KITCHEN TIPS

When nesting non stick frying pans, place a paper plate between each pan to safeguard against scratching.

According to Real Simple, "Let chopped fresh garlic sit at room temperature for ten minutes before cooking it. The extra time allows garlic's cancer fighting compounds to fortify themselves against heat... (American Institute for Cancer Research)."

To save some money on Drain cleaners, clean a clogged drain out as much as possible with a long plastic hook or plunger. Fill drain up with baking soda, as much as possible. Pour white vinegar into drain. It will bubble, let it sit for about a half of an hour. Pour boiling water into the drain. It will run much smoother. (My Mom).

Throw vegetable trimmings into a plastic container in the freezer. When you have filled it up, make vegetable stock. Add a bay leaf, fresh onion and peppercorns and even some white wine to the mix to peak the flavor.

And speaking of baking soda. You can go green with it, using it to scrub sinks and stove tops and some counter tops. It's a very mild abrasive. You can also use it in your laundry as a softener. Oh the list goes on.

When boiling eggs, save the calcium rich water for plants inside or out. Leafy plants love the calcium (Real Simple).

Save jam bottles and such for storing goods and spices. The glass containers will help keep their freshness and potency in. The jars also make great containers for gifts.

I always have a hard time making sure I get my water in. I now use a Mason jar. I can drink out of glass (I hate drinking out of plastic). I know exactly how much water I am drinking. Plus if I have to store it, I just put the lid on. Mason jars are also great storage receptacles.

Instead of using chemicals on your tile floor. Go natural, fill the bucket up with about a gallon of warm water and add about a 1/2 cup of white vinegar. No, your kitchen does not smell like a salad afterward. Matter of fact you will hardly even notice a smell. The white vinegar's acid level kills a lot of germs. Wipe down counters with it as well instead of bleach.

Have extra citrus? Make citrus cubes. Squeeze the juice and pour into ice cube trays. Once frozen remove from tray and put in plastic bags. You can use them for recipes, make lemonade, frozen drinks, the list goes on.

Celery will last longer in your fridge if you follow this simple step. After purchasing celery, gently wash outside of stalk and wrap in paper toweling. Then wrap it in aluminum foil. The foil will help celery last.

Also, paper toweling will help produce stay fresher longer. Wrap vegetable like cucumbers in paper toweling and then you can put it back in the plastic bag.

Don't know what to do with that excess fruit and it's about to go bad. You don't feel like making anything. Just puree it and freeze it. Puree can be used in a number of recipes. Or you can even just add a little sugar and use it on your pancakes.

For tarnished silver use toothpaste. Smear all around the piece you want polished, rub, then rinse off. Wipe with a towel.

Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

You can reuse cereal bags for a number of uses. I have used it for rolling up fruit leather, between hamburger patties when I freeze them and for pressing sticky stuff down in a pan such as rice crispy treats or granola.

Puree basil with a little olive oil and place in baggies to form a cigar like piece. Break off and use in soups in the winter for added flavor. Make sure you add it at the end because heating it too much will dissipate the flavor.

Hydrogen peroxide cleans up blood so easily. Pour some hyrdogen peroxide on blood stain. It will bubble (do not add any water). Wipe with dry rag. It will come right off.

After you have used the seeds from your vanilla pod, you can dry it out in the oven. Place in the oven after you have been baking and the oven has been turned off. When it is dry you can break it into pieces and place it in your tea for a delicious vanilla tea. You could grind it up and put it in with your coffee. Mix it into the whole can of coffee and it will flavor your ground beans.

Save your POM bottles and make snowmen out of them.

To get the mold smell out of a kitchen towel, place about a 1/4 cup of cleanser such as Ajax or Bon Ami in the wash with your detergeant. It also acts as a fabric softener.
WEIGHT LOSS TIPS
To boost your metabolism, enjoy some red pepper in your egg whtie omelette.

Cookies made with organic cane juice might sound like something your yoga teacher would eat, but they won't help her fit into her Lycra pants. Junk food by any other name is still junk. Ditto for lots of "health foods" in the granola aisle. "Natural" sweeteners like honey raise blood sugar just like the white stuff.

"If you're going to eat cookies, accept that you're deviating from your plan, and then revert to your diet afterward," Berkowitz says. Kidding yourself will only get you into trouble.
Womens Health

"Patrol your portions. Learn how to eyeball the right serving sizes. For example, half a baseball is equivalent to a serving of pasta, a checkbook is 3 ounces of fish, and a CD is an ideal waffle." Prevention magazine

"Flatter Yourself. Women who see themselves as heavier than they are have a harder time maintaining weight loss after a year, a study in Eating and Weight Disorders notes. 'Everytime you catch yourself saying something negative about your body, write down a compliment and repeat it three times instead', says MArgo Maine, PhD."

Quote from Self Magazine