Keep Lettuce Crisp For Two Whole Weeks!

     Skimming through some old papers, I found some really useful tips.  At least I think so let me know what you think.  Maybe you have some good ideas to share. We would love to hear them.

Lettuce

1. Place your "greens" (lettuce, kale, mustard greens)  in a covered container, in the frig.  Now here comes the weird part.  A stainless steel piece of silverware put in with your lettuce will keep it fresh  for about 2 weeks.  Are you kidding me?  Gotta try this one.
2. A resealable plastic bag with a couple of of almost burnt slices of toast will keep lettuce crisp.  When toast gets soggy,  replace with more toast.  Now this one makes sense, don't you think?

Ice Cubes

1. Rinsing the ice cubes with cold water before putting them in the glass will keep the soda from fizzing up and over the rim.
2. When it's time to accumulate ice cubes for all those guests, you should store them in brown paper bags.  The brown paper bag will prevent the cubes from sticking together and becoming a big frozen blob.
3. Hot water freezes faster than cold.  Trust me it does.  It doesn't make sense at first, but once you discuss how this works with your science teacher, you'll understand.
4. For crystal clear cubes in your drinks fill those ice trays with distilled water instead.  You will love the effect. 
5. Not only can you freeze liquids of all kinds in your trays (tea, coffee, etc), but you can also add a mint leaf, strawberry, olives, etc in your trays with water.  Now that's a festive drink.

Candles

1. If your candle is a little too big for the holder, dip the last inch of the candle in hot water   until it's soft enough for you to reshape it thinner to fit.
2. Spray candle holder with cooking spray or rub the bottom with petroleum jelly for easy removal of your candle or candle wax remains.
3. Fuzzy pipe cleaners can be used on a birthday cake instead of candles.  They are colorful, stand up straight, burn bright because of their metal center, and there won't be any candle wax on your cake.   

Onion Substitute

• Recipe calls for 1 small onion = 1/4 cup chopped onion = 1 to 2 tbsp instant minced onion = 1 tbsp onion powder = 1 1/3 tsp onion salt.   I can put this info to good use.

Pancakes

1. Instead of using milk or any other liquid in your pancakes, use seltzer or club soda at room temperature for super light and fluffy pancakes.  Use all the batter you make because this batter doesn't have staying power.
2. For very decadent pancakes, use eggnog instead of the milk and other liquids that might be required. Now this is a treat!
3. Clean out and use a ketchup or mustard squeeze bottle or even a turkey baster will do for an easy time forming a perfect pancake.
4. While your at it, have some fun.  Make different shaped pancakes or form the initials of the people eating them.