HELOISE Cream-soup recipe is inexpensive lifesaver

Dear Heloise: Your cream-soup recipe was published in our local paper recently. I want you to know how much I appreciated it. I have celiac disease, and I can have no wheat, barley, oats or rye. I think every cream soup on the market except some expensive specialty soups contains wheat flour. This recipe is a lifesaver!
Now I can whip my own up in no time, and at very little expense. Mostly I use it for cooking, not eating, but anything that makes my diet easier -- not to mention cheaper -- is wonderful. Joyce, via e-mail
Joyce, so glad that you like the recipe and that it fits into your lifestyle. For others who might have missed it, here's the recipe:
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried onion flakes
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules
1 cup nonfat dried milk powder
Put the above ingredients in a large saucepan along with 2 cups of cold water and cook on medium heat, stirring continuously. Once thickened, add your main ingredient for the soup (broccoli, chicken, mushrooms, etc.). One recipe should make between 3 and 5 cups. Bon app & eacute;tit! Heloise
Dear Heloise: In the summer, it sure gets hot and muggy here in central Indiana, and nothing cools and refreshes likes a glass of iced tea. But I hate it when my sweet tea gets watered down. I took some of the kids' frozen ice pops (they are liquid inside a plastic tube) and bent them in half, froze them and just poured the tea or other beverage over them. If they break for some reason, who cares -- then my beverage has a fruity taste.
The ice pops can be refrozen and used over and over again. Larry G., Indianapolis
Sounds delicious. You can also make some extra tea and freeze it in an ice-cube tray. The "tea cubes" won't water down your iced tea, either. I think I'll make a glass right now. Heloise
Dear Heloise: For many years, I prepared deviled eggs the same way my mother and grandmother had -- namely, by turning out the cooked and cooled yolks into a crock and then gently breaking them into tiny particles with a fork before adding the other ingredients.
A couple of years ago, I needed to prepare several dozen eggs, and I knew this would be a huge undertaking. I decided to try using my food processor for all the chopping and blending. Because this method introduces a certain amount of air into the mixture, the filling turned out fluffy and smooth, with plenty of volume to fill every egg-white cup to overflowing. Grace W., Annapolis, Md.
Dear Heloise: If you put too much dishwashing soap in your sink, sprinkle some regular table salt over the suds, and they will quickly disappear. K.P., Memphis, Tenn.
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