Two Special Dinner Ideas:
Designing a Plate of Eye-Catching Food ~ Arrange two or three whole cooked carrots across the center of a dinner plate, with a chicken breast on one side and buttered French cut green beans on the other side. Sprinkle a little dill weed on top and garnish the plate with a sprig of parsley, mint, or a slice of red or yellow pepper. Long green beans or strips of sweet potatoes baked in olive oil could also serve as the colorful dividing line of the plate, with two other foods to compliment the center color.
Stripes of Salad Dressing ~ Drizzle creamy salad dressing (similar to Ranch) onto salads using a "back and forth" method, until the entire salad is decorated with stripes. This make an extra special and attractive salad.
Nifty Snowflake Quesadillas ~ Transform tortillas into snowflakes for snowflake quesadillas! Let your kids help!
http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/blog/warm-up-with-snowflakes ~ Used by permission from Laura Coppinger
Note from Lois: For an entire meal, add beans (or vegetarian refried beans that contain no lard, as do other refried beans), shredded chicken, turkey, or beef, and cheese to the uncut tortillas on the bottom. Then cut a snowflake tortilla top for each one, like you used to cut out snowflakes from paper) and place directly on top. Heat in a greased pan until cheese melts.
Eggs in a Split Carton ~ If you have an overflowing refrigerator, save space when you have only a half box of eggs in an egg carton. Move the eggs to one end of the carton, and shorten it by cutting with scissors while the lid is still open.
Layered Leftovers ~ If space is a problem in your refrigerator, layer dishes of leftovers, by using a plate as a lid and divider, and stacking them. I have frozen unbaked quiche in this way as well.
Delicious Roasted Almonds ~ Buy plain almonds and toast them yourself for a healthy crunchy snack. Coat the bottom of a glass dish with olive oil. Add about a pound of almonds and about a teaspoon of Bragg Liquid Aminos over the almonds. This is all purpose seasoning found in health food section. Stir and spread almonds out evenly. Microwave for 3-4 minutes. Stir and microwave another minute of two, being careful not to burn them. Let cool completely, and they will be crunchy and delicious. Other nuts, pumpkin seeds or sesame seeds are also very good roasted this way.
Old Bay Seasoning is a wonderful blend of spices that tastes great used with fish, chicken, beef, vegetables, baked potatoes, salads, popcorn and deviled eggs. This can of spices can be found near fresh seafood in grocery stores. For recipes go to www.oldbay.com To create tastier hamburgers, add 2 teaspoons to 1 pound of ground beef. Cook frozen talipia fish in olive oil, turn and sprinkle with Old Bay Seasoning. Delicious! There are quite a few recipes right on the can. Here's just one for:
Spicy Marinade for Chicken ~ Combine 1/4 oil, 2 Tbsp. lemon juice, 1 Tbsp. Old Bay Seasoning, 1 tsp. parsley flakes and 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper in a glass dish or plastic self closing bag. Add one pound boneless chicken breasts. Refrigerate 20 to 30 minutes. Broil or grill.
A New Microwave Popcorn for Better Health at Less the Cost ~ It is "undetermined" if the artificial flavoring used in prepackaged bags of microwaved popcorn poses a danger of lung damage to ordinary consumers. (http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/popcorn.asp) So Paula Archer in Ohio shared this great alternative for a microwave recipe. It's a good substitute for bags of prepackaged microwave popcorn sold with unhealthy oils and additives. Combine 1/4 popcorn with 1 teaspoon olive oil and put into a brown paper lunch bag. Paula said she puts the popcorn in the bag and sprays the popcorn with olive oil spray. Fold over the top of the bag several times. Microwave on high for about 4-6 minutes or until the popping slows down. She said you can also do this without any oil for an end result like hot air popped corn. Paula even reuses her unpopped corn. You may want to add some butter and a touch of Old Bay Seasoning with dill weed. We enjoyed trying this last night and it does indeed work very well - even to pop the unpopped kernels!
Soured Milk doesn't need to be discarded. It can be used in recipes calling for buttermilk, such as pancakes and biscuits.
Re-Crisp Crackers, Nuts, Tortilla Chips, Cereal ~ Microwave for a few minutes to restore crispness or bake in an oven. After they cool, they should be nice and crisp.
Hash Browns ~ Grate leftover baked potatoes that have been stored in the refrigerator overnight and make hash browns for breakfast.
Moist Leftover Meat ~ Warm leftover roast or chicken in a steamer basket over boiling water for a few minutes to restore its juicy freshness.
Magically Sliced Grapes ~ Toddlers need to have their grapes sliced to prevent choking, and this takes time. Right, Moms? For a quick and easier way to do this, place one layer of grapes on a plastic lid (possibly a yogurt lid). Cover with another identical lid. Hold the top lid down and carefully slice between the two lids with a long sharp knife, and the whole batch will be sliced in one step!
Cookbook Protector ~ While cooking, place a piece of plexiglass over your open cookbook. It will not only protect it from splatters, but will hold it open as well.
Rapid Rising Dough ~ Place your bread dough on a warming tray or heating pad turned to low and it will rise in short order.
Flour Duster ~ A clean power puff can be kept in the flour canister for a quick dusting of baking pans.
Sandwich Cones ~ A clever way to occasionally serve tuna, chicken or egg salad to children or picnickers is in an ice cream come instead of on bread.
Sliced Cookies ~ Stuff cookie dough into frozen juice concentrate containers and refrigerate. Next cut out the end and push the dough forward, slicing as you go. You will have perfectly round cookies. Use this tip with drop cookie dough and save time.
Extra Countertop Space ~ If you need an extra countertop space while cooking a big meal, pull out a drawer and slide a clean cutting board over it.
Extra Serving Space ~ When you need extra serving space at the dining table, set up a TV tray nearby.
Lemon Drops ~ If your recipe calls for a small amount of lemon juice, pierce a lemon with a skewer and squeeze out only the amount you need. You can wrap and store the lemon for later use.
Lemon Drops ~ If your recipe calls for a small amount of lemon juice, pierce a lemon with a skewer and squeeze out only the amount you need. You can wrap and store the lemon for later use.
Frozen Cubes of Lemon Juice ~ Juice a large bag of lemons and freeze the juice in ice cube trays. After frozen, pop them out and freeze in a freezer bag to use in recipes or make fresh lemonade. For healthier lemonade, use Stevia for sweetener, instead of sugar or artificial sweeteners.
Super Quick Baked Potatoes ~ Stand fresh potatoes rubbed with olive oil on end in muffin tin cups. Partially fill the rest of the cups with water and bake as usual in less the time.
Scissors for Cutting Food ~ Many foods can be cut quickly and more easily with scissors rather than a knife - dates, dried apricots, spinach, lettuce. If cutting sticky dried fruit like dates, spray scissor blades with olive oil. For spinach, stack spinach leaves, cut off the stems if you wish, and slice with scissors. Great for omelets and salads!
Unsinkable Raisins ~ Before adding raisins to recipes, warm them. They will be plumper and juicier and won't sink to the bottom as easily.
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