Dear Readers: When you order from a fast-food restaurant and go through a drive-thru, the meal usually comes with plastic utensils, napkins, condiments, straws, and salt and pepper packets.

Don’t throw these items out, even if you are not going to use them for that meal. Instead, save them to take when you are picnicking or camping, or put them in a lunch bag for school or work. — Heloise

Dear Readers: During the rest of this holiday season, you still will be having large family gatherings. And your cutting board will get a workout when preparing all those meals. Don’t forget that bacteria grows on plastic and wood cutting boards. After each use, wash and sanitize it to remove bacteria. Here’s how to do it well: Wash the board in hot, soapy water. Then soak it for two minutes in a solution of 3 tablespoons of household bleach and 1 gallon of water. Rinse and dry with a paper towel or air-dry. — Heloise

Dear Heloise: I read your column from Laura M. from Hillsboro, Oregon, about making pancakes. I would like to share my solution. I live alone, so I don’t make big batches of pancakes. I buy a box of blueberries, wash them and roll them in a tea towel to dry as much as possible.

Then I lay them in a single layer on a paper towel on a cookie sheet and freeze them. After they are frozen, I put what I will need for one pancake in a plastic zip-top bag.

When I make my pancakes, I pour enough batter out for my one pancake then put my berries on top, then cover them with more batter. This might solve her problem of missing her blueberry pancakes. I hope you can use this hint. I also use this method for making banana pancakes by slicing the bananas on top of the batter. — Nancy Hyneman, Princeton, Indiana

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

IRON RIVER — The Iron County Genealogical Society will meet at 1 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 6, in the J. Patrick White ...

Thursday — Iron Mountain High School Class of 1961, lunch, 11:30 a.m., Solberg’s Greenleaf Bar & Grill in ...

Dear Readers: I hope you enjoy some quotes below from one of my favorite poets, Henry David Thoreau. May he inspire ...

IRON MOUNTAIN — The P.E.O. Chapter AN will meet at 6 p.m. Monday at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in ...

NIAGARA, Wis. — St. Anthony Catholic Church of Niagara will host an all-you-can-eat chicken and spaghetti dinner ...

Today’s Sound Off is about New Year’s resolutions: Dear Heloise: Every year, with good intentions, I make New ...

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

Copyright © The Daily news | https://www.ironmountaindailynews.com | 215 E. Ludington, Iron Mountain, MI 49801 | | Ogden Newspapers | The Nutting Company