Cupcake wrappers

Dear Heloise: My cupcake wrappers used to be all over the place in the cupboard. Finally, I used an empty frosting can to hold the wrappers. No more wrappers spread all over the shelf. — Corrine K., Amarillo, Texas

Shrimp Dijon

Dear Heloise: You have a recipe for Shrimp Dijon that I dearly love. However, I’ve lost the recipe. Would you repeat that in your column? My brother is coming for a visit, and I’d like to make that recipe for him. — Mary Ellen C., Sedona, Arizona

Mary Ellen, this is one of my most requested recipes! Here it is. You’ll need:

¼ cup butter or margarine 1 ½ pounds peeled,

deveined shrimp 1 medium onion, thinly

chopped

¼ cup flour

1 ½ cups milk

2 tablespoons Dijon

mustard

¼ teaspoon nutmeg ½ teaspoon salt

⅛ teaspoon pepper 1 6-ounce package cream cheese, softened

Melt butter or margarine in frying pan, add shrimp and onions, and saute for 3 minutes; do not brown. Sprinkle flour into mixture while thinning the mixture with the milk a little at a time to avoid lumping. Add mustard, nutmeg, salt and pepper and cook for 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in cream cheese until blended and warmed through, but DO NOT BOIL. Serve over rice.

If you enjoy this recipe, I think you will like all the recipes in my pamphlet “Heloise’s Main Dishes and More.” There are so many ways to invigorate a meal with a new recipe. To get a copy, just go to www.Heloise.com or send $3 along with a stamped, self-addressed long enve- lope to: Heloise/Main Dishes, P.O. Box 795001, San Anto- nio, TX 78279-5001. Nothing feels more like home than a hot, delicious meal at the end of the day. — Heloise

No more batter dripping

Dear Heloise: I used to have waffle batter dripping all over my counter, until I made a discovery. After I pour the batter into the waf- fle iron, I leave the top of the waffle iron open for about 30 to 40 seconds and then close the top. No more mess on my counters. — Allison D., Santa Rosa, California

Instant potatoes

Dear Heloise: Whenever I made crab cakes for dinner, I used to use breadcrumbs. One night I discovered that I was out of breadcrumbs, so I replaced the breadcrumbs with instant potato flakes. They proved to be a good binding agent, and my family seemed to enjoy the instant potato flakes a little more than the breadcrumbs. — Sarah T., Oakdale, Lou- isiana

Gravy

Dear Heloise: Every year the whole family celebrates Thanksgiving at our place. While everything is usu- ally served hot, the gravy used to get cold rather fast. I finally figured out that if I served it in an insulated cof- fee carafe instead of a gravy boat, not only would I have hot gravy, I wouldn’t have to keep filling gravy boats.

Also, I used to use cloth tablecloths, and after the holiday that meant a lot of washing and ironing. Now I use a paper tablecloth and just wrap it up and toss it out. — Helen R., Ogden, Utah