Clever Household Hints

Apparently, this list has been circulating on the internet for some time, but it just recently arrived in my in box. In case your mom already forwarded it to you, I thought you should check it out:

Clever Ideas Worth Knowing

1. Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

2. Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

3. 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.

4. Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

5. 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.

6. For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.

7. 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.

8. Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice 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.

9. 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.

10. For 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. An easy clean up.

Every Housewife's Friend

You may already be familiar with Heloise. Her "Hints from Heloise" column is syndicated daily in more than 500 newspapers in the United States and internationally.

She's also a contributing editor at Good Housekeeping.

The original Heloise began dispensing household in the 50s and published her first book, "Heloise's Housekeeping Hints" in 1962. Yes, that's her with President Richard Nixon.

When Heloise died on December 28, 1977, her tombstone read, "Heloise, Every Housewife's Friend." Following Heloise's death, her daughter took over as "Heloise."

I recently became acquainted with Heloise's work when I happened upon a used edition of "Heloise from A to Z" at a stoop sale. I couldn't pass it up for $1. Plus, it's a large print edition, so I don't even have to strain my eyes to read it.

The book provides helpful hints in alphabetical order -- from Abrasive Cleaners to Water Bed. You can turn to looking for answers to specific questions or you can do what I did and read it before bed.

Here are some household hints that I found particularly helpful:

To roast almonds in the microwave

1. Toss almonds with oil to coat them lightly. Arrange them in a single layer on a microwave-safe plate.
2. Heat on full power for two minutes. Toss again and let rest one minute. Heat two minutes longer, until almonds are golden brown.
3. Drain and cool on paper towels.

How to make your own glass cleaner

Mix 2 ounces of rubbing alcohol, 2 ounces of non-sudsing ammonia, and 12 ounces of water and store in a clean, clearly marked spray bottle.

The book is pretty comprehensive. Heloise even gives doles out advice on how to curb dog car sickness (take your dog on 15 minutes trip every other day and then increase the time gradually) and how to use the last bit of jelly in the jar (add milk and shake vigorously and you'll have a fruity shake).

That Heloise thinks of everything!