Dear Heloise: When my son came home for a visit, I made your Shrimp Dijon and he loved it! I have misplaced the recipe, but I want to make it again when he comes home from overseas. He’s served his country, now I want to serve him a dish he really likes. Would you repeat the recipe for me? — Hillary in Mississippi

Hillary, you’ll need:

1 1/2 pounds peeled, deveined shrimp

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

1/4 cup flour

1 1/2 cups milk

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 6-ounce package cream cheese, softened

Melt butter or margarine in frying pan, add shrimp and onions and saute for 3 minutes; DO NOT brown. Sprinkle flour into mixture, while thinning the mixture with milk a little at a time to avoid lumping. Add mustard, nutmeg, salt and pepper and cook for 3-5 minutes. Stir in cream cheese until blended, warm through but DO NOT boil. Serve over rice.

If you like this recipe and want more tasty meals to try, order my pamphlet “Heloise’s Main Dishes and More.” To receive a copy, visit www.Heloise.com, or send $3, along with a long, self-addressed stamped (70 cents) envelope to: Heloise/Main Dishes, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, TX 78279-5001.

Go ahead and enjoy your favorite dishes. As Erma Bombeck once said: “Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved off the desert cart.” — Heloise

LEFTOVER BREADS

Dear Heloise: When I have leftover hot dog buns, bread or stale dinner rolls, I tear them into pieces and put them in a food processor or blender. Then I pulse to make breadcrumbs for meatballs, meatloaf or casseroles. I package them up in 1 cup measures and put them in the freezer. — J.T., Dayton, Ohio

CAST-IRON SKILLET

Dear Heloise: I try not to use soap when cleaning cast-iron skillets, so I found that an easy way to clean a cast-iron skillet that has stuck-on food is to scrape out what you can, then add some water to cover the bottom. Return to the stove and heat up. As the water boils, it will lift most of the baked-on food with a little help from a plastic or wooden spatula. Let the pan cool before emptying, rinsing and wiping out residue. — Stephanie H., Rockingham, Vir.

BUTTERMILK

Dear Heloise: I love buttermilk but worry that it might be high in cholesterol. Is it? My husband and I are trying to reduce the amount of cholesterol in our diets for health reasons. — Suzanna in Maryland

Suzanna, buttermilk does not contain butter. The name originally was derived from being a byproduct of traditional butter making. The good news is that buttermilk contains a type of milk “fat” that can lessen the uptake of LDL (bad cholesterol), so go ahead and enjoy. — Heloise

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Hints from Heloise run occasionally in Lifestyles. Readers may send a hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795000, San Antonio, Texas 78279-5000, fax it to 210-HELOISE, or email: Heloise@Heloise.com. Letters won’t be answered personally.