As Seen on Pinterest - by Improv Kitchen How to make Bacon the easy way

You my have seen this on Pinterest, how to make bacon the easy way.

The claim is you bake the bacon in an oven at 400 for 20 minutes turning over half way through, but don't preheat the oven. You should get crispy bacon with little mess and no grease splatter.

Well I tried it. And my results are... AMAZING! Not only was it easy but it was the best bacon. It wasn't burnt or done in the middle and not on the ends. My only complaint was I couldn't fit the whole package of bacon on my cookie sheet...I guess I need a bigger sheet to bake my bacon on. I did line my sheet with foil like the directions suggested and it made for easy clean up. Oh and I cooked sausage this way too and it was awesome!

 

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As Seen on Pinterest- Skinny Chicken Pesto Bake | Skinnytaste.com

So I decided I'd try this recipe I saw on Pinterest. I altered it a bit. The recipe called to cut the chicken to make it thinner but I took my meat hammer and pounded the chicken down. Then instead of making the pesto I spread an Italian Herb spread that was pre-made.

 

then you bake for 15-20 minutes at 400 making sure there's no pink in the middle. Then you top with sliced tomato and I used a slice of mozzarella cheese and bake for an additional 3-5 minutes.

And the results are...okay. My husband scraped off the hot tomato and ate the chicken with lots of hot sauce. I thought it was good, and my 7 year old ate the tomato and cheese then a few bites of chicken.

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As seen on Pinterest- shower cleaner

You may have seen this on Pinterest. Take a sponge wand, fill the wand with half Dawn soap and half vinegar and clean your shower.

 

My mistake was putting the vinegar in first. Once I saw the vinegar dripping out of the sponge, I felt like an idiot! I should know better.

 

Once I put the dawn in I could add the vinegar without it leaking out through the sponge.

 

Here is my dirty, hard water stained glass door.

 

Here is my clean glass door!

And my results are....great! Very easy to use and clean with. I used Magic Easers before and I will say I love both but using the wand really tackled the hard water stains. I would definitely use it again.

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Dog Ice Cake

So I saw this awesome idea on Pinterest. Make an ice block with dog toys and treats in it. I was upset when the link associated with the picture didn't work so I decided I'd put my college education to use an come up with my own process.

First I got out my silicone cake mold. Then I filled it with tap water and placed it in the freezer. After an hour I checked and there was a thin layer of ice on top. So I broke a dog bone in half and placed it so part of the bone was sticking out. Then I let it freeze all the way.

Once it was completely frozen I took it outside with my dog. I peeled the ice out of the cake mold and placed it on the ground.

And the results are... A nice outside treat that kept my dog busy for 20 minutes!

 

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Glow Jars

If your on Pinterest you may have seen these. I followed the directions from http://www.intimateweddings.com/blog/diy-glow-jars-tutorial/

The website claims that they take 2 minutes to make and last for an hour. I bought glow bracelets from Target for $1 and found an old jar in my cupboards. I took two bracelets and cut the tips off and shook the contents into the jar. Liquid came out and so did glass tubes...so this should really be done by adults.

 

To get most of the contents out it took me 5 minutes.

The glowing lines are the tubes of glass. Then the website said the dump the tubes of glass into the garbage and swirl the liquid the make lines in the jar.

My garbage glowed! Then I put the lid on the jar and watched it glow.

At the bottom you can see I didn't get all the glass pieces out...I thought they were cool.

The jar above is after five minutes the drip lines are gone.

The picture above is after 30 minutes.

And my results are...it was fun and I'd do it again even though it took over five minutes and only lasted 30 minutes. Next time I'd leave the all the glass pieces in the jar cause they glowed the brightest.

Space Bags

 

So I'm moving soon and I decided to give Space Bags a try. If you watch tv you most likely have seen the Space Bag infomercial, if not they claim to triple your storage space. So I went to www.spacebag.com and ordered some for $19.95 by the time I completed my order I spent $50! A storage bag-box came free with the $19.95 order but I had to pay extra shipping for that and shipping for the bags even though they came in the same box. Plus the site asked if I wanted to make my bags deluxe which meant larger, and I did.

Here are my clothes to go into the space bag 

My clothes in a space bag

 

My clothes in space bag after vacuuming out the air

 

And my results are... Okay. I only noticed it only tripled the storage space for 1 bag containing pillows and blankets, other wise it only doubled the space. Plus I didn't realize you need to store your bagged stuff in another container, which most of the bags didn't fit into boxes or storage containers easily even the one they sent for free. I would not suggest using these long term...I can only imagine the wrinkles. After a week I did notice one of the bags not in another container grew in size so if you use these without another container really make sure they are sealed right.

 

August 2012- Update

So when I tested these it was June. I moved into my new house in July and after using them for both travel and moving I can honestly say I would never buy them again. When I traveled they worked great until I wanted to reuse them to travel to a different location and they would not seal air tight again. When we moved they again worked great for packing and I think would have held better if I placed them inside other containers. I had many ripped bags. Those that I did place in another container worked great until I tried to use them again. So in conclusion these are 1 time use bags not worth your time or money.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Emi-Jay

I first saw Emi-Jay's at the child salon where my son gets his hair cut. Then I saw them in a magazine. What is an Emi-Jay? It a new kind of hair tie. The claim is that they don't cause the "line" that other hair ties cause.

First I started with freshly dried and straightened hair.

Then I chose a Emi-Jay and tied it in my hair going around it twice (I have thick hair).

Then I cleaned my house and played with my son. Four hours later I took out the hair tie. And my results are....

Great! I did see a slight indent but nothing like what I've seen with other ties. If you look at my first picture and then my last you might see it too. I definitely suggest Emi-Jay hair ties. The website www.emi-jay.com suggests not getting them wet, and I do suggest not using them for working out...they will stretch out faster.

 

Hard boiled eggs in the oven

I saw on Pintrest a post about hard boiling eggs in the oven. The claim is that they not only taste better but that they are easier to peel. So I tried it. I placed 3 eggs in a muffin tin baked them at 325 degrees for 27 minutes. The directions said to bake for 25-30 minutes so I choose a number in between.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And my results are...I loved it! The yolks were creamier and the were definitely easier to peel. One of my eggs cracked at 26

minutes so I do suggest baking them for 25 minutes. I do think we need to change the name to Hard Baked Eggs.

 

August 2012 update

So I tried these again and it didn't turn out as good as the first time. I heard that if you use old eggs they peel easier than new...so I wonder if I was using old eggs. I still like that the oven cooks them evenly and what I have found is that if you peel them right after cooking they peel easier new or old.

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