HELOISE: Making bread? Don’t use tap water

Dear Heloise: I would like to give you this little hint: Never use tap water to make bread. The chemicals kill the action of the yeast. Use only bottled water.

Marlene E., via e-mail

You need to know what is in your tap water to be the most successful when baking bread. Many cooks do use distilled water or bottled water when baking from scratch. It can’t hurt!

Heloise

Dear Readers: Here’s one of my favorite hints: I keep a can of peas (this works with green beans as well) in my refrigerator for an easy “pea salad” at mealtime or when unexpected guests arrive.

I drain the peas or green beans, add some sliced green olives stuffed with pimentos, chopped onions or hard-boiled eggs, and mix with a little mayonnaise (I use low-fat), then salt and pepper to taste. You can add anything that may appeal to your family. Be creative and enjoy!

Heloise

Dear Heloise: Not only is applesauce a good substitute for oil in cake recipes, but so are yogurt (plain or flavored), mashed bananas, pur ed peaches and pumpkin. I use a quick-bread recipe that calls for 1 cup of oil. I pour a couple of tablespoons of oil in the bottom of the measuring cup and fill the remainder with whichever of the above I have on hand. I use the same for pumpkin bread, banana bread, zucchini bread and applesauce bread. I use only whole-wheat flour and lots of spices in everything I bake. Healthy really does taste good!

Pam W., via e-mail

Dear Heloise: We recently had a blizzard hit our area, depositing more than 25 inches of snow. The foul weather did not prevent us from hosting a large family get-together. In the past, we always used store-bought ice cubes to keep beer, soda and wine cold in a cooler in our kitchen, from which our guests could serve themselves.

This time, I decided to use some of the abundant snow from outside to keep the beverage bottles and cans in our cooler cold. The snow worked just fine. Using the snow saved energy and money, but still did a great job!

Allen in New Jersey

Dear Readers: How about using those leftover plastic lunch-kit containers to repack lunches for you or your children?

Cut up fresh vegetables for one section, with ranch dressing to dip in another. Some fruit, crackers and cold cuts or pasta salad also can make lunch fun and exciting!

Heloise

Dear Heloise: I make a lot of chocolate-dipped goodies, and I found that using a double boiler and standing at a hot stove was cumbersome. I came up with the idea of using my slow cooker. It melts the chocolate and remains at dipping consistency during the whole process of dipping goodies.

Lynda H., via e-mail

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