Pizza Tidbits

 Reheat Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm.
This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza.

Snicker Bar Apples

Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!!  Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!

Molasses Cookies (With or Without Pecans)

I found this recipe on Grandparents.com. and I did added the pecans but that was the only change made. These cookies were such a hit with my food testers! They were gone in no time. For changes, add some shredded coconut or maybe some raisins. They are great with the pecans but just as good without.
Find the recipe by going to my site Martha's Recipe Cabinet

Ground Beef Hash

Another recipe going to the manuscript file.  This recipe actually started out as something else.  It was supposed to be patties but I either added too many hashbrowns or my idea to glue it together with cheese simply didn't work.  BUT...this dish became a success when I decided to "scatter" fry everything and turn it into hash.  Watch for it this fall when Think With Your Taste Buds - Beef is released.

Garlic Tidbits

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.  

Marzetti's Simply Dressed Strawberry Poppyseed Vinaigrette

Have you tried this yet?  Want to know what I think about this product?  If so, go to my site The Good, The Bad, The Maybe to find out.

Butterscotch Mini-Muffins

1 pkg (17.5 oz.) Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie mix
1 egg
1 stick butter, softened
1 pkg (3 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine cookie mix, egg, butter and cream cheese.  Mix in chips and pecans.  Roll into 1" balls and place in mini muffin tins lined with papers.  Bake 8-10 minutes or until done and lightly browned.  Makes 5 dozen. 

Comments:  These can be made into cookies instead of muffins.  You can add coconut.  You can change the chip flavor.  Just get creative and Think With Your Taste Buds.  These were a big hit with my food testers.

Brownie Tidbits

For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt   Andes  mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.

Billy Graham's Prayer For Our Nation (World)

He has certainly hit the "world" on the head! 

Billy Graham's Prayer For Our Nation
THIS MAN SURE HAS A GOOD VIEW OF WHAT'S HAPPENING TO OUR COUNTRY!

Heavenly Father,

We come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from sin and set us free. Amen!'

With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we once again can be called 'One nation under God!'

 Think about this: if you forward this prayer to every on you email list, then in less than 30 days it would be heard by the world.

It's worth a try! "One Nation Under God."

Pepper Steak

I have to tell you that this is one of the best, yet simpliest Pepper Steak recipes around.  This recipe dates back to the 1950s when ingredients were super simple.  Well, I hate to have to tell you this but it now going in the manuscript file for Think With Your Taste Buds - Beef which should be out this fall.

Scrambled Egg Tidbits

 To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

Cube Steak Cacciatore - Pulled

Another recipe has been pulled and placed in the manuscript file.  Watch for this one to reappear this fall in Think With Your Taste Buds - Beef.  Boy is this a tasty piece of meat!

Bell Pepper Tidbits

 
Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating.
Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking. 

Cheese Tidbits

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil.
It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

Ground Beef Dirty Rice - Pulled

It's that time again.  Lillian and I have strated working on our next Think With Your Taste Buds cookbook which will feature beef.  That means we will be pulling recipes and moving them to our manuscript file.  Our first recipe to be pulled is the Ground Beef Dirty Rice.  This is a good one so if you didn't get a chance to copy and try this dish, watch for it in Think With Your Taste Buds - Beef which we hope to have out this fall. 

Lights Out!

This message was sent to me by a friend and it's a must share with everyone! 

I have a friend who used her solar lights inside at night when her current was off during the hurricane. She stuck them in a jar or bottle and said they gave off plenty of 'free light'. She put one in each room and would put them back outside in the daytime and bring them in at night as long as the current was off. They are safe to use and cheaper than batteries. Bring in a solar light one night and test it.

Due to a thunderstorm, we lost power for about 5 hours. We were scrambling around in the darkness, looking for matches, candles, flashlights, etc We looked outside, and noticed our solar lights shining brightly all around our patio, stairs, dock, etc. They were beautiful. My wife walked outside, and brought several of the solar lights inside.

We stuck the solar light pipes into plastic drink bottles containers and they made the nicest, brightest, safest, lighting you could ever imagine.

We put one in the bathroom, the kitchen, the living room, etc. There was plenty of light There are all types of solar lights available. We bought ours at Harbor Freight. We put them all around our yard. They look nice and they do not attract flying bugs like the outdoor lights around our doorway.

The lights we have fit into the small (20 oz) water bottles and they also fit into most of the larger liter bottles. If you need a weight in the plastic bottle to keep them from tipping over, you can put a few of the pretty colorful "flat marbles" that they put in aquariums, and vases. (you can also use sand, aquarium gravel, etc., whatever you have available).

The lights we have were perfect inside our home. They burn all night long if you need them.

The next day, you just take your solar lights back outside and they will instantly recharge and be ready for you to use again any time you need them.

Perfect for power outages, hurricanes, etc.

I never thought of it, and now you don't have to. -----

 

Banana Tidbits

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

Jiffy Pudding Cake

This recipe is a variation of the Jiffy Banana Split Cake.  I changed the pudding to vanilla instead of banana.  I added the strawberries and pineapple instead of the pineapple pie filling and added them to the pudding mixture.  Now for some wonderful changes.  Use pistachio pudding, omit the strawberries and use a large can of drained pineapple and fold in about a cup of mini marshmallows.  top with cool whip, nuts and coconut and you have Watergate Jiffy Pudding Cake!  Other changes can consist of changing the cake flavor, pudding flavor and fruit flavor.  I've been asked if you can use a full size cake mix and the answer is yes if you make 2 cakes.  Jiffy mix is cheap and simple to make so I suggest using it unless you want to get creative with the flavors since Jiffy, I believe, only comes in vanilla and chocolate.

Find the full recipe by going to Martha's Recipe Cabinet

Deviled Egg Tidbits

   Easy Deviled Eggs Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up.
Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg.
Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.

Hotel Key Cards - Safety Tips

Did you know this?  I sure didn't. Now we both know.


 

Grab a refrigerator magnet on your way out the door, we all have tons of them!

 
Always take a small magnet on your  vacation, they come in handy at the end of it.
This is pretty good info. Never even thought about key cards containing anything other than an access code for the room! 

HOTEL KEY CARDS

 

Ever wonder what is on your magnetic key card? 
Answer:
a.  Customer's name
b.  Customer's partial home address
c.  Hotel room number
d.  Check-in date and out dates
e. Customer's credit card number and expiration date! 
When you turn them in to the front desk your personal information is there for any employee to access by simply scanning the card in the hotel scanner.  An employee can take a hand full of cards home and using a scanning device, access the information onto a laptop computer and go shopping at your expense. 
Simply put, hotels do not erase the information on these cards until an employee  reissues the card to the next hotel guest.  At that time, the new guest's information is electronically 'overwritten' on the card and the previous guest's information is erased in the overwriting process. 

But until the card is rewritten for the next guest, it usually is kept in a  drawer at the front desk with YOUR INFORMATION ON IT! 

The bottom line is: Keep the cards, take them home with you, or destroy them.  NEVER leave them behind in the room or room wastebasket, and NEVER turn them into the front desk when you check out of a room. They will not charge you for the card (it's illegal) and you'll be sure you are not leaving a lot of  valuable personal information on it that could be easily lifted off with any simple scanning device card reader. 

For the same reason, if you arrive at the airport and discover you still have the card key in your pocket, do not toss it in an airport trash basket. Take it home and destroy it by cutting it up, especially through the electronic information strip! 

If you have a small magnet, pass it across the magnetic strip several times. Then try it in the door, it will not work. It erases everything on the card. 

Information courtesy of:  Metropolitan Police Service.

Infographic: We Love Ramen

Guys, you must see this site.  I've never heard the history of Ramen Noodles but after visiting Infographic: We Love Ramen I've found myself highly educated in regards to this delicious yet inexpensive college student staple.

Ramen has been a staple in American student cuisine for quite some time now, because of how inexpensive and edible it is. Ramen can also be quite filling if you add some of your own signature cooking hacks to it. This original Hack College Infographic was created because we, like many students around the world are just so crazy in love with ramen.

Canned Biscuit Sticky Buns

The original recipe came from The Jones Way.  It called for 1/2 cup of pancake syrup which I didn't have so I used the light corn syrup and added the rum flavoring.  You can increase or decrease the rum but taste it after the butter has been added for a truer flavor.  The original recipe also called for 2 small tubes or 1 large tub of Grand biscuits.  I decided to try the Butter Me Not (those with chips of butter throughout the biscuits).  These worked wonderfully and allowed me to use 2 cans.  I also increased the amount of cinnamon from 1/2 tsp. to 1 tsp.  When tasting I felt it needed just a bit more.  So, Think With Your Taste Buds on this one.  There are so many options.  You can use the corn syrup and change up the extract flavorings.  You can change the biscuits to maybe flaky.  You can even change from cinnamon to allspice, apple pie spices, nutmeg, etc. View my version of these Sticky Buns by going to Martha's Recipe Cabinet.

Blackout Mobile Marketing, Inc - Beware!

I had a few words with AT&T last night.  There was a $9.99 charge on my cell phone charges and it’s been there for 3 months now.  It’s a service called "Blackout Mobile Marketing, Inc.” and I didn’t order it!  When I talked to AT&T cell service the woman got upset because I wanted to cancel my service.  She tried to say they would block all texts so I wouldn’t be charged anymore and that they would give me my service for $29.99 plus tax and service charges per month, coming to about $42.00 per month.  Last month I used 34 cell phone minutes and have over 4,000 roll-over minutes.  With the minutes I used it came to $1.25 per minute.  Not worth it!  She told me they would credit the last 3 months of the $9.99 charge and I still insisted that I wanted to cancel my service.  She then told me they would charge me $75.00 to discontinue because my contract runs until August and they would NOT refund my 3 months of $9.99 charges.  Well, I very ‘nicely’ told her to disconnect my cell phone and I would never use AT&T cell again plus I will be posting on my site about the scam charges that they were collecting knowing they were scams.  I told her that I went to their own site and they are the ones who were telling people that the Blackout Mobile Marketing charge is a scam but they do this AFTER people call to complain.  So, I have cell service with AT&T until the 20^th and after that I’m going to Wally World and buy a Track Phone and pay for my minutes using their $30.00 for 300 minutes service.  


Moral of the story - don't do like I do and just pay your bills without inspecting the statement and watch for scams such as this Blackout Mobile Marketing so you won't get stuck like myself and others who have been caught up in this AT&T scam.  


For more information click here

Romano Chicken with Vodka Sauce

I had never tried Vodka sauce until I found a coupon for a jar of Wolfgang Puck's.  When I saw a recipe for Easy Chicken Parmesan from Kraft foods I decided to give it a try using the Vodka sauce and Romano instead of Parmesan.  Good choice!  It turned out delicious.  See my full recipe by going to Martha's Recipe Cabinet.  You can use any flavor of spaghetti sauce but give this one a try.  I don't think you'll be disappointed when you bite into that juicy, tender chicken.  Now, did Wolfgang Puck's Creamy Vodka Sauce give me what I wanted?  Find out my rating for this product by going to The Good, The Bad, The Maybe.

Join the Blog Carnival

Get your ethnic dishes ready and join Tony from Authentic Greek Recipes as he creates ------

Well, the carnivals are over for this year, but we've decided to organise our own monthly Carnival - a Blog Carnival! We obviously focus on Greek recipes on this blog, but there are so many delightful ethnic dishes from around the world that we want to feature a selection of these every month in what we are calling World Food Delights.

How will it work? Well, any bloggers with ethnic recipes can submit one of their blog posts with a recipe that fits in the particular category for each month, we select the best and then they are all featured on the Blog Carnival, with a short description and a direct link to the recipe. We are also going to pin the photo from each of the selected recipes on Pinterest, with a direct link to the recipe.

The first edition of World Food Delights will be on Sunday April 1st. As a 'sweetener' to start things off the category will be Sweets and Desserts. So if you have a blog with ethnic recipes and want to submit a sweet or dessert to be featured, just click on Submit on the button at the bottom of this post. The deadline for submissions is Wednesday 28th March.

Let us just say that we are going to give preference to bloggers who are actual natives / residents of the country for which they are submitting a recipe - in other words, local cooks wherever possible. Also, if you have a blog post which is not a recipe, but you feel it is related to the field of international cooking, then you can submit that as well. All posts need to be in English.

So if you have recipes from Italy, Spain, France, Portugal, Japan, Thailand, India or wherever, then just click on the button below and send it. And even if you don't, just visit this blog on Sunday April 1st to find a great selection of World Food Delights!

Cajun Pepper for Organic Pest Control

 

This tip came from Thrifty Fun and receives a thumbs up from me. I'm for anything organic instead of poison. 

I hate any kind of bugs or spiders, even ants. If you can see them, it's so much easier to control. I was looking into smaller units that send out radio frequency that you just plug into outlets. I have known about these since the early 90's. They work really well with rodents and roaches.

In my garage which is not attached to the unit, there isn't an outlet near where the mice would be. With weather changing this year, I was very afraid to even open the cabinet doors! Not only am I terrified of them, they are so dirty leaving behind many germs.

The solution I found was so easy, cheap and works. Cajun pepper sprinkled around doors and next to the wall gets rid of any problem without poison or finding a dead mouse in those traps. The man who told me about this has it sprayed all over his attic. He re-does it one time a year. I'm amazed at ideas I would never have thought of.

They don't eat it and die where you put the pepper, it appears they can't stand being around it at all. Make sure you have things covered that could be ruined from the Cajun pepper. If it's where there is no chance of getting wet, it isn't different than a layer of dust. It can be sprayed over large area or put against walls, doors and openings straight from package.

Source: Organic pest control company employee in San Diego area.
By Luana M. from San Diego, CA in ThriftyTips.com newsletter
Related: Organic Pest Control in the Garden

Cara Cara Smoothy

On February 27, 2012, Sunkist® held its first Cara Cara Cooking Class at Sur La Table at the Original Farmer’s Market in Los Angeles. Guests rolled up their sleeves alongside renowned Chef Danhi to chop, grill, juice and candy Sunkist® Cara Cara oranges.  Want to know what they cooked?  Visit Sunkist to view a recap of the event.

The Cara Cara orange, also known as the “Power Orange®”, is packed with vitamin A and C, fiber, folate and potassium, and lycopene: the disease-fighting antioxidant. It is a seedless orange with a tangy-cranberry like zing and it's delicious!  The coloring has a slight red tint making your finished dish even more appealing.

I went to the Sunkist site to check out their recipes and decided to come up with one of my own.  To do this, I enlisted the help of 3 of my grandkids and a friend.  We created the Cara Cara Smoothy and boy is it good!  If you don't believe these 4 kids, try it yourself.

Cara Cara Smoothy
3 Cara Cara Oranges, peeled and cut into pieces
1 1/2 cups Vanilla Yogurt
2 Tbsp. Coconut Cream
1 cup Ice

Place everything into a blender.  Blend until smooth.  Serve!



 

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

The original recipe did not include the cheese.  That was my idea.  You can also use Parmesan cheese instead of the Romano.  You might even want to try this with broccoli instead of the Brussels sprouts.  See this simple recipe by going to Martha's Recipe Cabinet.