"Wow, I Never Knew That!"

Oh, it must be October
The leaves of red bright gold and brown,
To Mother Earth come tumbling down,
The breezy nights the ghostly sights,
The eerie spooky far off sounds
Are signs that it's October.
The pumpkins yellow, big and round
Are carried by costumed clumsy clowns
It's Halloween - let's celebrate.
~Pearl N. Sorrels

I love older cookbooks and magazines for these types of tips. Some are ones we just need to be reminded of, and others make us think "Wow, that's neat!".

Spiced Lemonade: Add a small cheesecloth bag or a tea ball with cinnamon and cloves to the lemonade. Stir till it flavors the lemonade and remove.

Boiling over pasta? Grease the inside of the pan you will be cooking macaroni or pasta in--but just the top three to four inches around the top and inside. This will keep it from boiling over!

Double Duty: Use a wire corn popper for roasting hot dogs or marshmallows over a fire. You can roast more at a time this way.

Better Flavor: When making cherry desserts from canned cherry pie filling add a few drops of almond extract to the filling to give it a fresher taste.

Soggy Pies? Sprinkle a teaspoon of fine tapioca over the lower crust before adding fruit.

Salty Soup? Peel and slice a raw potato into the soup. Boil five minutes and remove the potato. Serve the soup.

Buggy Vegetables? If you have trouble removing the tiny insects from vegetable such as broccoli, add a little vinegar to cold water and rinse with this first.

Cauliflower Odor: Some people, including my son, hate the smell of cooking cauliflower. Try cooking in half water and half milk instead of just water. The liquid can be used in soups if you wish.

~Brenda