Put the “plastic peanuts” used for shipping packing in the bottom of your flower pots. They're light weight but still allow for drainage.
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Lemonade is great for cleaning and costs very little, plus it saves another bottle of caustic or dangerous cleaner in your cabinet:
Dishwasher cleaner:
Once a month run your empty dishwasher using lemonade mix instead of detergent. The citric acid in the lemonade will dissolve any gunk and hard-water buildup.
Tenderizer:
Marinate your chicken or pork in prepared lemonade mix to tenderize it and give a nice flavor boost.
Hair cleaner:
Rinse your hair with prepared lemonade mix to remove grease and dirt! Afterward, shampoo as usual. This will also reset your PH level on your hair and cut through any buildup of additives used on your hair.
Stains on hands:
Rub a paste of lemonade mix and water on hands to erase stains from preparing carrots, eating berries or doing other foods that stain your hands. It will also leave them smelling nice if you prepared onioins or garlic. First rub your hands on a wet stainless steel item like a large serving spoon and then finish with the lemonade paste to rid them of smell and stain.
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For the best value in purchasing turkey, if buying a tom turkey, be sure it is at least 13 pounds and if a hen turkey, it should be at least 10 pounds or more. If you buy turkey with less weight, you are getting more bone than meat ratio. Often the turkeys are not marked as to gender, so if not, it is best to get at least a 13 pound turkey to be sure. If you don't need the entire turkey, purchasing the breast is the best value (if you like white meat). I put the breast in a baking bag with the celery, etc. as recommended on the package, and put it in the microwave. It gets brown, is juicy, and flavorful without the mess. This is also a quick way to make it and save on energy costs of baking it a long time in the oven.
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When seated in a restaurant or at dinner party table, do you sometimes reach for your neighbor's water glass? Think BMW (like the car). Your Bread is on the left, Meal is in the middle and Water (or wine) is on the right.
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DECORATING TIPS & IDEAS
Marshmallows can be used for candle holders on cakes.
To decorate cookies with chocolate, place cookies on a rack over waxed paper. Dip the tines of a fork with chocolate and wave the fork gently back and forth making wavy lines.
Push animal shaped cookie cutters lightly into icing on cakes or cupcakes, fill depressed outlines with chocolate icing or decorating confections.
Fill flat-bottomed ice cream cones half full with cake batter and bake, top with icing and decorating confection.
Lifesaver candies make attractive candleholder bases on cakes.
Fresh mint leaves are pretty on desserts with cherries or colorful fruit. If it will not be eaten shortly after decorating, only apply the leaves to the portion that will be served or remove after serving. They will wilt if left on the dessert too long.
Top cakes (over the raw batter with nuts and chocolate chips) before baing and serve with whipped cream.
Top chocolate cakes with marshmallows and chocolate chips and broil the marshmallows until lightly browned.
Top jell-o (firmly set) with crushed graham crackers or cake decorating colored balls.
Top desserts with shaved chocolate.
Top cake frostings and cream pies with toasted coconut or nuts (toasted or plain
Crushed heath bars or various chips, butterscotch chips make interesting toppings for cakes, tortes and cookies.
To make colored decorating sugars, combine granulated sugar and food coloring in a small dish (a sauce dish works well or a small custard cup). Allow sugar to dry on counter top and stir occasionally the next few days. Store in clean shaker top spice shaker.
Colored coconut (mix food coloring and coconut) and jellybeans make pretty Easter toppings.
French fruit preserves offer nice moisture to a cake when used as a filling or under a frosting or in thumb print cookies.
Chocolate wafer cookies or Oreos crushed make interesting crusts for cream pies. Sprinkle some on the top for garnish.
Crumb crusts that include crushed nuts have extra flavor and make a nice topping on cheesecakes, etc.
Use Lady Fingers or vanilla wafers to form a frame for tortes and desserts.
Molded Jell-o is a simple way to serve jell-o attractively. Cover with frozen whipped topping (thawed) and decorate as desired.
Freeze cakes before frosting to save crumbing off into the frosting. This will also help set up the frosting by chilling it (from the frozen temperature of the cake).
If cakes have lots of crumbs on the outside, ie. angel food cakes, roll off the crumbs with a terry cloth or your hands before frosting.
Freshly grated carrot and pineapple combined makes an interesting topping on carrot cupcakes, cakes, or sunshine jell-o.
Cut down on calories and amount of frosting used by making a glaze of powdered sugar, vanilla and whole milk and pouring from a spouted cup creating a lattice pattern on the cake.
Brush (“wash”) the top of rolled piecrusts with cream, milk or slightly beaten egg white before baking. Granulated sugar can be added on the top of the “wash” for a better glaze.
Roll or dip cookies in chocolate (cocoa), powdered sugar, granulated sugar, colored sugar or cinnamon sugar before baking for interesting accents. Spray grease the bottom of a flat-bottomed glass or custard cup and dip into granulated sugar to flatten cookies. If using a fork to flatten and make a crisscross pattern, dip the fork into cocoa or granulated sugar between each application to the cookies.
Fresh flowers make attractive accents, but be aware of the fact that they will wilt if left on for a length of time. If freezing the dessert, do not decorate with fresh flowers while it is in the freezer.
Be sure to attach meringue to the edge of a crust to avoid shrinking during baking or broiling.
Spread chocolate chips over a hot cake and if necessary return the cake to the oven for a few minutes. Spread the softened chips with a spreader and top with chopped nuts for a fast frosting.
Simple sugar cooking decorating – sprinkle cookies with colored sugar before baking and save applying frosting later. A glaze of powder sugar, vanilla and whole milk can be brushed on with a pastry brush and colored sugars sprinkled over the wet glaze for a quick decorating trick. This topping does not come off like some decorated cookie toppings do.
Dip cookie cutters in sifted cocoa before cutting white cookies.
To decorate sides of a layer cake, place frosting between the layers and around the sides but not the top or bottom. Place crushed nuts, cookie crumbs, etc. on a waxed paper or pan and roll the sandwiched cake sides in the nuts, etc. Frost the top of the cake last. Place your hands flat (one on the top of the cake and the other on the bottom of the cake) to hold the layers together for rolling in the garnish.
To prevent a cake from sliding off of a plate, etc. put a few spoons of frosting on the plate before placing the cake on it.
Frozen candy bars (Heath bars) crush best when frozen.
Nuts crush well and store well if kept frozen.
Easy way to crush nuts, place plastic bag and roll with rolling pin or put in food processor. Be careful that they don't get too fine.
For easy clean up and a mess free serving plate, set cakes or cookies on waxed paper or parchment paper and slide onto the serving plate after decorating. If this method doesn't match your situation, insert strips of parchment under the edge of the cake on the plate and when done decorating, pull out the strips for a clean and neat plate.
Plastic doilies, stencils, or paper with figures cut out make interesting designs if powdered sugar or sifted cocoa is dusted over it, allowing the sugar or cocoa to come through the pattern cuts.
Simple frosting of a tube cake, pour small amounts of glaze on top of the cake and push it off the edges of the top with the bake of a spoon or spatula allowing it to run down the sides of the cake.
Crushed peppermint candies make a nice decoration on desserts and when added to frostings, make a good flavor ingredient.
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To remove water spots on your windows, etc. from sprinklers on your lawn, spray the window with vinegar (do not dilute with water) and wipe dry. The vinegar will clean your window and dissolve the lime from the water. Non-toxic, inexpensive and already in your kitchen cupboard, no additional bottle of cleaner to purchase or store in your cabinet.
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The number one rule to remember in preparing poultry is to cook it at the lowest possible temperature for the least amount of time. Poultry is a delicate protein and can become tough when abused by high heat and extra-long cooking periods. Should you see a trace of pink around the bone of a bird that has tested done, don't worry, that's just caused by a chemical reaction and has no effect on the flavor of the bird.
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Outdoor work and play will often leave a “ring around the bathtub” at cleanup time. There's no need to stoop or kneel to scrub, though. Just wet the tub, sprinkle with cleanser and sweep with a child-size broom. The stiff bristles will have the tub spotless in record time.
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You should store apples in a ventilated plastic bag in the refrigerator, away from cauliflower, cucumbers, broccoli, cabbage or leafy greens such as spinach. Apples give off a gas that can damage them.
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Mix equal parts of rubbing alcohol, white vinegar and water plus three small squirts of dishwashing liquid (like Dawn). This saves you money from buying another cleaner product and space to store it and is in your home when you need it. No harsh chemicals either or nasties in your laundry from washing cleaners out of your mop or scrub rag. This recipe is from a floor installer.
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