Milk Tips & Tricks

The great chefs of the world have secrets that make their creations tastier...and one of those secrets is milk! Here are some simple ways to make milk part of your every day cooking:

• Add richness, tenderness and moisture to bread dough and other baked goods by replacing the water with fresh milk.
• Add extra calcium and protein to muffins, quick breads, pancakes and cookies by adding powdered milk with the dry ingredients.
• Powdered milk mixed into meatloaf, meat balls or casseroles helps them hold shape their shape better and adds calcium.
• Whip skim or 1% milk into foam using a manual or battery-powered milk frother or an immersion blender with a whip attachment.
• Whip cold milk then warm it in the microwave (in a tall cup) to dollop on top of coffee or hot chocolate for that specialty café effect.
• Make a richer and more nutritious hot chocolate from a powdered mix by replacing the water with milk.
• Add milk to homemade soups for extra flavour and nutrition. Reduce the amount of water or broth called for by up to half and replace it with milk, adding it at the end of cooking (make sure you don’t let the soup boil).
• Chill your glass in the refrigerator or freezer for about 15 minutes before pouring in milk for an extra-frosty drink.

How to Keep milk fresher for longer!

: 

It's easy to achieve the best conditions to keep milk fresh for as long as possible simply by applying some basic principles. Here are some handy tips and tricks to get the most from your milk:

At the supermarket:

• When shopping, pick up the milk last so it doesn’t warm up while you fill your basket. Refrigerate at a temperature of between 0 °C and 4 °C as soon as possible after purchase.
• Check the milk's best before date and choose the product with the furthest date.

At home:

• Once opened, milk is safe to consume for up to 3 days. This is why it is better to buy smaller amounts more often rather than keeping larger containers open in the refrigerator for too long.
• Add a teaspoon of baking soda or a pinch of salt to a carton of milk when you purchase it, and it stay fresh for a week or so past its expiration date.
• Remember to open new milk containers in the same order in which you bought them. First in the fridge, first out.
• Keep milk containers closed and stored away from strong-smelling food items in the fridge—the milk can pick up these odours.
• Store milk on refrigerator shelves where it is cooler, rather than in the refrigerator doors.
• Whenever possible, leave milk in its original container to safeguard its flavour and nutritional value.
• Avoid exposing milk to light, as light destroys certain vitamins, such as vitamin D and riboflavin.
• To avoid spoilage, do not return unused milk from a serving pitcher to the original container.
• UHT and canned milk found in the non-refrigerated aisle are perishable once opened. Opened UHT and canned milk must therefore be refrigerated. After opening canned milk, immediately transfer any unused portions to a clean, opaque and airtight container. These milk products should be used within 3 days of opening.
• If stored in a cool, dry place, powdered milk will keep for up to 6 months. Once the package is opened, it should be used within 1 month. After being reconstituted, it should be stored and treated in the same way as regular fluid milk, meaning it should be refrigerated and used within 3 days.
• Milk can be frozen for up to 6 weeks without any impact on its flavour and nutritional value; however, upon thawing, it can separate and lose its smooth texture. Partly skimmed and skim milk freeze better than whole milk (3.25%). Thaw milk in the fridge. If the milk separates upon thawing, beat it with an electric mixer or an immersion blender with the whip attachment.
• Leftover evaporated milk can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 6 weeks with no adverse effects.
• If you freeze foods such as soups or stews, add the milk after you reheat the thawed food.
• 
  

Great tip for kids (and adults) who hate taking cough syrup

 Here's a great tip for kids (and adults) who hate taking cough syrup and other liquid medicine. Suck on an ice cube for 30 seconds before you gulp down the syrup. It will slightly numb your taste buds, so the taste won't be as strong.

How To Clean A Microfiber Couch (or Sofa)?

Restore your microfiber couch to its former glory, with this handy little cleaning solution from Chris and Robin.

With just a few household supplies, your couches will look brand new as this cleaning method is very effective. Visit chrisandrobinsnest.blogspot.com via the link below, to check it out how they did it:

How to Clean Microfiber Furniture

Products used:
Professionals Choice Fabric Cleaner (or any fabric cleaner)
Denatured Alcohol
Spray bottles
microfiber clothes
Credit Card
plastic bristle scrub brush
Elbow grease

Instructions:
I forgot to mention this in the video but the first thing I recommend is cleaning marker and crayon off first by just spraying them with the alcohol and scrubbing with brush and cloth.
1. Spray couch over the enter surface you wish to clean, let soak for a few seconds or so, too long and it soaks down into the cushion, you don't want that.
2. Scrap across surface with credit card at a 45 degree angle and slightly cupped. Do this over and over until you no longer remove the grime
3. Scrub the newly cleaned area with clean microfiber cloth to remove excess fluid and grime
4. Dry with ceiling fan or whatever you own
5. Scrub entire couch lightly with clean/dry brush to aggitate the fabric and soften it
6. If stains persist, repeat.

How to get rid of mice in your house Naturally without killing them

How to get rid of mice in your house Naturally without killing them?

This tip will get rid of mice in your house, even if nothing else has! Buy a bottle of peppermint oil at a health-food or vitamin store. Anyone with pet rodents can tell you how sensitive they are to scents- and this one will drive them away! It irritates their lungs, and they will leave the area.

• Just get some essential oil of peppermint, put a few drops on cotton balls,
• Place the cotton balls in areas where mice are likely to enter your house, by doorways or heat vents, etc.
• Another helpful deterrent is to grow peppermint plants near the entryways. You can use the mint in cooking as well as it serving a deterrent purpose.

The can't stand the smell, and will go elsewhere! It's completely humane, and makes your place smell neat too.
its Also works on spiders.

Tips

• Try placing a "peppermint ball" under or near your trash can.
• Keep a clean home.
• Seal any entryway a mouse might use to enter the house.
• Fresh Cab is an organic blend that comes with a guarantee if it doesn't work for you. Also set traps with sweet foods you think mice will go for like fig newtons or some kind of sweet.
• Smoke in the form of incense is an alternative natural deterrent, but you can't put it in the same tight spaces as peppermint balls.
• Borrow a friend's cat, or visit the humane society and adopt.
• Mice love peanut butter; bait traps with it.
• Killing large numbers of them won't solve anything, as explained above.

A handy lifehack so you never lose the end of the sticky tape again!

Gmail hack: How to check if your password was stolen

Millions of Gmail addresses and passwords were posted online Tuesday but the leak may not be as serious as originally thought, according to multiple published reports.

The private information of 5 million Gmail users was posted on a Russian Bitcoin forum, according to a report from the New York Daily News.

But according to a blog post from Google, “Less than 2 percent of the username and password combinations might have worked, and our automated anti-hijacking systems would have blocked many of those login attempts.”

The passwords posted appear to either be very old or were used to log in to accounts separate from Google, a security expert told Mashable.

The full list of usernames and passwords appeared to have been taken down from the website by Wednesday, the Daily News reported.

Gmail users can check here to see if their accounts were hacked.

https://isleaked.com/en

Enter your Gmail email address in the field near the top of the screen and you will be notified immediately if your account was exposed in this latest breach. And just to prove to affected users that this is a legitimate issue, the site will display the first two characters of your password if your credentials were leaked.

So, what should you do if your account is now exposed?

Immediately visit the following link:

https://www.google.com/settings/personalinfo

Clicking on the Security tab on this page will allow you to change your password, and you should do so immediately.

Now, whether or not your login was leaked in this most recent hack, you should take this opportunity to enable 2-step authentication on your Google account.

On the same page linked above, the Security tab shows a “2-Step Verification” listing. Click the settings link next to it and you’ll be walked through the setup process. For those who are unaware, 2-step authentication will text a unique temporary security code to a phone number you provide during the setup. Then, that code must be entered each time you log into your Google account from a new device or with a new service.