Storing Potatoes

I just went and bought some potatoes & onions from a local farmer-- we stock up on them every winter. Right now they are still in the bags in the garage, but soon I will take them out of the bags and pour them into lrg. plastic milk crates- I like to store them this way because the crates have holes in them to allow air flow & you can stack them 2 or 3 high.  Here is a trick to help keep potatoes from budding- just place a couple of apples in with them- it works like magic!  

Happy Tuesday... if you have any great tips, please share... I would love to post them for others to use!!

How to clean up all that GLITTER

Tis the season for all that SPARKLE!!! And I'll admit it- I do love the glitter- but oh how I don't like having it all over EVERYTHING!!!  And cleaning it up for months!!

So today I am going to give you a great tip... when you need to clean the sparkle up, grab this!!!

yep.. a lint roller!!!  It works like magic!

so the next time you have the glitter mess.. grab your lint roller & clean it up in a jiffy!!!  I've never tried it on my face, but there's an idea! It seems like I WEAR as much as I use!  LOL

Make store bought frosting... better

I don't usually use store bought frosting... home made is sooooo much better!!  But there are times like this last week when I was making cookies for the little boy's (Grandsons) to frost.  I made sugar cookies for them and was in a hurry to get things ready before they came-  so I grabbed the store bought frosting. 

But there's an easy trick to make the frosting taste more like homemade & make it go farther too!!

Just put the can of frosting into a medium size bowl & whip it with an electric mixer...
it will increase the amount of frosting & it also makes it a better consistency for little hands to spread onto cookies.



if you are using a cream cheese, or vanilla frosting you can add a little bit of Almond emulsion to it & oh  it makes it taste so good!!! I was going to take a picture of the frosting after I mixed it up-- but once the little boy's came... I was too busy keeping the sprinkles off the floor!! LOL and forgot-- I didn't even get a picture of the cookies. :(   Next time you're in a pinch for time try this trick & let me know what you think.


Here is the emulsion that I use.

Help your cheese last longer in the fridge

I don't know what happened, but at the moment I have 3 blocks of cheese in my refridgerator.  It must have been on sale lately, and I bought it without checking to see how much I already had.  Anyway- I thought I would share a tip with you on how to make it last longer & keep it from getting mold.  It's pretty simple- just take it out of the plastic wrapper and wrap it in tin foil.  I have found that it doesn't get mold on it and it really does last longer.  So there's your Tip Tuesday!!  Now- how about sharing some of your favorite tips with me??  I would LOVE to hear what they are... 

How to check your ovens temperature

Are you always burning or under cooking things?  I've learned that ovens can loose their accuracy, and there is a simple way to check your ovens temperature.  Here's what you do- place an oven safe thermometer on the middle rack & heat your oven to 300 degrees. When your oven beeps to tell you it's that temperature, read the thermometer and see what the difference is- then you know if your ovens temperature is accurate, and if not make your adjustments when you bake. 

Freezer Corn

I love HARVEST time... after planting the garden, watering, weeding, & weeding.... comes the harvest!!  But along with the YUMMY produce to eat- comes the WORK!   Freezing corn can be quite the process. 

When I was first married I did it like my Mother had taught me..... husking, washing, blanching in a pot of boiling water, putting it into a sink of ice water, cutting it off of the HOT ears, bagging & freezing!  Whew..

Then I started doing it a much easier way.... and I have been doing it like this for 30 years.

First you need fresh corn!!

then cut each ear of corn at both ends like this... it makes it easier to peel the husks off.  This is a great job for the kids to do.

Now this is the TIP of the day.... cut the kernals of corn off  BEFORE blanching it. I know this picture looks a little dangerous, but when you are taking a picture of yourself cutting corn off you have to stage it. I held the cob upright, stuck the knife in the cob & took the picture with the other hand.  Making it look like I was about to cut my thumb off. LOL  I just wanted you to be able to see I cut it with a knife

because the corn isn't cooked it can be a little messy when you cut it off, so if you cut the bottom inch off on a cutting board first

then put the cob inside the bowl you are using it falls into the bowl = less mess to clean up.  I use the large tupperware bowl and it's perfect.  After you have cut the corn off of the cobs- measure the corn into your bowl (I use the tupperware bowl again)  Usually 1 dozen ears will give you about 11 cups of corn.  Pour 1/2 cup water into the bowl of corn & put it in the microwave.  Cook it 1 minute per cup/  So if you have 11 cups cook 11 minutes.

then bag up the blanched corn into bags and freeze.  I have a food saver, so I put 2 cups per bag and seal them.  But before I had a foodsaver I just put the corn into Ziplock freezer bags and flattened them so they stacked into the freezer better.   If you have never froze corn before.... you have NO idea how much easier this is!!  I will never go back to the old way of doing it.  So there is your Tip for Tuesday!!

How to clean your coil stove

So I told you yesterday about the bar keepers friend! I couldn't stop just there! I had to try it on my cracked stained stove! Just look at the difference!

 Have I sold you yet on the product?

I pretty much used the same method as my tub!

1. I took out all of our coils.
2. Sprayed water on the stove in a spray bottle to get everything wet
3. Sprinkled a thin layer of the magic cleaner on the wet surfaces.
4. Lightly rubbed in the product with a dish scrubber.
5. Rinsed the product off
6. Amazing clean stove with no sweat and blood!

Seriously give it a try you'd be amazed by the price of the product and how well it cleans!

How to clean a Front Loading HE Washer

Does your front loading washer ever start to smell musty or like mildew?  After I had mine for a few months I noticed this horrible smell in mine, and so I started searching to find where it was coming from.  This is what I found & what I do to prevent it from happening......

How to clean your Front Loading Washer....

first separate the rubber flap in the front like this-- yuck, see that gross gunk in the bottom of it?  It never dries out, so after awhile it starts to get moldy and smells really bad.

take a paper towel and wipe down inside of it-- do it a couple of times to get all the water out

and this is what you end up with--- after I have wiped it out really good, then I take a paper towel and spray it with pine-sol or another disinfectant and wipe it out again-- No more mildew! I try to do this after each load, but I hadn't done it for a couple of times, and it was pretty bad.  There's your tip for Tuesday-- it doesn't make laundry any more fun, but it does make breathing a little better! :)

How to soften Brown Sugar

I made granola last week and when I went to get the brown sugar, it was as hard as a rock!! Have you ever had that happen?  Well, if you look really close at this picture you will see those two little white thngs in the bag.-- They are the secret to keeping your brown sugar SOFT.  Yep MARSHMALLOWS.  I had the flat square kind, so thats what I used- but you can use any kind.  Just put one in with your sugar and it will keep it soft, and if you have some that is already hard-- put one in and it will soften it up!! Amazing... There's your tip for Tuesday!

Cooking Bacon

I'm back with another tip for our tip Tuesday!

So I love bacon anything, but cooking it is not my favorite at all. I hate getting splattered and having to clean up all ov that grease. So I recently discovered that you can cook bacon in your oven! Hallelujah! Now when I am making a nice breakfast everything can be ready at once!

*First we like to cut our bacon in half. To make it a little easier on the kids to eat.

*Second line a baking sheet with a couple of sheets of tinfoil.

*Third place the bacon on and put it in a 375 degree oven.

*Fourth check on it in about 4 min and once it has reached your desired doneness. take it out and place on paper towels. (we like ours crispy)

*Fifth, let the grease cool on the foil and when it hardens just take off the foil and throw it away for easy clean up!

Shredded Chicken

So any tip that can help me in the kitchen is a plus. I remember the first time I tried shredding chicken with a fork... ha ha. it was not a pretty sight. So thankfully I'm here today with Tuesdays tip.

How Jamie shreds her chicken.

*First I boil my chicken and when it is ready to be shredded I throw it in my kitchen-aid mixer with the paddle attachment on and let a rip.

*I had it on the lowest speed then turned it up one notch.

Here she is all perfectly shredded for me and I didn't even need a fork! It took about 1 min!

Saying that I love chicken salad would be an understatement. Especially if it came from a local bakery here in Utah called kneaders. Here is my version of their salad. Hope you enjoy!

Knock off Kneaders Chicken Salad:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup white vinegar
salt (to taste)
pepper (to taste)
1-1/4 cup mayonnaise
1-1/4 cup sour cream
4 stocks celery, chopped
1 bunch green onion, chopped
4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts; cooked and shredded

(I like to add craisins and/or grapes on occasion, depending on my mood)

Directions:
Mix vinegar, salt, pepper, mayonnaise and sour cream together. Mix celery, green onion and chicken in separate bowl. Mix all ingredients together. Let set overnight or for a few hours for the best flavor. Serve on buns or rolls.



Find the full recipe by clicking the magic button!

4th of July Jars--

You all know how I have this problem with JARS.... well I went & picked up some "stuff" to fill them for the month of July... winco had some bulk candy that I thought would be fun-- so here is what I came up with.  I decided to put them on my entry way table instead of in the family room.  Maybe  I won't have to fill them 5 times if the little boys ( and the big boys) can't see them. Haha   But I was going to let you in on a little secret... I had seen on pinterest around christmas time, they had done this with ornaments in a jar- so I thought I'd try it with candy.   It can get expensive if you have to fill a lot of them so here is how to use less.....

take a toilet paper roll and place it in the jar.... I have done this with small glass jars like a baby food jar and then you cant see it in larger jars- but for this one I used the TP roll.   I filled the center of the roll with tissue paper so the candy wouldn't go down inside the hole.  Then just pour your candy into the jar..... you will use less candy because the roll takes up some of the room  

when you get it done, it will look like this and no one will ever know.... until they lift the lid to take some!! :) so that is your tip for today!   

Make your own microwave popcorn

My tip today is something I have done since my boys were very young-- they are now 25, 29 & 31.  So I've been doing it a long time, but I thought I would share it just in case some you didn't know you can make your own microwave popcorn--- and  it's really easy.  When the boys got married Amy & Jamie their wife's had never seen it done before-- so if you haven't either, let me show you how.

  

First you need a plain brown paper sack-- the kind you put a lunch in works great. And a 1/2 cup of raw popcorn-- open the sack so that it will stand up, and pour the popcorn into the sack.  Fold the top down on the sack and put the sack in the microwave standing up straight.  Cook for 2 minutes- just like you do the store bought packages.    

after it has popped, you can eat it plain- or add any topping you like.  You can buy these shaker top flavorings at the store, I think I found mine at Bed Bath & Beyond.   Or just use butter & salt, cinnamon & sugar or a cheese powder. There are lots of different ways you can flavor it-- and I promise you won't be able to tell the difference between this & the store bought packages.  It's a lot cheaper too- so that is always a plus!!

A trick to help you open those tight jar lids

Here's a trick to help you open those jar lids--- it's simple and works everytime.

Next time you have a lid that is too hard to open, grab an elastic band and put it around the lid---

it gives you something to grip onto and the lid will come off so easy!!!

Freeze string cheese

Did you know you can freeze string cheese?  Yes you can, and it doesn't crumble like some of the other cheeses do when you freeze them.  They have had string cheese on sale lately-- when the kids were younger & at home, I use to stock up when it was on sale and put it in the freezer.  It's a great snack and if you have kids that take their lunches to school- put them in their lunch boxes in the morning FROZEN and by lunch they will be ready to eat!!!   

How to store fresh Vegetables & Herbs

I told you I would let you in on a great way to keep your Asparagus fresh longer.  I do this with fresh cut vegetables & herbs.  Take a wide mouth mason jar or a glass and fill it with a little bit of cold water-- then place your asparagus,cilantro, dill, spearmint, basil, celery ect. into the water and put it in your refridgerator.  They will keep fresh so much longer... during the summer I do this with all the fresh herbs from the garden, then they are ready to use-- I find that I use them more in the things I cook when they are already cut & easy to grab!    

Cleaning the Bathroom Toilet

I don't know about you, but it's not cleaning the toilet I mind so much......  it's the gross toilet brush holder that puts me over the edge!!!  Really I have a problem with cleaning out the toilet brush holder, it gets looking & smelling so gross-- the yucky brown water that is in the bottom of it is just plain GROSS!

So I am going to give you a tip that will solve the problem.  After you have cleaned the toilet with the brush, instead of putting it back into the brush holder-- place in on the toilet like this pictures shows & allow it to air dry for a few minutes.  It doesn't take long, and then when you put it back into the brush holder- there is no water left in it to drain into the bottom- turn brown and start to smell!  Brilliant!!!  So go try it right now-- I promise you are going to love it.  

How to unclog a sink

Good Morning-- and Happy Tuesday!!! Tip Tuesday actually...  I have had a couple of sinks that have been draining slowly, so I though I would share with you a tip to get your clogged sinks draining again.  It's simple, and there are no harmfull chemicals involved- in fact you probably have what you need in your pantry.  Here is what you will need:

1/2 Cup baking soda

1 Cup white vinegar

Pour the baking soda into the drain, followed by the white vinegar-- let it fizz for a 10 minutes and then pour boiling water to rinse it down.  That's it-- it really works!!!   

And it keeps them smelling good too.  I have found if you do this once a month or so your sinks will drain well.

How to wash fresh Berries so they last longer

I had read about cleaning your fresh berries so they lasted longer & so I decides to try it.  We buy & grow a lot of strawberries, and they always seem to go bad before we can eat them.   Usually we just eat what we can & then put the rest in the freezer before they spoil-- but this is GREAT and it works.

I poured 1/2 cup of white vinegar into a large bowl & added 5 cups of cold water to it- rinsed my cartons of strawberries and put them stem & all into the mixture.  I let them set 5 minutes (well one time I forgot about them and they were in there for about 20 minutes) and they were still fine....  

then took them out of the water and vinegar mixture and placed them on a dish towel to air dry.
When they were dry I put them in the fridge- they have been in there 2 days & still look great.
The vinegar kills the bacteria- and stops the mold from forming, it doesn't affect the taste at all-- so there you have your tip for the day!! 

Cleaning Grapes

Sorry in advance about the bad pics... I wanted to see how my camera phone was.
Any who we love grapes at our house and eat them often as snacks. If you are like me I hate the waxy film that grapes can have on them from farmers spraying them to keep bugs off, your day just got better because I'm going to teach you how to clean them!

Here are the grapes right from the store....

You are going to need salt...

and baking soda!

First you are going to want to pick all of the grapes and place them in a big bowl... (This is something the kids can do!!!) Then after all of the grapes are in the bowl run them under the water for like 2 seconds! You are just getting them a little wet so the salt and baking soda will stick. Then sprinkle a bit of salt and baking soda over them. Then you are going to swirl them in the bowl and mix them gently with your hands! maybe you'll need to add more salt and baking soda just eyeball it... trust me you will get the feel of this and know! After you think they are clean, swirl them one more time. Then put them in a colander and rinse baby rinse. There is nothing you want more than a salty grape. Rinse, rinse and rinse again!

We keep our grapes in a ziplock bag on the bottom shelf in the fridge for easy snacking! Look how clean they are!