Thanks for the rice flour roux tip. I will give that a try. And I ALWAYS save the bacon grease!

yup. I cut the onion in half before slicing as well. I like having the flat bottom to keep it stable while I slice.

Not really a hack but I have recently discovered the joys of baking with parchment paper. Oh My! I bake my cookies and breads on a paper-lined sheet and everything comes right off and no cleanup. It would be hard going back to greasing the cookie sheet..

When making a dish that uses measured amounts of balsamic vinegar and olive oil: pour just enough olive oil in the measuring cup to coat the bottom of the cup, then measure out the balsamic. The oil will stay along the sides of the measuring cup forming a friction-less (ish) surface so when you pour out the balsamic…

I generally grocery shop for two weeks. Butter goes in the freezer. Put one box in the fridge. Take one stick for the butter dish and keep that out. Update as needed.

No. Just..NO. Never never never EVER cut into something you are holding in the other hand. That is just not safe. My method for cutting avocados is to halve them and remove the pit as shown. I then cut the halves in half length-wise and simply peel the skin back. This works best with a ripe avocado at room temperature.

same here..

I've done both: baking and stove top and I much prefer stove top. One, I'm not real good at "walking away" from what I'm cooking. I can get the bacon to the point where it won't curl if I go stir the pancake batter or crack eggs for french toast. I try to prep as much as I can before hand to allow me to pay attention…

Pine nuts sauteed in bacon fat. Add to salad or whatever..

ok.. so "Mall Makeovers" is NOT a blog about commercial property renovations. Roger that. Stepping away now.

Don't mind at all.. the thing to keep in mind is the persimmons need to very, very, very ripe. Mushy ripe. Fall apart in your hand ripe. Cut the top off and scoop out the pulp (watch for pits). A lot of online recipes I read INSIST you MUST use ONLY Hachiya varieties but I've had no problem with Fuyu. So that will be…

I've never made sweet potato pie but we had issues with what we thought was a pumpkin allergy/intolerance for a few years and I went to making persimmon pies instead.. a little spicier but really good..

I am SO stealing that image.. thanks!

excellent point.

I was in a theater.. EVERYBODY laughed out loud.

Yeah.. I'll just leave this here..

Regrettably, that behavior is already witnessed in innumerable bars and clubs from center-of-the-universe, can-do-no-wrong, spoiled brats that somehow managed to survive to drinking age.

visited Ireland a few years back and yep, beans for breakfast... I did try them. once or twice... not great. Not bad, but not great. I don't recall being any gassier than usual.

just to ask the question; what is the employee contribution to their health care coverage? Seems like any standard percentage would take a sizable chunk out of that $13.00/hr..