Cocoa-Cream Cheese Frosting: In a large mixing bowl beat 1, 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened, 1/2 cup butter, softened, and 2 teaspoons vanilla with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in 5 cups powdered sugar and 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder to reach spreading consistency. Makes 3 1/2 cups.

Erin shares organizational tips on her blog, Sunny Side Up, along with her personal home-building story. Working closely with an architect, she created her family’s dream layout that includes a mudroom and office by the kitchen (to stop clutter from entering) and a window-lined dining nook off the kitchen that’s out of the way of the home’s main traffic flow. Today, almost every cabinet interior reveals Erin’s orderly touch. (The exception?...

8 frankfurters or smoked chicken, kielbasa, or bratwurst sausage links 8 frankfurter buns, split *Tip: For grilled corn kernels, remove husks and silks from 2 fresh ears of corn. Brush corn lightly with vegetable oil or coat with nonstick cooking spray. For a charcoal or gas grill, place corn on the rack of a covered grill directly over medium heat. Grill for 15 to 18 minutes or until corn is crisp-tender and charred, turning frequently....

1 ¼ cup ketchup ¼ cup mild-flavor molasses 3 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar 1 tablespoon smoked paprika 1 tablespoon cider vinegar 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 cup shortening 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla ½ teaspoon almond extract 1 16 ounce package powdered sugar (about 4 cups) 3 tablespoon milk

¼ cup butter or margarine 3 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder 3 tablespoon buttermilk 2 ¼ cup sifted powdered sugar ½ teaspoon vanilla ½ cup chopped walnuts

Apples harvested from backyard trees rarely resemble their grocery store counterparts. Expect homegrown fruit to have a few blemishes and sport some odd shapes. A wide variety of fruit sizes and unique color combinations are common too. Apples you grow yourself may look far from perfect, but their flavor more than makes up for this fact. Take a bite of a freshly picked apple and you’ll quickly taste the difference between it and a grocery store apple....

The best leaf vacuums typically work as both a leaf blower and a vacuum, so you can use them to push leaves around your yard or suck them away entirely. “When considering a leaf vacuum, look for one with dual purpose blower and vacuum capability so the leaves can be blown into a large pile before being vacuumed and mulched,” says Dan Vessell, product manager at Husqvarna. He also recommends opting for a large vacuum bag size to spend less time unloading leaves....

The extent of the damage can help determine if a repair is a better option. In addition to shopping around for quotes from at least three licensed roofing companies, homeowners are cautioned not to just take a roofers’ word for it. After all, it’s in the company’s best interest to have a roof replaced (which costs on average $5,000 to $10,000) versus simply performing a repair (which costs on average from $315 to $1,000+)....

Can I Wash Down Comforters and Pillows at Home? Comforters for full-, queen-, and king-size beds are probably too big for standard-size home washing machines. For best results, use a large-capacity front-loading washing machine, such as the ones at a local laundromat. Down pillows, on the other hand, might be small enough to launder in your washing machine at home, which is the more convenient choice, especially if you have a front-loading machine....

Just how popular are these videos? Well, hashtags relating to these cleaning clips each have millions—sometimes hundreds of millions—of views. There are YouTube compilations of TikTok room cleaning videos so that you can watch them without interruption. And large companies like The Container Store are getting in on the trend with cleaning challenges and their own organizing posts, so it’s safe to say these videos resonate with a lot of people....

Can I Substitute Different Size Eggs in Recipes? Most standard recipes use large eggs as a default. In the case your recipe calls for an extra-large egg and all you have are medium, here’s a guide on how to substitute egg sizes thanks to Sauder Egg’s egg size chart. one large egg = any other sized egg will worktwo large eggs = three small, two medium, two extra-large, or two jumbo eggsthree large eggs = four small, three medium, three extra-large eggs, or two jumbo eggsfour large eggs = five small, five medium, four extra-large, or three jumbo eggsfive large eggs = seven small, six medium, five extra-large eggs, or five jumbo eggs...