Tips, tips, tips, and more tips. (cont'd part 5)

I hope you blog readers are still enjoying our tips, because here are some more.
1. Here's a new use for brown grocery sacks. Soak the entire bag in water .Then put your hard bread or rolls in the wet sack. Turn on the oven to warm,put the bag in and watch carefully for the bag to dry out.It takes   only minutes.Then turn the oven off and remove the warm bag.The rolls or bread will be as soft as fresh.
2. To quickly remove silk form corn, rub ear with a dry piece of nylon net.
3. Keep your just baked homemade cookies soft by placing a slice of white bread on top of them the cookies will taste oven-fresh for hours.    
4. Store your brown sugar and marshmallows in the freezer. They never get hard or stale.
5. Need a little thickening for gravy? Add instant potato flakes till you get the right consistency. This is best with potatoes, but works with noodles and other things too.
6. If you slice an onion before you peel it, the peel comes right off.
7. If your cakes always stick to the pan, even if you use shortening and flour; try using sugar and shortening. Let the cake cool for ten minutes before popping it out of the pan. With the sugar, the cakes will hardly ever need glaze.
8. To easily peel hard cooked eggs, pour off all the water from the container in which the eggs were boiled. Cover the container and knock the eggs around to loosen the shells. Add cold water and the shell will fall off.
9. To keep bananas for a week or two, put them in a white, not clear, plastic bag. Store them in the crisper of your refrigerator. The skins will darken a little but the bananas will stay white and solid.
10. For lighter, creamier, mashed potatoes, add a teaspoon of baking powder before vigorously mashing.
11. To keep strawberries fresh for several days, put fresh, unwashed, berries in a container and top it with a folded napkin. Cover the container, turn it upside down, and store it in the refrigerator.
12. Tomatoes sliced vertically, rather than horizontally, will stay firmer in your salad and help to keep your salad dressing from turning watery.
13. To measure less than a cup of solid shortening, fill the measuring cup with the amount of water that equals 1 cup. For example, if you need 1/3 cup shortening, pour 2/3 cup of water into the measuring cup and then add shortening until the water reaches the 1 cup mark. Pour off water and use.
14. When a cake or cookie recipe calls for molasses or corn syrup, first use a nonstick cooking spray on your utensils and cups. You'll be surprised at how easily everything comes off later.
15. Adding a tablespoon of vinegar to your homemade pie crust while mixing, helps prevent sogginess.
16. When food sticks to pans after cooking, the best way to ensure an easier washup later is to remove the food from the pot or pan. Then put the lid on right away. When it comes time for washing, the cleanup will be much easier.
17. Add zip to your popcorn by adding dry salad dressing mix. Don't use to much. A little goes a long way.
18. When you're frying bacon, does it sometimes sizzle and pop all over your stovetop? Throw a few celery leaves in the pan with the bacon. This will keep the bacon from splattering.
19. To make perfectly round hamburger patties, use a hollow ring from a large mouth canning jar. Press the meat into a circle and push out onto the paper.
20. Before using your cheese grater (or knife), spray it with nonstick cooking spray. That makes cleanup a breeze. The cheese washes off easily.