Halloween Comments
                   

No Brown Potatoes

Potatoes are an inexpensive staple that adds great versatility to any pantry. You can boil them, mash them, fry them, bake them, or use them in just about any recipe to increase the volume of your meals without increasing the cost.

To prevent your raw potatoes from becoming discolored after you peel them, place peeled potatoes directly into cold water. Before you are ready to use them, drain them thoroughly and then add fresh potatoes to soups and stews or whatever other meal you may be cooking.

Potatoes are by far one of my favorite vegetables. Yummy!

Cutting an Onion

We're all familiar with the smell that comes with cutting an onion. Nobody likes it, but it can't be avoided when cooking with fresh onions.

If you want to eliminate the odor, rub your cutting board with a moist paper towel and salt. This will help remove the onion smell so you can carry on...

Lemon juice works well, too.

Contest Time

Newborn Toes - Kira - 2004

Time is ticking away.

The counter has begun.

The contest will begin shortly.

Do you want to win free stuff?

Are you ready?

Well, well, well - do I have the spot for you.

Visit The Art and Science of Parenting on Friday evening. I will be posting details regarding my next give away contest right here.

**If you want to be a sponsor, just send me an email at aandsparenting@gmail.com or leave me a comment below.**

Baking With Candy

Stock up on candies for baking, such as mint patties and M&Ms, in early November - just after Halloween. The discounts are significant after the Halloween holidays. The candies can be frozen for up to 6 months.

You'll save a lot of money and have tasty treats to add to your baking whenever you want to do something special.

Apples

The best apples to use for baking pies are Granny Smith, Gravenstein, Pippin and Northern Spy.

McIntosh apples taste really good, but they become mushy when they are baked.

If you're baking apple pies, be sure to save one for me. My husband adores them.

Money Saver Tip

Most milk will keep up to a week past the pull date if it is stored properly.

Milk that has begun to sour is perfectly fine to use in baked goods even if it doesn't taste so good to drink.

Milk can be frozen, too, so if you find it on sale you can buy it and freeze it for later use. Be sure to pour some of the milk out of the gallon container to leave room for expansion - or pour the milk into smaller, easier to handle containers. When you thaw the milk, you will need to shake it vigorously to mix the butter fat back into the milk.

To make life easier, you could always measure the milk into one cup amounts and freeze the milk in this manner. Then when you are cooking, the milk can be pulled out in pre-measured amounts to make your cooking time a bit faster.

Lasagna Roll-Ups

This is a fairly easy alternative to a whole pan of lasagna.

Lasagna Roll-Ups

Ingredients:

12 lasagna noodles

2 cups ricotta cheese

1 egg

1 1/2 tbsp dried parsley

2 cups shredded mozzerella cheese, divided

1 lb ground beef, browned and drained

1 jar (28 oz) marinara sauce, divided

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water.

Mix ricotta, egg, parsley and 1 cup mozzarella in a bowl - set aside.

Spread 1/2 cup of sauce in the bottom of a 9 X 13 inch baking dish.

Spread 3 tblsp ricotta mixture on each noodle.

Top each noodle with some of the beef.

Roll each noodle into a swirl.

Arrange each roll in the baking dish - seam sides down in the dish.

Top roll-ups with the remaining sauce and the remaining mozzarella.

Bake - loosely covered - for 15 minutes.

Remove cover and bake for 10 minutes longer or until brown and bubbly.