Keith Lofstrom's Nifty Ideas Page

Real Life

AOL Disk Squirrel Stopper

Ever see those cones over the hawsers of docked ships? Those are to keep rats from getting into the ships. My father-in-law, Charles Phelps of Severna Park, MD, figured out that AOL disks can do the same thing for the rope that supports his bird feeder. See the picture attached: AOL Disk Protects Bird Feeder

Food

Okay, okay, I am on the verge of overweight (159 lb., 5 foot 7). Since I can't always find time for the treadmill, I have to do something about intake. A few tricks:

Box Macaroni and Cheese Okay, it is comfort food. But it is fattening. However, if you replace the usual quarter-cup each margarine and milk with a half-cup of non-fat cottage cheese, and stir it up good so the curds melt, it tastes about the same but is much lower fat.

French toast Use a small square glass pan to soak the bread. I use non-fat egg substitute, and flavor it with DaVinci sugar-free flavoring syrups. (btw, DaVinci tastes better than Torani, which seems overcooked). I like either "hot cinnamon" or "hazelnut" flavors.

Instead of syrup, I top it with non-fat vanilla yogurt. Probably as much sugar, but it is cheaper and higher protein than maple syrup.

The last bit of ketchup comes out of the bottle easily if you heat it in the microwave. If the ketchup is in a plastic bottle, you also get a nifty bit of sculpture.

More later.

last revision June 10, 2005