Coffee Filters... More Than For Just Coffee

Someone sent me these tips through email and I thought they were too great not to share!     I was hooked after the first one.     Paper towels always seem too big for placing over items in the microwave, don't they?


1. Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave.  Coffee filters make excellent covers.

2. Clean windows, mirrors, and chrome... Coffee filters are lint-free so they'll leave windows sparkling.

3. Protect China - separate your good dishes with a coffee filter between each dish.

4. Filter broken cork from wine. If you break the cork when opening a wine bottle, filter the wine through a coffee filter.

5. Protect a cast-iron skillet. Place a coffee filter in the skilletto absorb moisture and prevent rust.

6. Apply shoe polish. Ball up a lint-free coffee filter.

7. Recycle frying oil. After frying, strain oil through a sieve lined with a coffee filter.

8. Weigh chopped foods. Place chopped ingredients in a coffee filter on a kitchen scale.

9. Hold tacos. Coffee filters make convenient wrappers for messy foods.

10. Stop the soil from leaking out of a plant pot. Line a plant pot with a coffee filterto prevent the soil from going through the drainage holes.

11. Prevent a Popsicle from dripping.    Poke one or two holes as needed in a coffee filter.

12. Do you think we used expensive strips to wax eyebrows?   Use strips of coffee filters..

13. Put a few in a plate and put your fried bacon, French fries,chicken fingers, etc. on them. It soaks out all the grease.

14. Keep in the bathroom. They make great "razor nick fixers."

15. As a sewing backing. Use a filter as an easy-to-tear backingfor embroidering or appliqueing soft fabrics.

16. Put baking soda into a coffee filter and insert into shoes or a closet to absorb or prevent odors.

17. Use them to strain soup stock and to tie fresh herbs in to put in soups and stews.

18. Use a coffee filter to prevent spilling when you add fluids to your car.

19. Use them as a spoon rest while cooking and clean up small counter spills.

20. Hold dry ingredients when baking or when cutting a piece of fruit or veggies.. Saves on having extra bowls to wash.

21. Use them to wrap Christmas ornaments for storage.

22. Use them to remove fingernail polish when out of cotton balls.

23. Use them to sprout seeds. Simply dampen the coffee filter,place seeds inside, fold it and place it into a plastic baggie until they sprout.

24. Use coffee filters as blotting paper for pressed flowers.  Place flowers between two filters and put them into a phone book.

25. Use as a disposable "snack bowl" for popcorn, chips, etc.

Easy Blueberry Cake

Note:    My next door neighbor loves this blueberry cake.     About once a week he says, "If you feel like making a blueberry cake, I sure would eat it!"       I also gave this recipe to my sister-in-law and she has gotten a lot of mileage out of it using it for Sunday School breakfasts and giving it to friends.       I love the fact that it is so easy and turns out delicious every time!

Easy Blueberry Cake

Ingredients
1 yellow cake mix
1 (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup oil
3 eggs
16 ounces of blueberries (fresh or frozen)
2 tsp vanilla


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream the cream cheese.   Add eggs and then oil.     Mix in yellow cake mix.     Fold in blueberries and vanilla.        Spray a bundt pan VERY well with nonstick spray.    Sprinkle pan with sugar.     Pour mixture into bundt pan.   Bake for about 40 minutes or until done.

Blueberry Bread Pudding w/ Bluebery Vanilla Sauce

Note:   I love bread pudding.    If it is on the menu at a restaurant I want to order it.    Just thinking about it makes me want to drive downtown to a little kitchen run by three sisters who make the best bread pudding you will ever put in your mouth.     Hard to believe such a wonderful dessert is made out of day old bread, isn't it?

Blueberry Bread Pudding

Ingredients
3 cups milk
3 large eggs
5 to 6 cups of day old bread (french bread)
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp lemon zest
2 cups fresh blueberries
3 Tbsp powdered sugar

Directions
Heat oven to 350 degrees.    Butter a casserole dish.    Whisk together the milk, sugar, eggs, extract, and zest.     Pour over bread and let sit for 15 minutes.  Toss berries with powdered sugar.    Stir into bread mixture.      Set the casserole dish inside a large baking dish.     Pour hot water (approximately 4 cups) into the large baking dish.    This will create a steam affect while it is baking.    Bake for about 1 hour or until the pudding is set.

Blueberry Vanilla Sauce

Ingredients
2 cups whole milk
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1/4 cup blueberries, crushed

Directions
Mix first four ingredients.    Heat to a boil.    Add vanilla and blueberries.    Pour over bread pudding.

Fresh Blueberry Sauce

Note:    I love this blueberry sauce warm on top of pancakes or cold on top of pound cake.

Fresh Blueberry Sauce

Ingredients
2 cups fresh blueberries
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
Wash blueberries and crush.    Add sugar, lemon juice and salt.    Bring mixture to a boil for about one minute.     Add vanilla.      Serve warm or chill.

TMTT: Grilled Potato Packet

Note:   Summer weather has hit Mississippi in full force.   It seriously feels like August instead of the beginning of June.    It is tough to heat up the kitchen cooking so we are trying to use our grill so we can leave all the heat outside!    

Grilled Potato Packet

Ingredients

5 medium potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
6 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup chicken broth

Directions
Spread your potatoes on top of a very large piece of heavy duty aluminum foil.     Season with salt and pepper.   Top with onions.    Dot with pats of butter.      Combine the remaining ingredients (except broth) and spread on top.      Fold up aluminum foil and pour in broth.   Seal the foil well.    Grill with top down over medium heat for about 35-45 minutes or until potatoes are tender.  

Note:   Do not test by poking through foil or you will lose your steam!


I am so excited to be joining Tempt My Tummy Tuesday again this week.    I have missed my friends Lisa and Lana.    

Mmmmmm.... Blueberries

One of my husband's co-workers owns a blueberry farm.      He let us know that they are all ready and asked if we wanted some.     YES!    Watch out for a ton of blueberry recipes coming soon.

Peanut Butter Burger

Note:   The craze at all the burger restaurants around here right now is the peanut butter burger.     My initial response was, "WHAT?!?", but my taste buds said, "Oh my... MMMMM!"    I don't know who decided to give this a try, but the results are mmm, mmm, good!

Peanut Butter Burger

Ingredients
Hamburger patties
Season salt
Black pepper
Mayo ( Don't leave this out! And for me it is only Blue Plate!)
Onions (red or white!)
Lettuce
Creamy peanut butter
Bacon
Buns or rolls of choice

Directions
Cook bacon until it is nice and crispy.     Season patties with season salt and black pepper and grill until desired doneness.     Put some peanut butter in a microwave bowl and heat for about 30 seconds or until smooth enough to spread.    Toast the buns on the grill.     Put mayo on both sides of the bun then top with meat, lettuce, and onions.    Pour peanut butter (you decide the thickness) over meat.     Layer a few bacon slices on top.     Enjoy!

Butterfinger Ice Cream

Note:   Big Guy turned 13 this week.    Amazing, I know.     Last weekend, hubs' family was in town and came over for a visit so we had cake and ice cream.   Big Guy asked us to make butterfinger ice cream.    It turned out so yummy that we will definitely be making this again this summer!      We may try a different candy bar or even oreo cookies next time.

Butterfinger Ice Cream


Ingredients
6 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 can Pet milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
12 oz Butterfingers (we used the fun size bars)
whole milk

Directions
Beat eggs.   Add sugar and beat well.     Add Pet and sweetened condensed milk and mix.     Take the fun size Butterfinger bars (do not unwrap) and beat them with a hammer to crush them.    Open the packages and dump them into the ice cream mixture.      

Put your ice cream paddle in before you pour the ice cream mixture in or all the butterfingers will settle at the bottom and you won't be able to put the paddle in.     Fill to the "fill line" with whole milk.    Stir WELL to mix all the ingredients.     Make according to your freezer directions.    Once finished, remove and put in your freezer for a couple of hours.   


Serve!

National Doughnut Day!

Nothing says doughnut like that "Hot Now" sign at Krispy Kreme!     I imagine that sign will stay lit all day long tomorrow for National Doughnut Day.    Krispy Kreme intends to give away not just one but TWO FREE doughnuts in honor of this special day (June 4th).

We only go to Krispy Kreme maybe once or twice a year but we'll be making a special trip tomorrow for two FREE doughnuts!

Happy Doughnut Day!