Coconut Sryup and a Buttermilk Substitute

I got this recipe from my big sis, Jill, who is a GREAT cook and my go-to girl when I have a kitchen question.  She oringinally got this yummy syrup recipe from The Sister's Cafe.

7-8 T. butter (I always just do 7-it's plenty!)
¾ c. buttermilk (don't have buttermilk handy?  See below for directions on making your own...)
1 c. sugar
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp coconut extract

Place butter, buttermilk and sugar in a pot. Then turn stove on medium and stir until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and boil one minute. Remove from heat and add soda and flavoring. It will bubble up, so make sure your pot is big enough to handle A LOT of bubbling; just continue to stir and give it a few minutes for the 'fizz' to reduce before serving.

We serve this on pancakes (chocolate chip ones are divine with it-takes like your eating an Almond Joy for breakfast), waffles, crepes, french toast...it's yummy!  Oh, and if you think this picture is looking a little GREEN -no it's not the bad edit job-I just happened to make this syrup this morning for our St. Patrick's Day breakfast!

How To Make a Substitute for Buttermilk:

Ingredients:
1 cup milk
1 Tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice

Preparation:
1. Place a Tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup.
2. Add enough milk to bring the liquid up to the one-cup line.
3. Let stand for five minute.

Stain on Carpet Trick

I had a koolaid stain on my carpet from a baby sitter..... yea, didnt clean it. Three days later I tried to get it out. Red koolaid on my carpet that has white threads in it..... not good. I did NOT think it would come out. But it did!

You will need:
My home made shout found here
Water
Hot iron
Cotton Towel

Spray shout on stain, add water, cover with towel, iron on "Cotton" setting. Move towel to dry section, and repeat.

I thought that it would set the stain worse, but really what did I have to loose? The stain was already there! LOL

How to Cut a Watermelon

As I said on my personal blog, I don't claim to be GREAT at much, but I have finally figured out how to successfully cut a watermelon into perfect bite-size pieces. Every time I take a watermelon to a Summer BBQ, I'm asked how to do this. Here's how:

Make sure you have a long, sharp knife. This is super important!


Quarter your watermelon.


You're going to make a series of cuts in 3 different directions.




The quarter should now look like a grid. Dump watermelon into a large bowl, everything from the middle should fall out easily.


Now cut along the rind of the watermelon. This usually takes 2 passes.



Ta-da...perfect bite-size pieces.