Helpful Hints from Your Pantry

As a mom I have had to find ways that will keep my family well fed, and stretch my dollars. I hate to waste money on anything. I also hate to throw stuff away so I have found some ways that I can stretch my dollar and I figured that I would share some with you.

1. Decisions, decisions and decisions for the nightly evening dinner. If you decide to make stuffed peppers and want to know which peppers are sweeter, look for ones that have three bumps on the bottom. If you want to have a firmer pepper for cooking choose the ones that have four bumps, they just cook better and withstand the heat better.

2. Do you want to make your scrambled eggs or omelets richer try adding a couple spoonfuls of cream cheese in when you are preparing the eggs. The cream enriches the batter and makes a richer tasting omelet.

3. When Halloween comes I know that I buy bags of chocolate to give out to the little monsters and goblins that come to my home. There is always some left over. I have taken the leftover candy bars, chopped them up, peeled a and cored a few granny apples, put everything together in a baking dish and baked at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Makes a great dessert.

4. During the fall I love to make brownies, my son and husband have a sweet tooth that I have existentially encouraged through their lives. When I make the brownies I sometimes like to enhance their flavor, I found that if I melt some chocolate mints or peppermint patties then pour that over the brownies, the brownies absorb the liquid chocolate and it enriches the taste.

5. My family likes to have cheese, apples and crackers as an evening snack while watching a movie or playing the Wii. Rob forever leaves the cheese in its opened foil. I go behind him and wrap the open chunks of cheese in aluminum foil, I found that the cheese will stay fresh much longer and will take longer to form a mold before you have to throw it out.

I hope that some of these will be helpful to you and your family.