HINTS FROM HELOISE

PRACTICAL, DEPENDABLE TIPS FOR TODAY’S BUSY CONSUMERS

Dear Heloise: Recently, one of your readers asked if cooking was dead because her child’s family either orders food to be delivered or eats outside the home. But cooking is definitely alive and thriving in my daughter’s family.

They cook together, and my young grandchildren love to cook. My 8-year-old grandson can name the ingredients in all of his favorite recipes.

Last summer, while visiting, he told me one of his favorite dinners was stuffed peppers. He listed the ingredients, such as cooked Spanish rice, tomatoes, black beans, corn and cheese. He added that the peppers should not be too “squishy.” We prepared it together, and it was delicious.

— Carol K, Edwardsville, Illinois

Dear Heloise: I usually make my own salad dressing with oil, vinegar and pressed garlic, but after a party with too much dip left over, I added a spoonful of it to my dressing, which made for a yummy, creamy variation of my dressing.

— Lisa M., Martinsburg, West

Virginia

Dear Readers: If you need to soothe a minor burn, mix 3 parts baking soda with 1 part water. Apply this mixture to the burned area and cover with a cool, damp cloth for relief.

You might know that baking soda is good for cleaning, but that just scrapes the surface of how helpful baking soda can be at home.

My pamphlet “Heloise’s Baking Soda Hints and Recipes” can inform you of many other purposes for using baking soda. You can get this useful pamphlet easily. Just send $5 and a long, self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Heloise/Baking Soda, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001. — Heloise

Dear Heloise: I want to share my idea on how to keep hairspray from getting on cupboards and unwanted areas.

After I shower, I hang the towel over the shower rod. When I spray my hair, I stand in front of the towel.

The extra hairspray lands on the towel, and I simply launder it out. — Peggy Ankerman, Wapakoneta,

Ohio

Dear Heloise: Down here in New Orleans, I use old flannelbacked plastic tablecloths to cover tender vegetation when the occasional freeze is predicted.

The flannel touches the leaves and protects them from being “burned” by the cold plastic, and the plastic shields them from freezing wind and rain. — Kathleen Schrenk, New Orleans

Send your hints to Heloise@ Heloise.com or mail them to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, TX 78279-5000.