Misc. helpful hints and a word about shrimp cakes.

I am so excited for dinner tonight since we are having shrimp cakes. These are simply divine. Whenever Scott makes these people go wild for them. If there is any left he usually re heats them and serves them either with a poached egg and hollandaise sauce or with grits for breakfast the next morning. I am so excited for dinner tonight I am hungry already.

I thought I would add some tips I find useful. Buy a root of fresh ginger and store it in a zip lock bag in the freezer. It saves forever & it makes it a snap to grate in recipes like the spicy ginger aioli! Next, when you have banana's that are past their prime stick them in the freezer, peel & all. When you want to make muffins or my banana pecan chocolate chip pancakes it is a snap. Just run the banana under warm/hot water and peel or let thaw in a bowl until sort of thawed inside and squeeze, then there is no need to mash. I usually buy really ripe ones at the farmers market for .50 cents a bunch and toss into the freezer. Did you know you can cut the oil in a recipe by using apple sauce instead? You can substitute 1/2 apple sauce for 1/2 the oil. Use unsweetened so not to add extra calories though and you will have a moist treat.

That is all for now. Enjoy a scrumptious day!