How to smoothie out your smoothie prep

For smoothie prep, we buy a large tub of plain yogurt. Then we portion it out in ice-cube trays to freeze. Once frozen, pop the yogurt cubes out and bag them with smoothie ingredients — fruits, veggies, etc. You have only to dump the bag in the blender and add a little bit of water, and you're drinking breakfast! — D. in New Hampshire

To get great slices of avocado, cut in half around the pit. Then slice or dice your avocado in the skin. Push gently on the middle of the avocado half to turn the skin inside out and free the slices.

Remove burned-on food from your pans with baking soda. Soak in hot water, and add a healthy scoop of baking soda to the soak water. Then scrub to remove. Add more baking soda for tougher stains.

Use small stick-on hooks inside cabinet doors for oven mitts and rarely used accessories. You can even hang a zipper-top baggie from the underside of an out-of-the-way cabinet shelf. I do this for my specialty cake-making supplies. They are hanging from the top of a high cabinet — out of the way, but at the ready. — R.W. in North Carolina

Tucking away winter coats and sweatshirts? For more closet storage, double-hang. On a sturdy hanger, tuck a thinner jacket or long-sleeved shirt into a bulky coat!

Whenever I am working with olive oil in the kitchen, I rub any excess into my clean hands and wipe off the extra, leaving my nails healthy and my hands soft! — C.U. in Oregon

"Spring sports are in full swing for us, and we definitely still use the slow cooker. I often double recipes to freeze when I cook. When the recipe allows, I thaw the dinners for the week in the fridge. After school but before sports, I put the thawed meal in the slow cooker to heat up while we're out. It works great for spaghetti sauce with meatballs, cooked chicken, meatloaf or cube steak and stews, etc. Coming home to a warm, almost-ready meal is a blessing after being out on the field. We're usually starved." — E.I. in New York

Things from the kitchen you can add to your vegetable garden: leftover chamomile tea, black tea leaves, coffee grounds, banana skins, the water left behind when cooking vegetables, etc. Also, look up how to make your own compost pile. It does not have to be big! You can find information on the Internet or at the library.

If you're chopping a lot of tomatoes and need to remove the seeds, this tip will leave you spinning. Get out your salad spinner, add chopped tomatoes and give it a whirl.

"My mom bought me a beauty blender — a foam makeup brush that's really good for contouring and blending. Then my grandma saw it rolling around my vanity, dropping on the floor (gross). She gave me an egg cup to use. I've never used one for eating a boiled egg, but it fits my makeup brush perfectly!" — J.J. in Florida

Give your computer a spring cleaning by updating your browser and critical programs, changing to a fresh password and perusing your security and privacy settings. While you're at it, run a backup and offload a copy of your photo collection and/or music trove to an external hard drive, just in case.

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