Helpful Hints!

Helpful hints from my Aunt Mary!

Some really good ones!

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 mea
> t 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 a 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 a t the end of the
> recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.
>
> Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a
> delicious dessert. Simple chop them up with the food
> chop per Peel, core and sli ce 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.
>
> 1. 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.
>
> 2. 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.
>
> 3. Expanding Frosting
> When you buy a co ntainer 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.
>
> 4. Reheating refrigerated bread
> To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that
> were refrigerated, place them in a mic rowave with a
> cup of water. The increased moisture will keep 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 they will not get through wet newspapers.
>
> 6. Broken Glass
> Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up
> the small shards of glass you can't see easily.
>
> 7. No More Mosquitoes
> Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will
> keep the mosquitoes away.
>
> 8. Squirrel Away!
> To keep squirrels from eating yo 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. Reducing Static Cling
> Pin a small l safety pin to the seam of your
> slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dr ess.
> Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing
> panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and -- ta
> da! -- static is gone.
>
> 11. 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.
>
> 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 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.
>
> 14. 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 t ried it in your hair...
>
> 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 dish
> was hing 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,
> especially if it rains, but it works & you
> don't have the worry about pets or small children
> being harmed!
>
>

These are great.....I'm going to print them off and keep it in the kitchen! I'll have to test that banana hint. I hate an overripe banana so if tearing them apart helps, I'm trying it. Thank you.

You're welcome! I thought they were great too! My Aunt Mary is in her early 70s. She is a hoot! She sends me great stuff every day! I have the best memories of her from my childhood as we lived in the same town about a mile away. She has 3 daughters that I am very close with. So I would walk over to their house all the time. So many memories of baking with her/them, cooking, I'd watch her canning (which I am now interested in getting into) we'd move the furniture and dance the Polka! I hope she lives to be 99!

I hate over ripe bananas too! I also hate "the strings" (so do all the daycare kids so I am always pulling off "the strings". So I can't wait to try both hints! Along with several other ones!

Great stuff. In particular, the anti-static pins are new to me...love it. Aunt Mary sounds delightful.