HELOISE: Make hot chocolate recipe for holidays

Dear Heloise: Please print the Heloise homemade hot chocolate recipe again. I wanted to make it for the holidays. I read your column every day. Thank you.

Judy in Virginia

Judy, it’s my pleasure. Here’s what you’ll need:

2 cups powdered milk

1/4 cup cocoa

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

Dash of salt

1/3 cup powdered nondairy creamer

1 to 2 tablespoons malted milk powder (optional)

Combine these ingredients thoroughly and store in a tightly sealed container. To serve, spoon about 4 tablespoons of the mix into a mug, fill with boiling water and mix. You also can use equal amounts of sugar substitute and malted milk powder instead of the creamer to make a richer-tasting drink, but then use only 1 tablespoon and an 8-ounce cup. Enjoy!

Heloise

Dear Heloise: A couple of things that I have not seen in your daily column that I have found to be efficient are:

Keep a 5-pound bag of sugar in the freezer to keep it from clumping.

Use an iced-tea spoon to reach mayonnaise when it’s at the bottom of the jar.

Marian Ison in San Antonio

Dear Heloise: When I read the hint about shaking the jar of peanut butter to get the oil to mix, it made me want to share what I found to work best. With a new unopened jar that is at room temperature, with the oil on top, turn it over for about one hour. That’s just enough time for the oil to start working its way back through.

After the hour, open, stir and then store in the refrigerator. Stirring is much easier. Don’t leave it inverted for much longer or you end up with too much oil at the “top” again.

Leslie in Houston

Dear Heloise: When I pulled out my nutcrackers this year, I found that they were not doing a good job of cracking some extra-strong walnuts. I retrieved a new pair of slip joint water pump pliers, commonly called “channel locks,” from my workshop. They adjust to suit any size nut, the teeth do not slip, and they have much more mechanical advantage than ordinary nutcrackers.

L.Q. in Florida

Dear Heloise: When I make spaghetti sauce, I use bottled sauce and add my own extras. To get the last of the sauce from the jar, I pour the wine that I am going to use for the sauce into the jar, put the lid back on, shake it and pour it all into the sauce pot.

Diane Makin in Grizzly Flat, Calif.

Dear Heloise: As I defrost fish or meat, I place the carton in a plastic zipper bag and then in the refrigerator to prevent any soakings from the meat dripping onto the shelf of the refrigerator.

A.R. in Virginia

Send a money-saving or timesaving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, TX 78279-5000, fax it to 210-HELOISE or e-mail it to Heloise@Heloise.com.

King Features Syndicate