Bakin’ Bacon

 

This is a great way to cook bacon and I am surprised more folks don't do it this way.

   I just line the bacon up in a baking sheet, Sometimes I will add brown sugar on top (careful with double dipping! sprinkle, then rub. do not put hand back into sugar) or sprinkle with a pepper blend (only a little, the flavor condenses as the bacon shrinks).

The brown sugar is my favorite I have to admit. Do *not* drain it on paper towels (when it cools the paper sticks to it and you end up picking bits off the bacon and out of your mouth).

When I make pepper bacon I use the Sam's club 5 pepper blend. It is in a big plastic shaker but it does condense so go easy. Also I think it has salt in it so it is not so good with salty brands of bacon.

I bake it at 350 or 400. Just keep an eye on it. Nothing worse than burned bacon smelling up your house. Here it is cooked about half way.

 

There is no splatter or mess to clean up like when you cook it on the stovetop. I drain the grease into a container. And if you have a large gathering (like we often have on Sundays) this is something the kids can help make and ya just keep re-filling the pan to make more.

You can use the drippings to cook your eggs or just pour them into old plastic containers for the trash (that’s what I do to preserve my septic tank. I freeze the containers and toss them out the day before trash day).

And I tend to reuse the same tinfoil a few rounds before changing it out.

A friend uses her broiler pan so the grease drips to the bottom.

I like to set my timer as a reminder. I cannot tell you how many pans I have burned because I was busy multi- tasking and forgot about it.

Wish I could sew!!

I bought a couple of pillowcase dresses off Etsy. I really like the thought of upcycling vintage pillowcases. Plus you can wash the heck outta them and bleach them and they still hold up great. I have to say I do not like the grosgrain ribbon ties kind. But I found a few sellers who make fabric ties. This is my fave!  

You can find tutorials here, and pdf patterns and directions there and blog posts. But I like the ones that are more pleated than gathered and with fabric ties instead of ribbons.

I also thought for sure my little kidlet would gnaw on or fiddle with or untie the ties so I am tying them more on the back of her shoulder blades instead of on the tops of the shoulders.

st pat’s printable’s etc

 

http://www.coloring.ws/patrick.htm – alphabet dot to dot, color by letter & more

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/ - cute worm & bow tie & more to color

http://www.thekidzpage.com – online games to play

Today we made 2 batches of Kool-aid. First a red one – we measure out the water and sugar and usually the kid stirring counts to 100 but he is too good of a counter so now I try and make them do it in Spanish. Then we added green food color paste. It only made it darker red.

Then we made a lemonade (again measuring and stirring and adding green. Viola!! It turned green!!

Later we are making sugar cookies (from a mix) and will drink green milk with them.

Felted Cat Balls

ok- Bear with me here.This post will definitely add to my Crazy Cat Lady persona but is not as odd as the title sounds.. 

I use a Furminator comb on my pets. Kinda pricey (check ebay!) but it works great!. It actually combs out the fluffy underfur if you know what I mean. So I was thinking about how this fur mats into balls and thought I would try making one by hand.

I am not a felter at all so I was totally winging it based solely on a bit of a Martha show I remembered where she made felt mittens out of wool fluff.

  So I took all the fur and put a drop of liquid soap in it and a dribble of water and just rolled it in my hands- adding water as needed.

Rolling, rolling, rolling, rolling. . . . Before long, it was tightening up nicely and when it was a tight little ball I rinsed and blotted and squeezed and rolled it some more on a towel.

I was  thinking I did not want it smelling like my Bath & Body Lime Verbena hand soap so I rolled it on the cat as I was petting her – to make it smell more like her.

The cat went nuts with it! Prrt-ing and  meowing at it, batting at it and tossing it in the air – MUCH bigger reaction than with other toys.

I then made this one from another of my cats to take the pictures and, surprisingly, the fur felted differently. Not as tight and with some hair poking out a bit. Next time I will try to comb her belly more. But she loved her ball, too and it reminded me of how she plays with those tiny very expensive little fur mice I buy her once in a blue moon (she destroys or looses them within minutes!).

Then I thought I should see if I did it right and found out this is not a new idea. There are videos (although I prefer my ball shape to his cigar shape), other tutorials (I have no patience to dye them but cute idea) and sculptures (I’m not that talented).

So, it is not as weird as it sounds. Try it and drop me a line on how your cat likes it.