Household Hints

• 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 meat while cooking.
   
• To really make scrambled eggs or omelettes rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up. (I always add a little mayo - makes the eggs very creamy.)
   
• For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt chocolate mint patties in double broiler 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 at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.
   
• To 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.
   
• 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.
   
• Reheating refrigerated bread: To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.
   
• 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, but they will not get through wet newspapers.
   
• Broken Glass: Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.
   
• 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.
   
• Reducing Static Cling: Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and.. ta da!... static is gone. Can't believe this one.
   
• 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.
   
• 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!
   
• Reopening an 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.
   
• Hair Conditioner: Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's 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 tried it in your hair.
   
• 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 and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!