You know this, right?

You can use leftover cooked grains (like rice and oatmeal) in muffins or other quick breads, by running them through a blender or food processor along with other liquid. Then add to your batter as part of the liquid portion.

A week ago, Sunday, I made a large batch of cranberry-almond-apple oatmeal, for breakfast. There were leftovers, which I worked on myself all week long. By Friday afternoon, I realized that I'd better use what was left, before it developed mold.

So, I ran it through the blender along with part of the milk for the muffins that I was making.

Voila -- Ginger-Pear muffins (with the blended oatmeal as my secret ingredient!).

In the past, I've also used plain, cooked rice, this way, in muffins, and seasoned rice pureed with milk, as liquid in savory biscuits. A plain or sweetened, cooked grain will work in banana bread, as the small amount of milk usually called for, or, as liquid in a coffee cake.

It works very well, and the oatmeal or rice is practically undetectable (with the exception of an odd piece of nut, here and there, when using a grain cooked with chopped nuts). This trick works best in a muffin or bread which is going to have a small amount of texture, anyway, such as my Ginger-Pear muffins, with the chunks of pears baked in, or, in the case of using cooked, brown rice, adding to a batter for a wholegrain muffin.

A reduced-dairy,vanilla-flavored coffee creamer

I can't have much in the way of dairy. And I don't like the chemically stuff in products like Coffee-Mate. I've tried the soy creamer from Trader Joe's, and it's not very rich and creamy, IMO. But I sometimes like a little creaminess to my coffee. Sooooo . . .

This is what I've been making and using all summer. A concoction of heavy whipping cream, soy milk, vanilla sugar and a drop or two of vanilla extract.

In a small pitcher, I combine:

• 1 ounce heavy whipping cream
• 3 ounces soy milk
• 1 to 2 teaspoons of vanilla sugar, to taste
• 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

I cover and store in the fridge.

4 ounces of my reduced-dairy, vanilla coffee creamer costs me less than 35 cents. The local Cash & Carry carries 32-oz containers of Coffee-Mate French Vanilla Creamer for $4.00 (or 50 cents per 4 ounces). So, I'm coming out ahead, in cost, and enjoying a more natural product. Your savings would be dependent on the cost of your ingredients.

With my lactose issues, I can't have milk at all, but I can have small amounts of heavy whipping cream. Heavy whipping cream has about half of the lactose of milk. So, when I use about 2 tablespoons of my less-dairy creamer, I'm getting the equivalent lactose of the amount in 3/4 of a teaspoon of milk. And I can just handle about that much at a time.

I realize that I'm probably the only one, here, who happens to keep a half-gallon carton of heavy whipping cream hanging around in the fridge. I do have unique circumstances right now, which are benefitting from the use of heavy whipping cream. But if you're inclined towards buying those flavored coffee creamers, keep this in mind for just after Thanksgiving, when you do happen to have some heavy whipping cream leftover. A 4-oz batch of this will only take about 1 ounce of heavy whipping cream, to add to 3 ounces of milk (any kind of milk, not just non-dairy). This will keep, refrigerated, for about 5-7 days (the soy version seemed to last longer than the all-dairy).