Tip for draining pasta

It was always a pain for me to use the colander to drain pasta. It was one more huge dish to wash and it takes up a lot of room in the cupboard.

My husband introduced me to this handy little thing. I don't know what it is called but it is a plastic cover in a half moon shape full of holes.

Tip: Just hold it against the top of the pan as you pour out the water.
Your pasta is drained and you have a dish that is much easier to wash and takes up little room

Hash Browns

For a quick snack or meal try these hash browns.

Hash Browns:
- place a little butter in a fry pan
- grate a lg uncooked potato right into the pan, skin and all
- sprinkle with salt and add more butter as needed
- let it fry until golden brown and then flip
- salt this side as well.
- You're Done, when both sides are golden brown

I love them this way. The inside is a little sticky and the outside is crunchy.

Tip:
If you don't like the sticky, simply grate the potato into a colander and rinse with cold water.
Pat it dry and then add to the fry pan.

The Magic of Plastic Wrap

Plastic Wrap Tips:

(I'll start with the obvious)

- Use it to wrap up those left overs, or a plastic bag, rather than a container. If you're like me and rarely get to those left overs but can't stand to throw away good food, it makes clean up a breeze. Just throw it out when you find it shoved deep in the back of the fridge and you won't need to clean any old food out of those dishes you put it in.

- Place it on the surface of cooked pudding or pie filling immediately after pouring to prevent a skin from forming.

- Use a piece of it the length of your pan for ease in pressing down rice crispy treats or crumb crusts and keep your hands mess free.

- Keep ice cream smooth

Ever notice how ice crystals form on ice cream in the freezer once the container has been opened? The ice cream will stay smooth and free of those annoying, yucky crystals if you rewrap the container completely in plastic wrap before you return it to the freezer.

- Keep fridge top forever clean
Make the next time you clean the top of your refrigerator the last time. After you've gotten it all clean and shiny, cover the top with overlapping sheets of plastic wrap. Next time it's due for a cleaning, all you need do is remove the old sheets, toss them in the trash, and replace with new layers of wrap.

- It will improve your grip on those hard to open jar lids.

- If the wrap end gets lost on the roll use a piece of tape to find the end by placing the sticky side of the tape on the plastic wrap and pulling forward.

I came across several household uses, but I chose to include those that were closely related to food and kitchen tips.

Frosting Tip

I just found this frosting tip on line.
I will try it the next time I make frosting.

Tip: If you add a pinch of baking powder to powdered sugar when making frosting, it will stay creamy and not harden or crack.

I am on a quest to find/create the perfect frosting recipes. I am picky when it comes to frosting. I don't like it when it tastes like powdered sugar or like lard. I think the peanut butter recipe I posted is perfect. I have tweaked a butter cream frosting recipe to almost perfect and I am working on a chocolate recipe. I will post them when I think they are just right. This tip may become a regular ingredient in my recipes if it works well.

"Old or Bruised Apples" Tip

So, I tried this recipe posted by my sister earlier:
Old or Bruised Apples
Wow, it is delicious!

Tip:
Instead of going the way of apple sauce, however, I thickened up the juice with some corn starch and left the apple chunks as they were and it made a wonderful pie filling. You could top ice cream with it, cheese cake, cake or eat it as it is. It was wonderful.

- Once you have followed the steps in the previous post linked to above:
- Wait until the apples are as tender as you want them to be first
- mix 1T cornstarch with 1T cold water in a small bowl
- Stir this mix into the crock pot with the apples
- Cook for about 10 or so minutes more until thickened

Your Done!
An easy delicious treat.

FROSTING

I have two wonderful frosting recipes for you!

Peanut Butter Frosting

- 1/2 c softened butter
- 1 c creamy peanut butter
- cream together with beaters until smooth
- 2c powdered sugar, mix in with beaters

Now, this makes a thick mix perfect for filling homemade peanut butter cups.

- blend in 2T milk for a thick yet spreadable peanut butter frosting
OR
- blend in 4 T milk for a thin spreadable peanut butter frosting

If you want a sweeter frosting and greater yield,
- add up to 2c more of powdered sugar and
- enough milk for the desired consistency


Cinnamon Roll Frosting

- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup butter softened
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 2T water
- Mix together with beaters

This makes a wonderfully thick and delicious frosting! It reminds me of Cinnabon.
Have Fun!

Spice Up Your French Toast

French Toast can be pretty basic.

- Mix a few eggs with a little milk in a bowl.
(2-4 eggs, about a cup or so of milk for about 12 slices)
- dip thick bread in the mix on both sides
- place in a buttered frying pan
- flip when the first side is browned and cook the other side
- serve with butter and syrup

This is one of my husband's favorite breakfasts and he eats it with a full glass of milk.

I like to Spice it up.
When mixing the eggs and milk I also add
- 1 tsp vanilla
- and a dash or two of nutmeg (or your spice of choice)
- sometimes I add a tablespoon or two of sugar as well

This adds a nice aroma and some extra flavor.
- cinnamon is a great spice to add but my husband doesn't like it.

Experiment with some others too and see how you can add some spice into your family breakfast.

Old or Bruised Apples

I get a bunch of old, bruised or starting to shrivel apples every couple of months. These are the ones that got bumped around in a lunch box and brought home uneaten or have something else wrong with them and no one wants to eat them (not even me).

Just gather them all up and wash them. Chop them up (big dices) including the peels. You do not have to peel them. Throw away any really bad spots and/or save out any really good ones for a snack. Throw the rest in a crock pot with a couple tablespoons of butter and some brown sugar and a little cinnamon. I like to put lemon juice in with it or use granny smith apples to get a sweet tart flavor. How much sugar and cinnamon depends on how many apples and your taste.

Cook in the crockpot on low 6 hrs or until done and it will be ready for snacks when the kids come home or you can pack it as applesauce for kids lunches. But, I like it warm best.

Homemade Yogurt

I looked up a recipe for yogurt on allrecipes.com because I had two gallons of milk starting to turn sour at the same time and I wondered if I could use it for yogurt and not have it taste bad. So, I experimented. All it cost me was like a dollar fifty. I bought a candy thermometer and a small unflavored yogurt with live cultures. With it I made 5 quarts of yogurt! It turned out perfectly. I recommend the recipe that has all the temperatures with it. It is a pain, but it worked perfectly. (I tried it once before without a thermometer and the yogurt came out kind of gooey and slimey--wrong texture) Because of my past experience I was afraid to try. I knew my family would not eat 5 quarts of unflavored yogurt, so I added about a cup and a half of sugar and some vanilla to the batch. It was not according to the recipe, so I was afraid it might ruin it. It didn't. It turned out GREAT! and they downed it all like crazy. We couldn't taste the slightly sour milk at all. It was perfect. I also tried making homemade icecream with the slightly sour milk and it worked out well, too. So, now I have two things to do with millk just starting to sour.

FoodStorage: I canned a ton of milk powder when we were first married and had lots of calcium needing little kids. Now it is all about to expire. So this week I tried it entirely with powdered milk and it WORKED GREAT and TASTES GREAT. It was fun to put blueberry syrup on it, hershey's syrup, and blended strawberries.

TIPS: The recipe calls for keeping it warm on the stove and checking the temperature. I put it in a plastic cooler with hot water (the right temp I think it was 115 degrees) all around it up to the height of the yogurt. Shut the cooler and left it for six hours. I didn't have to babysit it or keep the stove on and the yogurt worked perfectly.