Save juice from canned fruits for marinades

When I make salads with canned fruits, instead of throwing the juice away, I pour it into a container and put in the freezer and use it to make marinade for chicken breasts. I add a little oil, soy sauce and garlic to the juice and let the chicken marinade overnight. The next day, I bake it in the marinade or grill it. This is also a yummy marinade for kabobs.

Mandarin Orange Sweet and Sour Nutty Salad

1/2 head lettuce, torn up

1 tablespoon minced parsley

1 can mandarin oranges in juice, drained

1 cup celery, sliced

2 green onion (including tops), sliced - or 1/2 red onion, sliced

(Place the above ingredients in a bowl.)

Dressing:

1/4 cup salad oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

Dash tabasco sauce

2 tablespoons vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

Fresh ground pepper

Shake the dressing ingredients together. Melt 2 tablespoons sugar in heavy skillet over low heat. Add 1/4 cup slivered almonds. Stir constantly until sugar melts and turns brown and collects on almonds. Remove from heat and break apart in small pieces. Toss all ingredients together just before serving.

Bagel Dip

2 small packages dried beef, ham or corned beef

1 cup mayonnaise

1 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon dill weed

1 small onion, diced fine

1 1/2 teaspoons season salt

Mix all ingredients together and chill. Serve with small pieces of plain bagels.

Favorite Pot Roast

4 pounds beef rump or chuck roast

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon season salt

1/2 teaspoon seasoned pepper

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1 tablespoon instant minced onion

1 cup beef bouillon

Rub all sides of meat with salts, pepper and paprika. In a slow cooker, place meat, onion and bouillon. Cover and cook on low 8-10 hours until meat is tender. I served the leftover beef the next day in a French dip sandwich dipped in the juice on the side.

GARY'S TIP: To relieve the pain and swelling from insect bites, apply a paste of soda and household ammonia to the sting. This works in a very short time.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: A family budget is a process of checks and balances. Unfortunately, the checks seem to wipe out the balances.