This column encourages readers’ recipe contributions and requests, helpful hints and timely trivia. Phone them in to 683-7266 or mail them to 527 Philip Rd. Thank you!

It happens every winter! Those nights when the air is exceptionally clear and still, a full moon rises like a great golden balloon, and the glistening snow gives an aura of polished silver to the fields and valleys. There is something about the evening moonlight that makes it the most gentle, beautiful light on Earth, for it softens up everything … voices, faces, even thoughts! It twinkles on icicles dangling from branch tips and literally gleams on the rounded drifts! Toss a handful of snow into the night air and the crystals hang suspended, sparking like stars! An early moonlight can also rouse the urge to enjoy a brimming cup of cocoa before snuggling down between the sheets for the night, and what better way to accompany that cup of cocoa than a couple of these?

Cupboard Cookies
Ingredients:
1 c. creamy peanut butter
1 egg
1 c. granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all four ingredients together with fork, then drop by teaspoon onto ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten with fork, then bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
(Note: It is not a mistake – there is no flour in these.)

Homemaker’s Hint: Winter weather has been known sometimes to take a toll on mailboxes. Let’s hope that this doesn’t happen to yours, but if it does, do not throw away your old mailbox. Just nail it to a tree or pole, or suspend it from branches, and leave it open. Our winged creatures will quickly and gratefully hasten to become tenants.

• Beware of incompatible vegetables! Refrain from storing onions and potatoes together because moisture from the potatoes will cause the onions to sprout.

• No one appreciates having to clean up after scavengers who have attacked trashcans. Spray a bit of ammonia onto your trashcans to repel scavengers.

Blue Cheese Bacon Potatoes
Ingredients:
20 small red potatoes
1 c. mayonnaise
1/4 c. heavy cream, lightly whipped
1/2 lb. bacon, fried crisp and crumbled
Parsley for garnish, finely chopped

Directions:
Boil potatoes in salted water until their skins test tender. Drain. Leave potatoes whole or thinly slice. Do not peel. Combine mayonnaise, cream and cheese. Fold mayo into potatoes. Turn potatoes into large serving bowl. Sprinkle liberally with bacon; garnish with parsley. Serve immediately.

Homemaker’s Hint: When your toothbrush finally loses its “oomph,” don’t toss it just yet. You can use it to clean a host of things! The tiny spaces around faucets, tile grout, your fingernails after gardening, mud from the grooves of sneakers, small plastic or wooden toys, can openers and other items.

•  Headline in a New Gainsville, Fla. newspaper read: “Poverty linked to inequality of wealth.”

In reply to the reader who is endeavoring to duplicate an alcoholic beverage they were served at a holiday party, you describe it as a nutty-flavored brand of brandy and it was served over ice cubes?
Charles, I believe that your may be referring to a drink commonly mixed with the liqueur amaretto, which tends to have an almond flavor.

Homemaker’s Hint: For those of you who are guilty of using exhaust fans on a frequent basis, stifle the urge a bit, for they tend to pull warm air from your home.

Post Holiday Bubbly
Ingredients:
(1) 46 oz. can cocktail vegetable juice, well-chilled
2 c. apricot nectar, well-chilled
(2) 10 oz. ginger ale, well-chilled
Dash ground nutmeg

Directions:
Combine ingredients. Serve over ice cubes in pre-chilled glasses. Makes approximately 2.5 quarts.

Homemaker’s Hint: Did you remember to change your furnace filter this month?

Frothy Eggnog
Ingredients:
8 eggs
3/4 c. granulated sugar
1-2 tsp. rum or brandy extract
Dash salt
1 c. whipping cream
2 qt. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Cinnamon or nutmeg

Directions:
Use large mixing bowl to beat eggs at high speed until they become thick and foamy. Gradually begin adding milk. Place mixture in refrigerator to chill, then just before serving, whip cream and carefully fold into eggnog. Pour into punch bowl and serve garnished with cinnamon.

• Ideas are like rabbits – you get a couple and learn to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.

Brandy Cream Fizz
Ingredients:
4 oz. brandy
2 oz. fresh lime or lemon juice
4 oz. orange juice
4 oz. heavy cream
1 tbsp. sugar
2 large eggs
1 c. ice, finely crushed
Chilled club soda
Twists of lime or lemon peel

Directions:
Measure brandy, orange juice, lime or lemon juice, cream, eggs, sugar and ice in blender jar. Cover and blend well until smooth. Pour mixture into pre-chilled glasses, then add splash of club soda and garnish with lemon or lime twists.

• Swallow your pride occasionally – it’s non-fattening!

Banana Cow
Ingredients:
1 medium-sized banana
1/2 c. milk
1 tbsp. honey
Dash vanilla extract
Lime wedges
1 c. crushed ice

Directions:
Combine banana, milk, honey, vanilla extract and ice in electric blender. Blend until smooth, then pour into two 10-ounce highball glasses and garnish with lime slices.

• Worry is like a rocking chair – it will give you something to do, but it won’t get your anywhere.

Irish Cream
Ingredients:
2 egg yolks, beaten
1 pt. half and half
1 1/2 c. whiskey or brandy
(1) 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 tsp. chocolate syrup
1/4 tsp. coconut extract

Directions:
Combine ingredients and whisk until well blended. Store in fridge. Serve in liqueur glasses.

Zorba
Ingredients:
1 1/2 oz. brandy
3/4 oz. amaretto

Directions:
Combine these two beverages and serve over ice cubes in an old-fashioned glass.