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How to Trap and Get Rid of Fruit Flies

What can you do to kill fruit flies? We've all been there. Fruit flies in the kitchen. Fruit flies in the bathroom. Fruit flies buzzing around everywhere in your home. It's a frustrating problem that happens to everyone at one time or another. If you are a fresh fruit and produce lover you certainly know what I mean. How to Kill Fruit Flies with Two Ingredients Those pesky little buggers can often be brought into your home on the vegetables and fruit you buy. There are many solutions offered for fruit fly traps to help you solve your problem. A quick Amazon search found these products. You can spend your money on one of these solutions or I can save you a whole lot of your hard-earned cash today. My solution is the best. Here's why: You have the ingredients in your kitchen now. You need apple cider vinegar and a mild dish liquid . It's a healthy, family-friendly solution. It works quickly. Two-Ingredient No Pesticide Fruit Fly Trap

How to Make a Perfect Bacon and Eggs Breakfast

In my opinion, the best breakfast consists of two perfectly fried eggs, crispy bacon, and toast made with a hearty bread. It is the breakfast you want when you have time to relax around the kitchen table, drinking a cup of coffee or two. The Best Bacon and Eggs for Breakfast (This post contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience. When you make a purchase using these links you help support this blog.) How to Cook Bacon and Eggs My technique was learned from my mom, by watching her make our family's breakfast over and over again, year after year. Cooking eggs in bacon fat is easy and takes just a little practice to perfect. All you really need for a great bacon and eggs breakfast is a good nonstick skillet and a good toaster . If you want to make your own bread for toast, a bread machine like mine will make that easy as can be. Three Ingredients for a Great Breakfast A loaf of your favorite bread Extra-large eggs, because you want a g

How to Turn Store-Bought Potato Salad from Blah to Amazing

Here's a time-saver for you just in time for summer cookouts. When you need a quick potato salad, that ordinary store-bought potato salad you have in your refrigerator can go from blah to amazing in just a few minutes with just a few ingredients. There's no judgment here. We don't always have the time to make a potato salad from scratch. Sometimes it is just easier to stop by your local grocery store to pick up a container of the store-made potato salad. It's good. It's predictable. It will do. All it needs is a little doctoring. How to Make Store-Bought Potato Salad Better Take Your Potato Salad from Blah to AH-Mazing! What should you do if you want that store-bought potato salad to have a little more flavor? You're going to a potluck picnic or you are having people over for an impromptu barbecue and you'd like your potato salad to be a little special. There is no need to fret. A quick trip to the grocery store will get you start

Crunchy, Spicy Gingersnap Cookies

Crunchy, spicy, and yummy are all words used to describe a good gingersnap cookie. While my hands-down, favorite cookie is a gooey chocolate chip cookie I occasionally crave a spice cookie, like gingersnaps or this molasses cookie . This gingersnap cookie is a winner. It's easy to make and will be a favorite in your recipe rotation. Traditional Gingersnap Cookie Recipe ( This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated when you make a purchase with these links.) Gingersnaps Cookies In the U.S., gingersnaps are usually drop cookies with lots of cracks on the surface. That's exactly how I like them. Those found in other countries may be thinner and sliced. The Lebkuchen, a traditional German cookie, and the pepparkakor, from Sweden, are often cut into festive shapes. My gingersnaps are round. These gingersnaps are tasty cookies at any time of the year. Their spiciness is perfect as a holiday cookie, as well, so go ahead and add them to your holi

Making Pie Dough-America's Test Kitchen Vodka Dough

How many of you watch America's Test Kitchen shows on your local PBS station? Show of hands, please. Well, those of you who don't have your hands raised really should check your local TV listings and catch one of the shows soon. The programs are full of ideas and tips, like this suggestion that you can make a better pie dough using vodka as one of the ingredients. I know, sounds crazy doesn't it? Vodka Pie Dough Pie dough is not my thing. No, not at all. Yes, I've been known to purchase the prepared pie dough from my local grocery store. No, I'm not ashamed to admit it, and neither should you be. My mom, keeps telling me that making pie dough is easy. Yes, easy as pie. Well, I'm finally willing to tackle the art of making pie dough. I actually started about a year ago. I selected different dough recipes, made some pies and compared the crust results. I had no clear winner with my first attempt at the experiment, so I'm ready to start again.

Best Ever Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Frosting

Is one of your all-time favorite cookies a sugar cookie with buttercream frosting? You'll love this recipe. It makes delicious sugar cookies that are sweet, but not too sweet. These sugar cookies have a tender, cake-like texture that pairs perfectly with a buttercream frosting. They are a nice alternative to those famous buttercream-topped sugar cookies sold by Cheryl's Cookies. The Perfect Sugar Cookie with Buttercream Frosting (This post contains affiliate links. We receive a small compensation when you shop using these links.) Best Ever Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Frosting While there may be very good reasons to order cookies online, it is easy to make attractive, colorful, and delicious sugar cookies with buttercream frosting at home. You'll love that you don't need to be fussy with your decorating to make these cookies attractive and perfect for any occasion. You'll love them for Valentine's Day and Christmas, but you'll see from th

Old Fashioned Date-Filled Sugar Cookies

A Delicious Old-Fashioned Date Cookie I'm always on the lookout for a "new-to-me" cookie recipe. One day when chatting about favorite cookie recipes with my mom and dad, Dad raved about a date-filled cookie he remembered from his childhood. It was one of his favorite recipes my nana made for her family. Mom dug through her recipe collection and was able to find a recipe for the cookies. Old Fashioned Date-Filled Cookies The recipe card attributed the recipe to Edith Hoar, one of the ladies from Grand Lake Stream, Maine, the small town where Dad was raised. The recipe directions made me laugh. Like many vintage recipes from the time, this recipe for date-filled cookies was customarily ambiguous. It read: Cream: 2 cups sugar, 1 cup shortening Add: 1 cup milk, 2 eggs, 6 level teaspoons baking powder, 2 teaspoons vanilla, flour enough to roll. Filling: Stir 2 packages dates, 2/3 cups sugar, 2 teaspoons flour, 2 cups water. Cook together until smooth

Traditional New England Whoopie Pies

Have you ever had a whoopie pie? Whoopie pies are a quintessential New England dessert and a memorable treat from my childhood. My mom would make them for us every once in a while. Oh, what a treat to come home from school to a platter of chocolate whoopie pies! Yum! Today I'm sharing my recipe for the best ever whoopie pies. Amazing Whoopie Pies to Delight Your Family Whoopie Pies Debate rages about where whoopie pies originated. Some say these goodies originated in New England, others say they originated with the Amish. There is also debate about what ingredients should be in the filling. Many recipes suggest a mixture of sugar, butter, and Marshmallow Fluff, but that is not the filling I prefer. The whoopie pie of my childhood is a traditional Maine whoopie pie recipe, made with a cooked flour and milk mixture added to sugar and shortening for the filling. Try it and you'll love it, too.

Killer Cranberry Sauce with Orange and Ginger

This cranberry sauce recipe is just in time for your Thanksgiving meal planning. With just four simple ingredients you'll have a festive and delicious side to add to your holiday dinner. Cranberry sauce is a funny thing. Do you prefer chunky or jellied? Ask folks and they will have a definite preference. The response seems to be related to whichever is served at their family's traditional Thanksgiving dinner. In my family it was always jellied cranberry sauce, sliced perfectly. It just wouldn't be Thanksgiving without it. As a matter of fact, I always refused to eat chunky cranberry sauce, not being able to fathom how I could possibly enjoy chunks in my cranberry sauce. The Best Fresh Cranberry Sauce The BestCranberry Sauce I'm evidence that you can teach an old dog new tricks. Several years ago, I decided to step out of my comfort zone by making a chunky cranberry sauce. One bite of this cranberry sauce and I became a lover of fresh, chunky

Rum Punch for a Party

As the weather warms and you start to think about gathering friends and family for parties and celebrations you'll want to think about signature cocktails. This rum punch cocktail is an ideal cocktail for a large gathering. Don't you think a warm-weather cocktail should make imagine yourself sitting by the shore with your toes in the sand? Rum punch is one of those cocktails. Cool and fruity, rum punch will make a party! One sip and you'll be transported to the beach. Rum Punch Cocktail (This post contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience. When you make a purchase using these links you help support this blog.) Rum Punch for a Party! This rum punch recipe is a make-ahead recipe I use whenever we are having a large group for a summer picnic or barbecue. Use the recipe below as your baseline and double or triple the ingredients as needed. You'll need a large container for storage and room enough in your refrigerator to keep it cool. My fa

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