Maybe skip the bagged ice

My husband forwarded me a link to a blog post that I thought was worth sharing.

The blog is Confessions of a Community College Dean, and the post is about summer jobs. He goes into some detail about the time when he worked for an ice factory (he makes note of the fact that "different brands of bagged ice come out of the same vat").

Here's an interesting detail you may want to be aware of:

Disgruntled workers have ways of Sticking It To The Man. Among these ways is peeing in the ice vat. There’s a reason I don’t buy bags of ice. If you do, first, hold the bag up to the light. If the ice isn’t perfectly clear, don’t buy it. Trust me on this one. Seriously.

Next time you have a party, maybe make your own ice for the drinks, and keep the bagged ice for the cooler...

Tip: Use flaxseed

Use flaxseed instead of eggs when baking. It's much cheaper and you won't notice a difference.

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When my son Noah turned a year old, we discovered that he had some food allergies: cow's milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts and coconut. He outgrew the milk and egg allergies by 18 months.

But during that time, we had to get creative with some of our cooking. For example, for pancakes, we used oil instead of butter, soy milk instead of cow's milk and flaxseed instead of eggs. You would never know the difference. They tasted great.

Whenever we could, we used flaxseed instead of eggs. And even when he outgrew the allergy, we still continued to use it. It's much cheaper! And very easy to use.

Following the packaging directions for quantities, you just spoon out some flaxseed, mix it with some water and let it sit for a minute. I use it with baking all the time and it's just as good as using real eggs.

And if the batter has no egg in it, you can eat it...well, if it's something yummy like cookie dough :)