Bacon and Bootie Slippers:

Bacon and Bootie Slippers:

I like bacon, but I do NOT like cooking bacon!  It’s messy and I seem to have grease everywhere.  I was talking to one of my long-time friends the other day about omelets, and she told me one of her favorites is a bacon and cheese omelet.  I don’t like eggs much, but my glucose numbers appreciate them!  My omelet of choice is usually mushroom and cheese or fresh tomatoes, herbs, and cheese.  I have been visualizing the flavor of Priss’s bacon and cheese omelet… and today I bit the bullet and cooked up a pound of bacon to use for omelets, green salad garnish, and other things. 

I sliced the whole pound, still layered as it was in the package, into about ¾” slices and put them into my “omelet for one” pan on medium heat.  I covered it for the first few minutes until the bacon

warmed and the slices began to separate into pieces.  Then I continued cooking it on medium heat, draining off the fat a couple of times, until the pieces were crispy but not cooked hard.  I drained the cooked pieces and put them on a paper towel to absorb more of the grease.  It worked out very well.  I’ll store the bacon in my refrigerator and enjoy it without having to go through cooking it every time.  I’ll keep the bacon grease to use in cooking.  That pound of bacon yielded EIGHT OUNCES of grease!  My husband used to love bacon grease spread on home-made bread, liberally salted!  I never tried it, and doubt I ever will.  My lunch was a bacon and cheese omelet.  Here’s how I make mine.

Omelet:

Lightly beat one or two eggs in a small bowl with a fork.  Beat in a bit of salt and pepper, and about a

Tablespoon of whipping cream.  Pour into a small non-stick pan, coated with about a teaspoon of butter or bacon grease.  Cook over medium to low heat, lifting up the edge of the omelet and tipping the pan so the egg on top runs to the bottom of the omelet.  When the egg looks mostly cooked, I spread the filling on one side of the middle, then flip the part without the filling over the other half.  Cook a few minutes longer, to melt the cheese and/or warm the filling.  Slide the omelet onto a plate and enjoy!

For a mushroom omelet, sauté the sliced fresh mushrooms in about a Tablespoon of butter, then remove them to a small dish, cook the omelet, and then fill it with the cooked mushrooms and some shredded cheese. 

  For a tomato omelet, sauté a chopped Roma tomato with basil, chives or green onion, sometimes adding other herbs.  The tomato filling is spread on the omelet and topped with shredded cheese.   A Bacon/Cheese omelet is made the same way, with about ¼ cup of cooked bacon bits and a small handful of shredded cheese.  A ham and cheese omelet is made the same way, using diced ham in place of the bacon.  

It turned out great, and I liked the bacon and cheese combination so much I made a grilled cheese sandwich for supper… with a slice of American cheese, a slice of Hot Pepper cheese, and bacon pieces in the middle.  I thought I had invented something new, until my sister told me her friend has been making those grilled bacon and cheese sandwiches for years!

My Minnesota grandchildren were here with me for a few weeks again this summer.  They didn't want to do any sewing projects this time, preferring to just relax and unwind by playing video games and watching movies.  Of course, Charlotte and Quentin had their cheese omelets nearly every morning.  Some things never change! 

I had knit slippers for the children, and they loved them!  It’s always fun to make things when they are so much appreciated.  Here’s the basic pattern I used… I experimented and used more or less stitches and rows to vary the sizes.  The slippers shown at the left would fit a large man, a baby, and a 2 or 3 year old.

Knitted Bootie Slippers:

Size 10-1/2 circular needless (I made two slippers at the same time)

Knitting worsted weight yarn, 2 strands used to knit the slipper.

This pattern makes an adult medium size (about a woman’s 7 to 9), but size depends on type of yarn used and can be varied by using more or less stitches.

Cast on 60 stitches for each slipper.  I used 2 separate balls for each slipper, doing them at the same time.  This way, they will look the same, if you make a striped pattern or vary yarns.

Knit 10 rows.  This garter stitch section will form the bottom of the slipper.  If you want a wider slipper, you could knit 12 rows in garter stitch.  A child size might only be 6 or 8 rows of garter stitch.

Next row: 

Row 1:  Knit to half the stitches, minus 3.  With 60 stitches, that means knit 27 stitches,

Knit 2 together, purl 2, knit 2 together, knit to end of row.

Row 2:  Purl 26 stitches, Purl 2 together, knit 2, purl 2 together, purl to end of row.

Repeat these two rows, always using one less stitch to the center section of each row, until 30 stitches remain (half the original amount of stitches).  For example, row 3 would be 25 stitches before knitting 2 together, row 4 would be 24 stitches, etc.  You are decreasing 2 stitches on each row.

End on a knit row.

Cuff:  Knit every row for 8 rows.  Bind off the 30 remaining stitches on each slipper.  Sew bottom and back seams.  Here are photos of the grandchildren in their slippers... Ava's are lavender, Quentin has the purple slippers and Charlotte has the pink, of course. 

 

I have wanted a yarn bowl for a long time, but they are not cheap.  I recently saw a wooden yarn bowl on sale, but when I looked at the dimensions, it was only about 6” across.  Then I saw a tip on using the little paper clips on a container to keep the yarn separated… and it works like a charm.  Here’s a photo of my NEW AND IMPROVED yarn bowl (or basket).  I had originally bought the clips to use for sandwiching quilts, but they weren’t big enough… now I have a use for at least a few of them.  

I would rather come up with a unique idea any day than spend a lot of money on something marketed to make me want to buy it! 

I've been marathon watching episodes of Outlander… for the second time.  I watched them when they were first aired, but like a lot of things, much of it was forgotten.  I tend to listen to TV while I am sewing!  On this second time around, I am picking up things I didn’t catch the first time.  It’s a wonderful historical drama about time travel and Scotland in the 1700’s and all the political strife between European countries at that time… marking the beginning of the end of the Highland Scottish clans and their way of life.  The scenery is hauntingly beautiful, as is the background music, and the romance is a bit more graphic than I’m used to, but… it hasn’t given me a heart attack yet!  The series is based on novels written by Diana Gabaldon, and a friend recommended it to me when it first was being aired on Starz.  I just noticed the first season is available on Netflix, but both seasons are still “on demand” on my cable network.  If you are in the mood for some escapism… this might be a good place to start your journey.