Andy's Idea Factory

I love my Droid for its apps, no question. I check Market every few weeks, as new apps are coming in all the time.  Some apps have stayed on my phone, some come and go.  If you got a new Android-based phone for the holidays or new year, start loading it up!  Most come with a large SD card (mine is 16gb) and many apps can be stored on the card.  The apps that I seem to only use once or twice, especially the ones that are larger than 5mb, I usually wind up removing.  Apps that access large directories (like cookbook apps) can also use up too much space, so go into Settings, Applications, and Manage Applications to drop some when it's time to make room for more.  Because of this ADD-mentality I have for apps, I typically only download the free ones- another great Droid feature, free! Apps I can't live without: Advanced Task Killer - there are several versions of this and I've tried three, but it was one of the first things the Verizon rep told me ...

As stated last week , I have been reorganizing my recipes this year and found four great ones to share for holiday surprises for friends. View last week's post for the first two: Peanut Brittle and Pumpkin Seeds. Two additional easy sweet gift ideas: Rachel Ray's 5 Minute Fudge Ingredients 12 oz chocolate chips 8 oz butterscotch chips 1 can sweetened condensed milk 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup walnuts and/or dried currants/cranberries/cherries Directions Dump all ingredients except nuts and currants into a heavy-bottomed warmed pot over low heat and stir until soft.  Once fully melted, add nuts and currants and pour into a round, greased, Angel Food Cake pan.  Don't smooth out the top, and put in fridge to set for 30 minutes.  Pull out and cut into pieces. Wrap and give! Frozen Lemon  Mousee (GREAT for warmer climates seeking winter-y goodies!) Ingredients 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice 4 large egg yolks 5 tablespoons sugar 4 tablespoons unsalted butt...

Last year I drafted a four-part Elven Idea Factory series for making your own holiday presents, take a peek back for recipes of Irish cream, salsa, biscotti , bathcookies , and more . This year I sorted through 3 years of recipe gathering and reduced my huge binder of sloppy recipes to a medium sized reusable gift box, making my recipes both easier to find and easier to use. I didn't know why a binder wasn't easier to use when I created it, it takes up a lot of counter space, gets spilled on, and the sheets pull out of the hole punch too easily... I switched back to mom's method of using old fashioned "index cards" so I can pull several recipes out at once (realized this was key during the holidays!) AND they're small enough for a  magnet to hold them to the metal stove hood while in use. No spills, and at eye level! Great new system.  In sorting through the mess, I found four of my favorite holiday recipes to share with you, to wrap and share with your fr...