Tips for the Home and Kitchen...

[expatgirl]

Energine is great for getting black scuff marks off your floors......it's normally used as a solvent spot remover and is found in the home products area of a grocery store.....if you're making muffins and you don't have enough batter to fill all the cups be sure to add water to the empty cups or you'll warp your pan---the muffins also heat more evenly, I use carpet freshener in my cat boxes as well as baking soda to keep them fresh smelling (my cats don't mind the smell), I also buy the huge sturdy garbage bags and insert my cat litter box into it and then conform the bag to the configuration of the box, this is followed by taping the excess to the box. When I'm ready to dispose of the litter I simply slip the bag off and tie up and throw away. I use the clumpable litter for multipe cats------we are owned by 4 but use one box and they are happy with their loo. I have lots more....will share later

[attie]

Bend the two center prongs up on an old fork about 1/2 way along, I use this to dredge fish through batter as an alternative to a pair of tongs.

[puffinfarm]

Hey y'all,
Great tips so far.
1st of all, some addendum to the existing tips:
I have found that instant grits works better than cornmeal for ants. They seem to like them better and will go after them faster and die sooner.
To get rid of adhesive stickers, use WD-40. It will slick up just about anything. I try not to use it on a food bearing surface, but will if it is needed. Be sure and wash the surface very, very well to get off all the WD-40 residue.
Keep a used dryer sheet handy to keep static down on anything. I use it on my cats all the time. The odor of a new one is not appreciated by the cat-kids, but a used one does wonders for static and prevent mats.
There was a suggestion about using a zip top bag for deviled eggs.
I use them for anything that needs to be squished out. Great for filling cannelloni, or rolled Pizzelle or for filling mini-muffin pans (or Madeline). Just put your 'stuff' into the bag, and snip off a corner (start with a tiny snip, you can always cut off more).
Even frosting works great, you can drop a tip connector right into the corner and go to town piping up a storm.
When you buy a ginger rhizome, buy a big one. Then just peel and slice the whole thing and put the remainder in a freezer bag waiting to be used. You can leave it whole and grate it frozen also.
Now, tips that have not been already addressed:
I have already mentioned this in my intro, but I am preaching it everywhere;
Use fruit juice instead of water to make your oatmeal. Adds a fruit serving and changes the taste so you don't need to add high calorie flavors, like sugar and butter.
Then, save up the leftovers in the freezer and when you have a cup or two, use it in quickbreads, muffins, pancakes, anything that to which you wish to add some flavor and fiber.
Instead of messing with bacon strips, just cut up 3 or 4 pounds into 1-2 inch pieces (semi frozen cuts much easier) and fry it all in the pan. I never get bacon strips cooked right, not even in the oven. But if I cook it all in smaller pieces, it cooks much more evenly and then I can just freeze the cooked bacon and use as needed. I also will freeze several 2 tablespoon amounts of bacon grease, because there are some recipes, that just need that flavor.
When you are draining something greasy, such as bacon or deep fat fried foods, use mechanics paper towels. You know, the blue thick pricey ones that you find in the automotive section? If you are worried about food safety, put a couple of blue ones down and put a plain paper towel over that. Then drain onto them. They absorb a great deal more than regular towels. I use them for that purpose only, so it is not so expensive to use them.
If you are trying to make something fruity (cobbler, pie, etc.) and it needs a little oomph, use either a flavored jello or an unsweetened drink mix (koolaid). There are artificial and natural flavors in them that we cannot purchase for the home kitchen. I especially use peach flavor, I love fresh peaches, but my pies just never have as much peach flavor as I think they should, so a drink mix as additional flavoring perks it right up.
And a non food tip for all people owned by cats:
Instead of clay or clumping cat litter, use stove pellets. You know, the fuel that you use in a pellet stove. They are hardwood with no additives and my local grocery store will order them year round, for about $6 for 40 pounds of stove pellets. They are the same size pellet as Feline Pine, which I really liked, but it offended my cheap. The cats do not track them out of the box and don't kick them around very much. When the cats poop, you can shake the box and the poop comes to the top and you can toss it into the commode and flush. The whiz just breaks down the pellets into sawdust. When it is mostly sawdust, it can go out onto the compost heap.
And the clay/clumping litters set off my asthma. The dust and fragrances hit me in the bronchioles No dust or fragrances with the stove pellets. Plus, the clumping cat litters have been implicated in some respiratory and digestive problems in cats, especially kittens.
I have (my cats have) been using the stove pellets for about a year and couldn't be happier.
Well, I think that is enough tips for this round. Great thread. Keep on sharing and thinking outside the box.

Rhonda E.
Puffin Farm
Colorado Springs, CO & Penrose, CO
If you are walking in somebody else's shoes, it is easier to keep your foot out of your mouth.

[DramaQueen]

Your tips are good ones but I have to take exception to a couple of them.
Adding fruit juice to oatmeal will increase the calorie and sugar content substantially so you have to be careful of that one. I use one cup of water to 1/2 cup of oatmeal.

The mechanics' blue paper towels have been treated and are not safe to use for draining if you are going to use the grease over again. Some brands will state that they are unsafe for food right on the package. They weren't meant to be used for that purpose. The rest of your tips are very good.

[deelady]

When out of copper cleaner, spread a layer of ketchup over copper area and alow to sit for a couple of minutes or the time it takes to wash your other dishes. Just simply wipe off with a clean sponge and it looks like new!

[kitchenelf]

Originally Posted by deelady

When out of copper cleaner, spread a layer of ketchup over copper area and alow to sit for a couple of minutes or the time it takes to wash your other dishes. Just simply wipe off with a clean sponge and it looks like new!

I do that too!!!! It works great.

[deelady]

I found out that trick on accident when I was a teenager! I put a copper bottom pan on top of a plate that had ketchup on it, then when I went to do the dishes it came so clean, I was so amazed because I always dreaded cleaning those pans because they were a pain to clean. It worked so much better than the copper cleaner powder my mon bought!

[Fisher's Mom]

Originally Posted by expatgirl

Energine is great for getting black scuff marks off your floors......it's normally used as a solvent spot remover and is found in the home products area of a grocery store.....

Rubbing a new, clean tennis ball over a black floor scuff will remove most of them, too. I read this recently and when I tried it on mine, it worked perfectly!