Makin the world a better place one trick at a time.

As we grow up our nifty parents pass on really nifty tricks to us in our daily lives. Some of the tricks are incredibly important and some tricks are just personal ideas or opinions about things. Like my dad always taught us to eat the corners of our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because it would get all over our face. Or how we need to fill up our car with gas before it gets too low otherwise your car won't start when you're parked on a downward slope and you're gonna be in HUGE trouble calling him and asking for a ride.

See? Some things are important and other things are simply opinions. Nowadays I don't always eat the corners of my sandwich first. Sometimes I just bite right into the center just because I have my own opinion on sandwiches. But I ALWAYS fill my car up right when it gets near empty. Good trick dad ;)

We also learn cool tricks from our friends. Like a friend just taught me that you can blend a banana with other fruits or cocoa and chocolate chips and it LITERALLY has the texture of soft serve ice cream. WHAAAAAT!? I am not even joking. It is incredible! See my empty cup? My husband even ate it! 

Recipe:

-One frozen banana

-Add whatever other fruit, cocoa powder, hot chocolate powder is awesome, or chocolate chips you want 

-Add one tablespoon of water (or enough to get it to blend)

That's it! 

Don't thank me thank Angela Taylor for this! 

Nowadays (Wow I keep saying this word and I sound like an old fart….I'm still hip I promise! Is saying hip worse then saying nowadays?) Anyways, nowadays we can find awesome tricks and tips all over the internet. There are entire websites dedicated to all things oddly helpful in the tricks department. Although I did try a trick for cutting a bunch of grape tomatoes all at one time using two ice cream bucket lids and that failed miserably. Just ended up with a bunch of flipping mushed tomatoes. Or the fact that you can even find crazy recipes like, mix two cups of flour with a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream to make ice cream BREAD. I mean….seriously? Too far people. You simply need to use a little discernment at times. 

But that's the great thing. We all have stuff to share and we now have these awesome mediums available to us to use to share them! We've all learned incredibly useful information (and not so useful information) from those around us in some way shape or form and it's up to you to discern what you wanna add to your repertoire and what you just want to forget. It's interesting what sticks for some people. Like my mom taught me that having quality dried herbs in your cupboard will help your food taste so much better. Which I like because we can't always afford the best meats but I can still make them delicious! 

Or that you can buy meat in bulk and split it up into different portion sizes into freezer bags. This allows you to choose how much you need at any given dinner but then you don't have to thaw out the whole chunk. Genius stuff this is people ;)

These are just a few things I found valuable and have stuck with me in my life! Which makes sense because I love all things food. But now I've developed my own tricks that I want to share with you! Hopefully you can take a few and add them to your repertoire or at least get a kick outta trying them! 

#1. Buy your tortillas in bulk. Tortillas last forever. You can freeze them. Make a plethora of tasty dishes out of them, not just mexican flavors mind you. I'm talking egg and bacon breakfast burritos, chicken enchiladas, fried cinnamon and sugar tortillas, mini pizzas, the list goes on and on! 

#2. Know somebody with a garden. This is a great relationship! You learn things about growing stuff, you get to get your hands dirty and dig into God's creation, and you get to go shopping in the produce section on a regular basis for much less then it would cost otherwise! (Trick within a trick….make sure you treat that relationship well ;)

#3. Host parties! Make all the food for your lovely guests. This doesn't have to be complicated. Go to Costco and get a big package of meat and marinade it then throw it on the grill! Toss together a HUGE salad with all those good garden treats you got from trick #2, and have a big ole bag of potato chips on hand. Then simply ask your guests to bring the beer…..or the wine…..or the whatever drink and you will end up with a great party filled with fun and laughter…..and a fridge full of the leftovers ;) 

Eat! Love! Live!!!!