Life Skills; questions & answers

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Roasting garlic

I use roasted garlic in many dishes, and it's easy to make. One of the best ways to eat it is to combine two bulbs of garlic with one softened stick of butter and spread it on bread.

This is how I roast garlic.

Lay three square sheets of aluminum foil on top of each other. Take two bulbs of garlic and peel off most of the outside skin and throw it away. Break off each of the cloves and pull off any loose or excess skin, but don't try and peel it down to the actual garlic. Keep breaking off cloves until you have them all broken apart. Put the seperated cloves from both bulbs of garlic on the aluminum foil and then fold each piece of it over the garlic. Cook it for about an hour or hour and a half on 300 degrees.

It's done when you squeeze a clove and it's soft.

Take it out of the oven and lay it on the counter with the aluminum foil opened up. After about 30 minutes, when it's cool enough to touch, cut off the bottom tip with a pair of scissors. That's the part that was attached to the root of the bulb. The top usually has a point and the bottom has a flat area. Cut the very tip of that off and lay it down seperately. Cut all of the cloves at one time before you squeeze them.

You may want to keep a small cup or bowl of water handy to wet your fingers with because garlic gets sticky.

After they are all cut, squeeze each clove over a bowl. The roasted garlic will come out of the cut end like a paste. After you have squeezed all of the cloves into a bowl, discard the husks. Mash up the paste with a fork, very well. You can use this for whatever calls for roasted garlic.

I like to add a stick of softened butter to it and mix it up well.

Sometimes I add about a half cup of sour cream instead of butter, and some chopped fresh dill and serve that as a dip or to go on roasted meats.

With picking up pet hair, try this:
use a rolled up chamios leather or a rubber glove or a clean rubber-soled shoe to remove clumps from soft furnishings.
I used a damp rubber glove to pick up dog hairs it works

How to keep a personal budget:

What you will need:
an income
a checking account
a wallet
identification sufficient enough to be capable of cashing a check

First, figure out what your re-occurring bills are per month. Stuff you write a check for. (rent, power, phone bills, internet service etc)

Have your income direct deposit nearly exactly (or more if you want to save) what your bills are each month.
Get the rest of the money in a check that you cash in person.
Tell the cashier to give you "all large", which means that they will give you biggest bills possible (hundreds, then twenties, followed by 10s, 5s and 1s)
Count your cash money daily so that you know how much you have and how much you spent the previous day.


You will now have a balanced daily spending ledger running in your head (especially if you have good memory) and you'll be able to get a feel for your own personal spending.

Plus by banking all of your bill money, you never put yourself at risk of being late on a bill... since the money is automatically there. By contributing additional funds over expected amounts you are able to have a small invisible savings so as an option if you have additional income that can go to something like that it can be super helpful!

Anyway this is how I do it... it helps reduce a lot of the stress associated with bills.