Semi homemade bacon bits

In my search for healthier food and spending less on groceries, we are a family of 7, I've been experimenting with things I can make myself rather than buy them. In our family we LOVE bacon and bacon bits, we are getting our own pigs this year and I can't wait for the bacon from them. I set out to figure out how to make bacon bits. Sure it sounds easy but to get a good flavor and to get them to keep wasn't as easy as I had thought.

I decided is cut the bacon into 1/4-1/2 inch sections and fry them that way, we usually cut our bacon in half when cooking it because it fits in the pan better that way. I put the bits into the frying pan and seasoned them with fresh ground black pepper, I wasn't sure about how it would taste so I only threw in about 5 pieces to start. I removed the bits from the pan and put them on a paper towel and waited a few minutes and tries one. This was the moat delicious piece of bacon I'd had in a long time. I continued to fry the rest the same way, eating about half of what I cooked while making it, I couldn't resist it was that good.

I then waited for then to cool and become dry from dripping and put them on a paper plate and rolled a glass over them. I like my bits small so I did this a few more times and peppered them again. The end result was supposed to be Bacon bits for a while with freezing them BEFORE I crushed them but they were just that good that there weren't any left. I did however use some in the homemade baked potato soup I made while making the bacon bits. DELICIOUS!

All in all I believe I've found our new bacon bits :)

What would my family do without all my homemade goodness?

Crochet Freeze Pop Holders

With the warn weather approaching the sounds of summer are creeping up upon us it is inevitable that freeze pops will end up cluttering my freezer.  I figured it was time to get a jump on the summer crochet projects before I'm too overwhelmed with them and just don't do any. So I crocheted some freeze pop holders for my kids today. I will be making mine without a bottom, the kids did request bottoms so the freeze pops don't fall out. I guess it each their own, no reason to argue with a kid about it, I just made theirs with bottoms.

I do realize that Spongebob doesn't have his mouth or teeth, I'm not sure I'm going to add them to be honest. I figured the eyes were enough as I didn't want the kids picking at it and ruining it. We will see if they complain or just are happy with it. Should I add them on I will add a picture to this post :)

I'm pretty happy with the way they came out to be quite honest. I made them on a whim watching TV. I told one of the kids I'd make them an Angry Birds one. Not sure which character from there I'm going to use yet but I'll give it a try.

I will be making a few sets of these and posting them for sale at JuliAtopiA on Facebook.

Fun fact: My children did not know that there was a pink freeze pop because I always ate them without them ever seeing them. They aren't quite tall enough to see in the freezer so I'm good for a little while longer :)


WHAT DO YOU CALL A FREEZE POP?
            (Shown in the top picture)

Homemade Swiss rolls or Hoho's

Have you noticed the price on Swiss Rolls/Hoho's going up almost every time you go to buy them? Well, now you can make them at home, cheaper and probably healthier than the store bought ones... And with you choosing the filling the possibilities are virtually endless, peanut butter, nutella, frosting, strawberry jam, anything you can think of.







Last night I made the brownies from scratch, will link to the recipe, and pit them in the fridge for the night. This morning they were nice and cooled off to finish the process of making Swiss rolls out of them.







-Cut the brownies into about 12 squares, more if they're thicker brownies and less is they're really thin.
-Place them between wax paper and roll them thin, not too thin. (I didn't have wax paper so I used foil and spray flour, you could use cooking spray or butter.)
-Remove one layer of wax paper, the top piece, and spread with your favorite  topping. I used fluff today because that's what the kids asked for. You could use a homemade frosting, I have a recipe I'm going to use later with them.
-Roll it up like a pinwheel. Make sure to remove the wax paper from the bottom when rolling the brownies up.
-Enjoy! :)

Testing the Blogger Android App

Testing out the Blogger app on my Droid. Got a replacement phone and had to start all over, my stuff wasn't transferred over.


Here's a picture:



This chicken is Valentine - a Splash (I believe) Silkie. I've had bad luck hatching Silkies and out of 30 eggs this is the ONLY one to hatch :(. Its name is Valentine because I got this batch of eggs for Valentines Day.