[Tsquared]

DID YOU KNOW....

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 omelets rich add a couple of
spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them
up.

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.

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.

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.

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. Expanding Frosting
When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it
with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to
frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and
calories per serving.

4. 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.

5. 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
they will not get through wet newspapers.

6. Broken Glass
Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass
you can't see easily.

7. No More Mosquitoes
Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes
away.

8. Squirrel Away
To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with
cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels
won't come near it.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. Foggy Windshield?
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!

13. Reopening 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.

14. Conditioner
Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's a lot 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...

15. Goodbye Fruit Flies
To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2"
with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid, mix well. You
will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

16. 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 & you don't have the worry about pets
or small children being harmed!

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INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS

The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes
things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something
and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean.
(I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.) He told
us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink,
ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material - I'm sure
you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like. Well...the hot water just
sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it at all! He told us that
dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that's what burns out the heating
unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's there. It's what is in the dryer
sheets to make your clothes soft and static free -- that nice fragrance too,
you know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box, well this
stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what
causes dryer units to catch fire & potentially burn your house down with it!
He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (& to
keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out & wash it with hot
soapy water & an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months.
He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long!

**Note: I went to my dryer & tested my screen by running water on
it. The water ran through a little bit but mostly the water collected in the
mesh screen. I washed it with warm soapy water & a nylon brush & I had it
done in 30 seconds. Then when I rinsed it the water ran right thru the
screen! There wasn't any puddling at all! That repairman knew what he was
talking about!

[Jayden'sMommy]

Thanks!! My son eats a banana a day!

I'm just not sure how to easily peel a banana from the bottom?! Seems like the time I would take to figure that one out, I could have it peeled and de-stringed it the regular way!!

Also, I've been yanking all of bananas apart it hopes of them ripening SOONER!! Guess I should be leaving them together when I bring them home bright green from the store!!

[rntg83]

I'm just not sure how to easily peel a banana from the bottom?! Seems like the time I would take to figure that one out, I could have it peeled and de-stringed it the regular way!!

You can use a knife and cut the bottom off, I tried this once, and didn't notice much difference with the strings.

[scorpio99]

Interresting! Thanks

[NoahsMomma]

thanks!

[monica]

what a bunch of cool stuff! so interesting to read, I'm going to have to forget something in order to remember something new though. Hope I can at least remember to come look these up!

[internetgeek]

Thanks for the awesome tips DH loves deviled eggs and using a ziplock to mix it up and cutting the edge to fill them up,I will doing it that way from now on
I also will be cleaning my lint screen in my dryer

[crazysauce]

Thanks! I knew about some of these but had forgotten all about them... I just went and cleaned my lint trap on the dryer. It made me think, .

[LisaArbo]

Thanks! I always separate my bananas when I get them home. But I do it because they don't get ripe as fast. If I leave them together.....then all of a sudden one day I have a bunch of bananas that are over-ripe (which I hate). My uncle told me about the separating thing a few years back.

Lots of great tips! I'm gonna have to check my dryer screen!

[GoBoSox]

I wonder if the dryer sheet in your pocket really keeps mosquitos away. I'm definitely going to try that one when it gets buggy here.