Warmed coffee
DEAR HELOISE » This isn’t anything earth-shattering, but I found that if I place my coffee mug on top of my coffee maker while the coffee is brewing, it warms up my mug and keeps my coffee warmer, longer.
— Beth H., Juneau, Alaska
Coffee pot cleaning
DEAR HELOISE » I had a recipe using vinegar to clean my coffee pot, but I can no longer find it. Do you have a recipe? I know you run vinegar through it to clean it out and then run plain water about twice to eliminate the vinegar, but I cannot remember the amount. I read your column every day in the paper and hope you can help me.
— Mary R., Abilene, Texas If easy and safe cleaning ideas are important to you, I recommend sending for my pamphlet “Heloise’s Fantabulous Vinegar Hints and More.” You can save a bundle of money by using vinegar in place of some very expensive cleaners, which might be very caustic to your skin and furniture.
To get a copy, simply go to Heloise.com, or send $5, along with a stamped, self-addressed long envelope to: Heloise/Vinegar, P.O.
Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001. You’ll be glad to have this handy reference tool in your kitchen drawer.
Dried fruit
DEAR HELOISE » A while ago I was baking a special bread that calls for raisins. I discovered that I was out of raisins, so I substituted dried apricots. I took my kitchen scissors, sprayed them with a nonstick vegetable oil and cut them up into pieces about the size of raisins and did the same thing with pieces of dried apples. I followed the rest of the recipe as usual, and my bread turned out better than ever. I think sometimes a change in a recipe can be very interesting to the taste buds.
— Amy W., Vernon,
Connecticut
Banana bites
DEAR HELOISE » I had a hard time getting my kids to eat more fruit and less junk food. Finally, my own mother made a suggestion that worked wonders. She told me to take a banana and cut it up into bite-size pieces, then coat them in a thin layer of chocolate and freeze them on a sheet of wax paper. Now I let them have a few at a time as a snack. This worked so well that I started doing the same thing to apple slices, strawberries and dried pineapple slices. I make sure the chocolate is only one thin layer, and it gets them to eat fruit.
— Doria C., Salem, Oregon
Cranberries
DEAR HELOISE » My husband loves cranberry sauce, but I wanted to make it a little more interesting. I added the juice of one fresh orange and a tiny amount of orange zest and mixed it all together. What a difference! The taste was so good, we’re having it at Christmas, too.