Dear Heloise: I had a recipe using vinegar to clean my coffee pot, but I can no longer find it. Do you have a recipe? I know you run vinegar through it to clean it out and then run plain water about twice to eliminate the vinegar, but I cannot remember the amount. I read your column every day in the paper and hope you can help me. — Mary R., Abilene, Texas

Mary, to clean most coffee makers, run full-strength white vinegar (about 6 to 7 cups) through a normal cycle. But don’t go on autopilot and run it through your coffee by mistake! Follow the vinegar with several cycles of plain water. It’s that simple.

If easy and safe cleaning ideas are important to you, I recommend sending for my pamphlet “Heloise’s Fantabulous Vinegar Hints and More.” You can save a bundle of money by using vinegar in place of some very expensive cleaners, which might be very caustic to your skin and furniture.

To get a copy, simply go to www.Heloise.com, or send $5, along with a stamped, self-addressed long envelope to: Heloise/Vinegar, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001. You’ll be glad to have this handy reference tool in your kitchen drawer. — Heloise

CRANBERRIES

Dear Heloise: My husband loves cranberry sauce, but I wanted to make it a little more interesting. I added the juice of one fresh orange and a tiny amount of orange zest and mixed it all together. What a difference! The taste was so good, we’re having it at Christmas, too. — June F., Cumberland, R.I.

BANANA BITES

Dear Heloise: I had a hard time getting my kids to eat more fruit and less junk food. Finally, my own mother made a suggestion that worked wonders. She told me to take a banana and cut it up into bite-size pieces, then coat them in a thin layer of chocolate and freeze them on a sheet of wax paper.

Now I let them have a few at a time as a snack. This worked so well that I started doing the same thing to apple slices, strawberries and dried pineapple slices. I make sure the chocolate is only one thin layer, and it gets them to eat fruit. — Doria C., Salem, Oregon