~*~ Pie Crust To keep pie crust from absorbing juices from pie fillings and avoiding a uncooked crust: Brush a egg yoke wash on the top of bottom layer of crust prior to filling and baking. ~*~ Peeling a hard boiled egg Keep the hard boiled egg in the refrigerator until ready to use. Roll it on the counter to crush the shell into small sections all around. Peel it carefully and the membrane will come off with all the shell fragments. Running it under the faucet may loosen it faster. ~*~ A Better Measure For Flour Because flour settles and compacts in storage, fluff if up before you measure. Then, gently sprinkle it into your measuring cup and scrape the excess off with the back of a knife. This will insure a 4 ounce cup of flour rather than the 5 ounces you would have if you scooped it out with your cup. ~*~ Want a fluffier cake or biscuit? For lighter and fluffier Cakes and biscuits, try replacing water with club soda. ~*~ Better Lasagna Add 8oz cream cheese to the ricotta cheese and process both to combine. Really makes a big difference. ~*~ If your guacamole comes out too thin after making...add some instant potato flakes to thicken..it wont affect the flavor...and can be used to thicken deviled eggs if you should make a mistake and get them to thin also. ~*~ Freezing When freezing fish or seafood. Add 1/4 cup of sour juice such as lemon or lime to the bag of water. When thawed fish will tastes as fresh as the day someone caught the them. ~*~ Mushroom de-stemming Use a grapefruit knife to gently run around stems. When stems are loosened, gently rock back and forth. Stems should come out easily. Use tip of knife to scrape any remaining stem. ~*~ Coffee Pot To clean your coffee pot add salt and ice cubes and swirl around. Sparkling clean every time. ~*~ Easy clean-up spray a little PAM or other nonstick spray on the outside of pyrex before baking so overspill won't stick to outside of dish. Clean up will be a breeze ~*~ Gravy tip If your gravy is not a deep rich brown, try adding a teaspoon or two of instant coffee crystals..it makes it nicely brown and enhances the flavor of any gravy. ~*~ Tuna Fish Add a little lemon and lime to tuna to add zest and flavor to tuna sandwiches. Use cumbers soaked in vinegar and pepper in sandwiches instead of tomatoes. Use mustard instead of mayo to cut the fat and add a tang. ~*~ Cast Iron To season new cast iron. Rub interior with oil , and place in 250 degree oven for 3 hours. Wipe off oily film and store. ~*~ Peanutbutter brownies For a change of pace, next time you make brownies substitute peanut butter for the oil. Soften the peanut butter in the microwave and stir it in Yummmm. ~*~ Meatloaf When making Meatloaf, place several slices of bread underneath prior to cooking to absorb the fat that cooks out of the meatloaf. ~*~ Baking with applesauce When a recipe calls for vegetable oil, substitute applesauce. It tastes great and makes your recipe moist. ~*~ Low Calorie White Sauce Instead of making your sauce with butter and flour add your flour directly to the milk and mix well. Then heat the milk and it will thicken normally. You can then add cheese or whatever. ~*~ Cookie/Cake/Brownie Crumbs When you are making any cake-like item you will cut out shapes from save the trimmings. They are great additions to ice cream, garnishes for other snacks & puddings. And crumbled together with a T. of melted butter and pressed into the bottom of a pie plate make a great crust for a pudding pie. They freeze well for later use. ~*~ Zippy grilled cheese put mustard and garlic powder inside grilled cheese sandwich before cooking. YUMMY! ~*~ Quick Ground Beef When browning ground meat, brown several pounds and drain. Divide evenly in freezer containers and freeze. Unthaw in microwave for quick fixing next time. ~*~ Cakes whip the egg whites separately from the cake recipe then fold into batter comes out lots lighter!!!!! major difference in cakes!!!!!! ~*~ Fresh Smelling Fridge/Freezer To keep your fridge/freezer smelling the freshest: squeeze the juice of lemon on cotton balls. Toss and divide in 1/2. Place in veggie baggies with the tiny holes and place one in fridge & freezer. Keeps them smelling their best. ~*~ Low-Fat Spreads/Dips To make lowfat cream cheese & dips add non-fat yogurt with other dip ingredients & cheese. For flavored cheeses soften no fat cheese & blend with 1/2 the quantity of yogurt and 1/2 flavored fruit spread or honey. ~*~ If you live in a humid area break off a couple of mint sprigs and chop. Add to water in an old "Glass Plus" sprayer and mist the air and furniture. May also be used to lightly dust and clean counters. Blends well with a couple of lemon "end" pieces! ~*~ When cooking rice, in order to save energy, do the following: Bring water to a boil--dump in the rice--bring water back to a boil for 15 to 20 minutes. Cover the pot and turn off the burner. Wait 45 minutes without taking the lid off the pot and your Rice will be perfect. ~~*~~ "Those who get to big for their britches, are sure to be exposed in the end" ~~*~~ Sally Jo