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. Yummmmm!
• Heat up leftover pizza in a non-stick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat til warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza.
• Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Sea, mash til 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.
• When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixture 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.
• To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased mosture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.
• 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 newspaper.
• Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.
• Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes 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.
• To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towell 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 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!
• 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 putter butter and watch how easily it comes right out.
• Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box. When the window is foggy, rub with the eraser. Works better than a cloth.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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!
• 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 ad you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed.
• 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 l east e very 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!
  

Touchdown Taco Dip (listed 9/3/08)

• What you need:
  
• 1 16-oz. can refried beans
• 1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup pitted black olives, sliced (optional)
• 2 tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro (optional)
• tortilla chips
  

What to do:

1. Spread refried beans on the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a small bowl, stir together cream cheese, sour cream and taco seasoning.
3. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over beans, and sprinkle chees on top.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 to 18 minutes or until hot.
5. Sprinkle olives, tomatoes and cilantro over dip and garnish with additional sour cream.
6. Serve with tortilla chips and root for your team!

Rice Crispy Treats Recipe (listed 8/26/08)

• What you need:
  
• 3 tablespoons margarine or butter
• 1 (10 oz.) package regular marshmallows (or 4 cups mini-marshmallows)
• 6 cups Rice Krispies
  

What to do:

1. Melt margarine in large saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.
2. Add Kellogg's Rice Krispies cereal. Stir until well coated.
3. Using buttered spatula or waxed paper, press mixture evenly into 13x9x2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Cut into 2-inch squares when cool. Best if served the same day.

Peanut Butter Playdough (listed 8/14/08)

• What you need:
  
• 1 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 cup nonfat dry milk
  

What to do:

• Mix together the peanut butter and honey.
• Add half of the dry and mix.
• Continue to add a little at a time until it feels soft and playful
• Use less than the 2 cups of dry milk if the clay seems to be getting dry

You can add raisins, coconut, chocolate chips, etc. to decorate. ENJOY!

Yes, you can eat it! It's really sweet because of the honey don't give it to the kids too often.

Homemade Ice Cream (listed 8/6/08)

• What you need:
  •1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup milk or half and half
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 6 tablespoons rock salt
• 1 pint-size plastic food storage bag (e.g., Ziploc)
• 1 gallon-size plastic food storage bag
• Ice cubes
  

What to do:

• Fill the large bag half full of ice, and add the rock salt. Seal the bag
• Put mik, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag, and seal it.
• Place the small bag inside the large one, and seal it again carfully.
• Shake until the mixture is ice cream, which takes about 5 minutes.
• Wipe off the top of the small bag, then open it carefully. Enjoy!

Tips: