If your microwave is really dirty and disgusting and at that "it's-easier-to-buy-a-new-one-than-clean-the-current-one" stage, here's a hint to help:
Take a cup of water and set it to boil and then leave it to steam up the inside of the microwave. While it's still good and wet inside the microwave, you'll discover that stuck on food will come off much easier. You may have to do this a couple times but it beats using up time, elbow work and also much cheaper than purchasing a new microwave. Love Laura-Lee
Remembrance Day is soon coming and Poppies can be seen being worn by almost everyone. However, with only those little, straight pins to attach them, more poppies are falling off, than staying on.
Through the years this has frustrated me, so I came up with a solution. And I will share it with you now. (don't you feel privileged?)
Here is my video of how to keep your poppy attached to your jacket, no matter the situation or the weather.
(And please remember on November 11 at 11:00 am to take a minute of silence to remember those in our military - past and present- who made sacrifices for our freedom. Many the ultimate sacrifice)
Sincerely, Laura-Lee
P.S. I took the time to type out the transcript of my video so that it could be Closed Captioned. So please click the CC button to get that.
I have discovered a way to make your own COOKIE CUTTERS into any shape you wish. Learned it many years ago and have been using it ever since. Thought you might like to know about it. So here's the video.
I call this “Bachelor Cooking” because it is a recipe I have developed that can be made fast, cheap, with not much more than a kettle or microwave and with almost no cooking ability. Tailor made for bachelors, busy people-on-the-go and dorm room living.
Thus I present my:
Quick Rice Supper
INGREDIENTS:
Cup-A-Soup (whatever flavour you like best)
Minute Rice (the type you cook in less than 5 minutes. **)
Water
Salt, margarine (optional)
(**Note: You can use the rice in a bag, but you have to boil it separately in a pot for at least 20 minutes and that defeats the purpose of it being “quick”)
EQUIPMENT:
Kettle and/or Microwave
Spoon
Microwaveable Dish Lid, plate, Plastic Wrap, basically something to cover the Dish with (doesn’t need to be microwaveable)
DIRECTIONS:
Open envelope of Cup-A-Soup (your favourite flavour) and dump into microwaveable cup/dish/mug (I add a bunch of salt at this time)
Pour in boiled water from kettle; stir with spoon
Immediately add “Minute Rice” and stir (CAUTION: Rice will expand 6-10 times it’s size)
Put Rice, water, soup mixture into microwave. Set for 30 seconds. It will be different times for different microwaves. You'll have to WATCH IT. As soon as you see it start bubbling, TAKE IT OUT
IMMEDIATELY put lid on it. Lid can be anything that fits relatively securely. Sometimes I use a saucer or Glad Wrap. (CAUTION: LEAVE A LITTLE HOLE TO ALLOW STEAM TO ESCAPE)
Let it sit covered from 5 minutes to 30 minutes or whatever. (I let mine sit about 15 minutes)
KEEP IN MIND: The longer it sits, the softer and BIGGER the Rice gets. The Rice will grow quite a bit and continue to soak up more of the soup the longer it sits.
Take lid off, stir and eat. (Adjust to what works for you.)
NOTE: You don’t have to use kettle AND microwave. One or the Other will do. But the HOTTER the water, the LESS time the rice will have to sit. A kettle gets the water boiled hotter, but I use both because an extra ‘zap’ from the microwave means I don’t have to wait as long for it
CLEAN UP: If lid doesn’t get soup on it, it is just wet from STEAM. Rinse with HOT WATER and it’s clean and ready to go again.
FYI : I’ve been timed at 120 seconds prep time and then 5 minutes it sits before eating. That’s potentially 7 minutes from start to eating a hot rice dish. If you were to buy a microwave rice dish already made from the store, it would cost about $2 – $4 (or even more). Doing it this way works out to about 70-80 cents per dish. (Fast, cheap, and mmmm, mmmm good.)
FYI – I use “Spring Vegetable” Cup-A-Soup Try this out and don’t forget to come back and leave a COMMENT about how it worked or if/how you changed it to make it uniquely your own, or what your favourite Cup-A-Soup flavour to use with this is.
It can be absolutely frustrating when using Scotch Tape (or any “invisible” tape) and you lose the end because it sticks back to the roll and you have to pick at it with your fingernails to pull it up again.
Or, when Scotch Tape is used on something and you have the horrible task of trying to remove it. I’ve learned the hard way how to over come this and here is the secret …
BEHOLD: An Ordinary Roll of Scotch Tape
Take a tiny part of the end of the tape ( 1 cm about?) and just bend it over and tape it to itself.
Not only does it keep the tape from re-sticking to the roll and save you from trying to pull it up again with your fingernails … But when you use it to attach something and it still has the little “folded over” piece …
FOR EXAMPLE:
Taped a piece of paper to the fridge. (NOTE: see little fold at top of tape?)
Flick up the fold with your finger …
And just pull it off. No problems. No tape remnants left behind.
Works exactly the same with masking tape or any other kind.
