Thank you to everyone who has sent me private emails asking where I am. We have been busy traveling to the Denver area visiting with grandson. As many of you know, we moved here almost 2 years ago to help take care of my mother-in-law who had Alzheimer's. She passed away this past October and my father-in-law moved out of state within 6 weeks after that. We have never liked it here and now have no reason to stay. We love the Denver suburbs so we are looking back in that direction and the Fort Collins area. I love the amount of groups, activities, sports, malls, zoos, museums, clubs, sports, etc. in the Denver area. I have missed all of my friends and I've been in touch with them all this entire time; they are so excited to know we are coming back.
So, I will be busy preparing the house to sell, selling all my educational books and supplies that I don't want to take with me – so I'll be learning ebay language. We will be selling the office bldg and getting rid of quite a few things in the warehouse by offering bulk deals on ebay.
I have wanted to do this for a while and I'm so glad that my husband is as excited at the idea as I am. I'll probably be pretty quiet on here for the summer as we'll be taking the camper north to stay and search while also hanging out with family and friends. But I promise I'll be back during the school season when I have to slow down during the week.
May 27, 2009
Tags: Colorado, Denver, Family, moving Posted in: Just for Fun 
18 Comments
We are visiting our oldest in Denver so I'll be quiet for a while on here. Once I start visiting old friends and family in the Denver area, I end up staying longer. The weather has been fabulous! The boys will be going to the Colorado Rockies game tomorrow with Corey and I'll be checking out the super large, fabulous Tattered Cover book store in downtown Historic LoDo. I love the LoDo district, I'll drink a latte and walk around window shopping, talking to people, browsing the stores, and enjoying the surroundings while I wait for the game to end. 
I hope you all are enjoying the warmer weather and I hope my seedlings are alive when I get home. I left hubby in charge so he may go out and buy starter plants to show he has been taking care of my plants for me. KWIM?
May 5, 2009
Tags: Coors Field, Denver, Historic, LoDo, Rockies Posted in: Family 6 Comments
Here’s a handy list of cooking and baking tips from the 1950s and 1960s collected from a variety of vintage clippings.
When boiling milk, first stir in a pinch of baking soda. This will help keep the milk from curdling.
Add one teaspoon of lemon juice to each quart of water when cooking rice, this will keep rice fluffy.
First rinse raisins, dates and figs in very cold water before putting them through the food chopper. They will not form such a gummy mass.
For crisper salads: Place a saucer upside down in the bottom of the salad bowl before filling with salad. Excess moisture will run underneath the saucer and this will help keep the salad crisp and fresh.
Tasty flavored whipped cream: First whip cream then add 2 tablespoons of flavored jello and continue beating on slow until the whipped cream is right consistency. Here’s a tip for leftover whipped cream and a recipe for homemade whipped cream.
Leftover ham: Lay ham slices in a baking dish then cover with maple syrup. Refrigerate overnight then fry the ham in butter the next morning. A couple more ideas for leftover ham.
Add a dash of lemon juice into meatballs before cooking them.
You can substitute crumbled cornflakes for bread crumbs when making meatloaf. You’ll find more Tasty Meatloaf Tips & Tricks (including more filler ideas) Here.
When a recipe calls for butter the size of an egg, use four tablespoons.
Cookie & Cake Decoration: Keep a small amount of sugar in small glass jars, add a few drops of food coloring and shake jar. Keep several colors on hand. You can also use this technique on shredded coconut.
Pickle Juice uses: Use sweet pickle juice to thin salad dressing or make French dressing with instead of vinegar, more delicious.
Cook vegetables with one or more bouillon cubes instead of salt–improves flavor.Tossing in a few garlic cloves when boiling vegetables makes things tastier too.
Salt added to flour used for thickening gravies, etc., will help to prevent lumping.
Chilled evaporated milk, whipped until fluffy, may be used as the base for several frozen desserts by the addition of different flavors, fruits, nuts, instant coffee, cocoa, jello, and other flavorings. Then add coconut, drained fruits, etc., as desired. Use easy crusts such as crushed cereal or crackers such as graham.
After crimping the edge of the pie crust, lift the edge of the crust gently all around with your fingers. This keeps the dough from sticking to the dish while baking and makes it easier to take out the pieces of pie.
Place crackers, dried bread, cookies or sugar which has lumps in a sturdy plastic bag (make sure it has no holes). Roll with a rolling pin or fruit jar as coarse or as fine as you like then pour into a measuring container. If you have more than you need at the time, just tie the bag and place in a pantry or freezer for later use.
A teaspoon of sugar mixed with your yeast and water makes it raise better. Even if you are making bread you can use some sugar. Never mix salt directly with the yeast and water mixture as the salt kills the raising action.
Keep brown sugar in a closed container with an apple in it, the brown sugar will stay soft and moist. Here are more ways to soften brown sugar.
Grate orange and lemon peel before peeling. Dry and add to spice cake or any cookies or puddings. The dried grated peel will keep well in a covered jar. Here are some Uses for Citrus Peels Plus Candied Lemon Peel Recipe.
Wrap parsley in foil first, then freeze. Shave off as much as needed, rewrap and return to the freezer. It will retain its flavor and freshness.
For fried foods that require flouring, try pancake flour for a change, it’s quite nice.
To keep peeled potatoes from turning dark without putting them in water, wrap in paper towel and wet under the faucet.
Baking bread? Do not preheat. When you light your oven, pop in the bread pans immediately and you’ll be amazed at the resulting lightness of the bread. Here’s how to make bread (with a recipe) and More Tips on Baking Breads.
Toast oatmeal in the oven before adding to other ingredients when making oatmeal cookies-–delicious!
Add two teaspoons of vinegar to jello and it will keep the jello from melting when you serve it.
If you scorch milk by accident, put the pan in cold water and add a pinch of salt. Takes away the burned taste.
Add a few sprigs of fresh peppermint to leftover tea while it is still warm, then refrigerate. Serve over ice.
Roll pastry on waxed paper. Before placing paper on work surface, wipe surface with a damp cloth to prevent slipping. Flour paper lightly, and with forefinger draw a circle an inch and a half larger than the pan you intend to use. You’ve seen pastry cloths with guidelines…and they really do help. When pastry has been rolled out, pick up paper pastry and all. Fit into pan, paper side up and then pull paper away from crust. Prevents tearing or stretching twist paper and pan. Another nice tip: You can also roll pastry between two sheets of waxed paper.
If it is a meringue pie you are making…add four or five marshmallows cut into pieces or 1/2 cup miniature ones, to meringue just before spreading. These marshmallows give both flavor and body to the meringue. The latter is important if pie is to stand for sometime before serving. Here’s a way to soften marshmallows.
Lemon juice or vinegar in water where cauliflower is cooked makes it keep its white color.
To pare pineapple easily cut into rings and peel each slice separately.
Add a slice of lemon to peeled sweet potatoes while cooking. The lemon will help them clear and free of discoloration.
A tablespoon of minute tapioca sprinkled in apple pie will absorb excess juice while baking.
Add one teaspoon baking powder to mashed potatoes to make them fluffy (here’s another tip). Here’s a helpful way to keep mashed potatoes warm while the rest of the meal is still cooking - Mashed Potato Warmer
Dip the blades of shears in hot water before cutting marshmallows, they won’t stick.
Have a small bowl of melted butter and just brush on corn on the cob with a pastry brush. If you have a metal bowl you can put a chunk of butter in the bowl and set on grill to melt while meal is grilling. See How To Microwave Fresh Corn on the Cob and some tips for removing corn from the cob.
For bananas that are ripe and ready to eat but you have too many, peel the bananas and freeze them then dip in melted chocolate and freeze again, these make a nice treat! More tips on freezing bananas here.
Fill a large hole or sugar shaker with flour and use that when needing to dust surfaces with flour or just pour out a tablespoon as you need it, this is handy way to keep a bit of flour on hand instead of digging in the flour bin.
Use pastry wheel to cut rolled cookie dough in squares or diamonds, much less rolling and very pretty.
Rinse measuring cup in hot water before using syrup, oil, etc. Will pour out clean and not stick to cup.
Canned fruit is much better if opened and removed from the can an hour or two before using to restore the oxygen.
When making popcorn balls, slip plastic bags on your hands when shaping them, won’t stick or burn your hands.
A wire cheese cutter is ideal for cutting chilled refrigerator cookie dough.
To liven up day old bread or rolls you can put the bread in a large bowl and place in a pot with a shallow level of boiling water. Remove from heat and cover the pot to steam the bread briefly. The bread will be warm and soft in a couple minutes. You can also use stale breads to make big batches of breadcrumbs and delicious homemade croutons.
An ordinary funnel makes the best cooling rack for your tube cake pans. You’ll find another 43 Cake Baking Tips & Tricks here.
find the links for all of these at Tipnut
May 2, 2009
Tags: apple, baking, banana, bread, butter, cake, cheese, cookie dough, cooking, corn, fruit, lemon, marshmallows, measure, milk, oatmeal, parsley, peppermint, pie, pineapple, popcorn, sugar, tapioca, tea Posted in: Food and Drink 2 Comments
I have been busy, busy, busy. Clearing the yard of debris and preparing soil for gardening. Here is a fun contest for you :
April 30, 2009
Tags: Capri-Sun Sunrise, contest, drink, food, Freebies, kids Posted in: Freebies One Comment
