Oven Fried Bacon

Today, class, we're gonna learn us how to make some oven fraahhhhhed bayyycon!  This is my favorite way to do it because I can actually cook other stuff while it's cooking.  I also like that it stays relatively flat this way.  It's totally crispy because you don't get a lot of 'waves' in your bacon that are rubbery like pan-fried.  Here's how you do it.

Go to the fridge and look for your bacon.  Realize you forgot to thaw it last night and say, "Oh, crap!"  Go to the garage, get your bacon out of the freezer and throw it in the sink.  Cover with warm water.  Wait 15-20 minutes.  Get yourself a nice cup of coffee and read the paper while you wait.

Now, I want to show you something about this bacon.  See that?  In the upper, right hand corner.  That says "Lower Sodium".  I don't necessarily WANT Low-Sodium bacon, but I did want sugar-free bacon.  (Been avoiding sugar and grains lately...long story)  Anyway, if you have a diet requirement of LowSod, Kroger sells one (shown below) that is pretty decent, but you get the added benefit of no sugar. Everyone could use a little less sugar, I suppose. Unless you're a sour puss, then by all means, buy the Brown Sugar cured bacon...mmmmmmm.   If you do not require low sodium, you may actually want to SALT this bacon after it gets done cooking.  Yeahhhh, it's kinda bland.  On with the show...Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Like I really need to show you this, but you take kitchen shears and cut around 3 sides of the package. Who knows, maybe someone in a remote country is reading this and thinking...I never knew!!!

This next part is optional, but I like to think it makes things go faster.  I cut the entire package of bacon in half.

Line a sheet pan (or two) with aluminum foil.  Be sure your foil is wide enough to have an edge sticking up on all sides.  We don't want the bacon grease to get under the foil, making us have to clean a skanky pan!  God forbid!  Of course, you really should clean your pan anyway, but who wants to scrub scrub scrub?

Next, lay down your bacon in tidy little rows, being sure not to overlap. If you are worried about your bacon splattering (it really doesn't that much), you can always put a piece of foil on TOP of the bacon, too, but I find that it takes longer to cook and doesn't get as crispy due to the steaming effect inside the foil.

UPDATE!  I am a total liar!!!!  It splatters like the dickens!  You just don't know it until after you've done a few batches in a row!  See my oven cleaning recipe HERE.  What was I thinking?!

Pop both trays in the preheated oven.  I like to stagger them a bit. Set the timer for 10 minutes.  It will not be done in 10 minutes, but that's a good starting point.  My bacon is very thin. 

Check every couple of minutes after that. 

 

Your bottom tray will quite obviously cook faster than your top tray as it is closer to the heating element.  See the difference?  I sometimes switch them around at this point.

I take them out when they look golden brown, not too dark.  They tend to be a little more 'done' than they look, so err on the side of caution.  Boy, those little guys shrink up a lot!

You'll want to remove them immediately to drain on paper towels.  Be sure to blot the fat off the top, too.  See that big puddle of bacon grease?  Don't throw it out!  Strain it through a coffee filter into a container and keep in the fridge.  Makes a great oil to cook your eggs in, make a bacon vinaigrette, or to cook green beans in.  That's the way Grandma woulda done it!  No waste!

Serve your bacon up with 'Leftover' Eggs and you have a high-protein, low-carb, veggie-filled lovely brekky!  Yum!

 

 When you've had your fill of bacon, store it in a baggie and throw in the freezer.  So handy to be able to just grab a couple of pieces for breakfast or to add to a recipe.  You can either nuke 'em for a few seconds, or do like I do... When I get done frying a couple of eggs, I throw the frozen bacon in the pan and it's hot and crispy in a couple of minutes.  Shoot, you don't even have to thaw them or crisp them.  Half the time, I grab a frozen one and gnaw on it, lol.  I'm serious....they're good!

Stretching your fabric softener

Here's a handy dandy way to stretch your fabric softener, but still get that lovely scent you know and love.
You'll need:

Ingredients:
2C of your favorite Fab Softener
4C White Vinegar
4C+ Tap Water
A large, empty old Fab Softener bottle

Start by pouring your fabric softener into the empty bottle.  Not to be confused with stool softener, although I could use some of that.  I know, I'm gross.  The time away did nothing for my demented sense of humor, lol!  Try not to look at the crusty state of my bottle.  I said DON'T look!  Thank you!

Next, pour in your vinegar.  Did you know that if you wanted to, you could JUST use vinegar to soften your clothes?  Yup, it's true!  It does smell a little vinegary when you take the clothes out of the washer when you choose that option.  But I promise you, all vinegar-laden underwear smell nice and fresh when done in the dryer.  It's true!

And lastly, add in your water.  Depending on the size of your container, you may need to add more.  I want to think I had to add another 4C to fill it to the top.  

Now, pop on the lid tightly and give it a gently back and forth shake to mix the ingredients together.  

Notes: 

The good news about this stuff is that you only need about 1/2 a capful for the whole load, maybe even less.  It is watery, but that's okay.  When I had our washer repaired, the technician told me that he hates the commercial fabric softeners because they are wayyyy too thick and they contain a lot of FAT/OIL!  Fat and oil?!?!?  Yup!  You should have seen how disgusting that was under the fabric softener thingy when he took it apart.  It was white (which is the leftover fatty stuff once the good smelly part washes away), with a bunch of black mold under there (which is the fatty part going RANCID!!!)  Ewwwww!!!  SSSooooooo disgusting!  He suggested that when I use commercial fabric softener, to water it down 50/50.  I had been doing that, but I knew I could do it even cheaper, hence this recipe.  Now, you will see online where some people suggest using cheap hair conditioner instead of fabric softener. Don't do it.  It never emulsifies with the other ingredients, no matter how much you shake that baby.  It just floats around in little chunks.  With this recipe, I haven't even had to shake the bottle before pouring.  Comes out great every time.   Costs a fraction of what it used to and clothes still feel and smell great!

Hey there! How are ya?!

Hi everybody!  Sorry it's been so long since I've posted!  I'm still having some computer troubles, but I can at least post.  My big hard drive is apparently fried, so I'm using a smaller one that originally came with my computer.  The bad news...the fried hard drive...it has ALL of Tommy's pictures on there from the day he was born until present!  While I have printed off as many pix as we could afford in the past, it doesn't even come close to what is on there. Not that I would print every one, but you know what I mean.

I had everything in separate files with the event, holiday, sport, etc...so organized and unlike me, lol.  The good news?  The computer guy can send the hard drive away to a place that does a sort of hard drive surgery, where they go in a sterile environment, somehow remove the files/data and put them on either a new drive or maybe a disk, not sure.  Data recovery, veryyyy expensive...$600 minimum.  Do we have it?  Nope!  So, the computer guy is just hanging on to my hard drive until we have the funds to do it. 

I'm so sad.  The lesson learned?  Either print out your favorite pix or upload them to someplace online (which I'm assuming means God and everybody can see them) or burn them to CDs or a flash drive.  Since the pictures are not replaceable, we're just going to have to save up the money.  This is part of the reason I haven't posted in so long.  A lot of the recipes/projects I last did for this site are ON that hard drive.  I have started a few new projects and hope to start posting a little more frequently.  Thanks for your patience.  Have a very happy Thanksgiving!

Homemade Magic Shell

Do you remember that chocolatey liquid stuff you could pour on ice cream and it would harden, creating a delicious little shell?  Kinda like a dipped cone at DQ?  Well, you can make your own at home with just two ingredients!  Here's how:

 

Ingredients:

2T Pure Coconut Oil

1/3C Chocolate Chips (I used mini ones)

In a glass measuring cup, add the chips and coconut oil.

Pop it in the microwave for 2 minutes (I used 90% power), 

stirring every 30 seconds.  It will feel really watery at first.  Mix well.

It will thicken quickly.  Scoop out your favorite ice cream and pour on top.

It will start out shiny.  Wait about one minute and it will start to turn dull-looking.

After it's set, crack your spoon in top and eat!

Notes:  

Clearly, if you are allergic to coconut, do not make this, lol!  If you are not allergic to coconut, but don't care for the taste of coconut, this probably is not for you. It does have a nice coconutty chocolatey taste, but I think less is more with this.  The serving you see above was wayyyy too much 'magic shell'.

How does it work?  Well, coconut oil is solid at room temp, but melts at 76 degrees, I believe.

When you heat it up, it's liquid.  When it hits the cold ice cream, it goes back to solid.  And here

we thought Magic shell was, well, magic!

The bad news, coconut oil is fat.  The good news, it's a good fat as far as fat goes!  You can fry food in it, eat it as a supplement, or use it as an ingredient as above.  You can also use it as body lotion it you want to smell like a coconut all day, lol!  I tried it the other day and was surprised to find that it really didn't smell very good when first applied.  As the day went on, it smelled really good, like a day at the beach.  My son hated the smell and kept telling me to take a shower, lol!  It really made my skin so much softer than normal lotions, too.  I noticed that on my hands, my cuticles softened enough where I could push them back easily with my fingernails and they stayed soft.  My heels softened a lot, too.  The moisture seemed to stay in my skin rather than dissipate as with regular lotion.  Very interesting!

Now, coconut oil IS expensive!  The jar you see above cost about $12.  Yikes!  The good thing is that you use it sparingly and it lasts a long time.  When I put it on my body, I probably used 1/2t per leg!  And I have fat legs with lots of surface area, lol!  The above (approx 1/2c) batch of Magic Shell cost about $1 to make.  I'm assuming that's cheaper than the store-bought stuff, but I don't buy it, so I'm not sure. Either way, it was a fun and tasty experiment!

My little boy scout!

Tommy decided he wanted to do Boy Scouts, so here he is in his new uniform.  Today, the children were to wear their uniforms to school in remembrance of 9/11. Since the 11th is on Sunday, they are wearing them today.  He was so excited this morning!  Let's hope he comes home with all of the expensive little parts and pieces, lol! What does this have to do with saving money?  Well, a friend whose son has been a scout for years suggested that we buy his shirt extra large so he can make it last for the two to three years he's a tiger cub. We did that.  The neckerchief shouldn't make a difference unless it wears out or gets torn.  The hat...well, we bought the largest they had and it fits perfectly right now.  You can't really tell in the picture because he's wearing it like Elmer Fudd, lol!  He has a BIG head with lots and lots of brains in there!  We're hoping we can make it last.  If you've ever seen my husband, you know what a basketball head he is, and this little apple didn't fall far from the tree, LOL!  :)

The gross hair-collecting experiment

Okay, so this is totally gross, but I'm just gonna show ya anyway because that's the way I am....gross, lol!
I have been losing hair over the last three years pretty steadily without any hugely noticeable difference for some reason.  I just assumed my hair must grow really fast.  The gal who used to cut my hair made a comment (last year) that she thought in the time she had been cutting my hair (two plus years) that I had lost about a good 25% of my hair.  Nice, huh?  Depressing!  Anyway, this last year, I have seen a drastic increase in my hair loss.  I decided to conduct an experiment to see just how much.  I used the upstairs bathroom to bathe every day since no one really uses it and it's out of sight from any visitors.  I did not vacuum  the carpet up there for a whole month.  Ewwwww....I know!  I also cleaned out my hair brush before this experiment.  Then I used it for a whole month to see how much accumulated in there.  Well, after 30 days, I scraped my hand across the carpet, gathering as much of the fallen hair as I could.  That's the hairball on the left.  The glob on the right is the hair from my hairbrush.  Gosh...I wonder how much is in the drain!!  That's a 2oz cup to compare.  Is it just me, or is this totally excessive?!

 

I'm starting to see a huge difference in the thickness of my hair now.  You can see my scalp in the front.  This is very disheartening.  I just had some blood tests done a week ago and you guessed it...everything came out perfectly!  Not that I was hoping something would be wrong, but it sure would be nice to have a logical explanation for the extreme hair loss.  At this rate, I should be bald by this time next year, lol.  I'm laughing about it, but I'm not so sure it's not the truth.  My guess is that it's stress.  We've had a lot of drastic things happen this last year.  Here are just a few:

My husband totaled my car.
Our basement flooded.
Our A/C in the house went out.
My husband hit a turkey, yes a TURKEY, and detached his headlight assembly.
My van's a/c went out and had a leaking axle.
My husband's car got hit by baseball sized hail while parked at the airport.
My son fell straight on his head from the monkey bars on the first day of school.
ER visit, X-rays, Orthopedist, Chiropractor Visit...he's finally back to normal.
And there's the ongoing financial struggle from a failed family business.

Luckily, most of the above tragedies have worked out well, so I can't complain.  But I do believe the hair loss is due to constant stress.  Anyway, if you have any good hair remedies, please let me know.  I can't afford the hair club for men, LOL!  But I could use a few prayers if you have any extra to spare!  Dang!  In the old days, I coulda sold this stuff to the local wig maker, lol!

The Lettuce Stump Project Update

UPDATE:  Well, my poor little neglected lettuce stump never did develop into the lovely little romaine heart I had hoped for!  Instead, it's spindley and sad.  My husband said he went to a farm one time where they told him they only harvest lettuce three times, then it's done for.  I guess I got the 3rd cutting.  Either that, or this experiment is a total flop, lol!  Here's the sad little devil.  I still don't have all of my programs in my computer (like my photo editing software), so my pix will be worse than usual, lol!   :)

 When my husband and I first got married, I had a marvelous garden!  It was a dream garden, I swear!  Imagine....Four 6 x 6 one foot above ground boxes, all planted in tiers with tallest items to the North and shortest items to the South so the East to West sun could hit it all day, all in square foot gardening fashion.  Never heard of it?  Google it!  You'll be wondering why you ever wasted so much space doing traditional gardening.  I sure miss that free, organic home grown produce! Since having my son, he's always kept me so busy, I felt I didn't have time for a garden. Well, he's finally calmed down enough that I think I can handle it now.  Too bad it's too late in the season to start.  I have dreams of starting my seeds indoors come this next March!

Anyway, let's get to the real reason for this post.  As I was making a salad to go with my  homemade Hamburger Helper the other day, I got to thinking about my old garden, missing the home grown lettuce that was so mild and tender.  Not at all like the tough and bitter greens you get at the store.  I had purchased a 3-pack of Romaine hearts at Aldi and decided to cut them all up and clean them all at once.  As I was stuffing the stump (root) end of the lettuce back into the bag to throw away, two of them fell out on the floor.  Turns out there was a hole in the bag.  I threw them in the trash and as I grabbed the clean one out of the sink, I thought....wait a minute!  I remember when I had my lettuce in my garden and I was always amazed at when you cut the lettuce off at soil level, a few days later, you could harvest more all over again!  I love that about lettuce.  It's the gift that keeps on giving.

I took the last stump (probably should've grabbed the ones out of the trash, too) and cut off the root end to get a clean cut.  I put it in a small glass of water on the sink, below the window.  I was hoping it might sprout some new leaves like my old garden used to.  I could have sworn I took a picture of the first day, but it turns out, I can't find it.  Anyway, you can imagine that it was cut straight across the top like a lettuce flat top haircut.  Below is a picture of the same lettuce 24 hours later.  It actually grew between 1/4-1/2" in a day!  (See how it's mounded in the center!) I was so excited!  I'm not sure I'll have enough to make anything out of it, but it's a fun experiment!  I'll keep you posted as to how it grows for me. I'm not sure it's necessary, but I've been changing the water each night. Pretty cool, huh?  Man, that sure was a long story for one little picture.  Thanks for indulging me.  (Okay, let's ignore the dead leaves on the sunflower plant that my son brought home from summer school)