LITTLE ROCK — DEAR HELOISE: I live alone and cook for myself. I often have leftover cooked rice in the freezer or refrigerator. I usually open a can of soup forlunch. Depending on the type of soup, I stir a couple of tablespoons of rice into the soup before I put it on the stove. I’ve also addedleftover whole-kernel corn for flavor and a bit of crunch.
- Perry C., Winchester, Va.
DEAR READER: This is one of the many reasons why I love soup so much. It is a quick-and-easy meal to fix, and you can add leftovers to enhance the soup and save money, too. Is your favorite condensed canned soup semisolid when you open it? Next time, shake the can first. Open one end and put a small puncture in the opposite end while holding over the pot. The soup slides right out.
DEAR READERS: I have discovered that cheese markers are not just for labeling cheese. When entertaining or having a potluck dinner, I label dishes by name, and also list the ingredients for friends who are vegetarian, may be on a diet or are allergic to certain ingredients. There are cheese markers that you can write on with crayon or special penand just wash off.
DEAR HELOISE: When you purchase whipping cream and don’t use it all, whip it like you would for whipped cream (adding sugar and vanilla). Then, drop by spoonfuls into mounds on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper and freeze. When they are frozen, transfer the mounds into a covered freezer container. Use them whenever you want a mound of whipped cream.
- Joy H., via e-mail
DEAR HELOISE: I bake a lot of cookies. Many recipes require the dough to be rolled to a specific size, and forming it into a pinwheel, etc., I always struggled getting the dough to the correct size. A couple of years ago, I placed a strip of 1-inch painter’s tape on my kitchen countertop, measured to the correct size. The tape shows through the wax paper and makes it a breeze to roll out the correct size.
- Lola S. in Iowa
DEAR HELOISE: When preparing potato cakes or potato salad, I place my chopped onion into the blender and press the “liquefy” button. Now it’s easy to lose the onion through the potato mixture. You get the flavor, but never have to bite into pieces of onion.
- Marie K. in Pennsylvania Send a money- or time-saving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, Texas 78279-5000; fax to (210) 435-6473; or e-mail Heloise@Heloise.com
Food, Pages 26 on 01/02/2013