How to take Ghost Pictures

I have been taking a photography class and learned a fun trick.  If you want to take a ghost picture here's what you need to do:

1. Set your ISO at 100

2. Set your shutter speed really slow 2''-5"' (the brighter it is, the faster you need to set it).

3. Set your camera on a tri-pod or other stable surface

4. Take the picture

5. A second later tell your subject to move.

If you want to make sure that your kids are never able to sleep again,  dress up like zombies and do this while they are sleeping.

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#21 Bake A Souffle

#21 on my 40 by 40 list was to bake a chocolate souffle.  I made some last Friday night while we were putting up the tree and followed this recipe here.  I think my family would all agree that this was their favorite of all my challenges.  

Totally yummy and well worth the 40 year wait.

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Crock Pot Meals That Don't Suck

As I said before, I fought buying a crock-pot for years for 3 reasons:
1. I had never eaten anything yummy from a crock-pot
2. I didn't want to give in to any Mormon housewife stereotypes
3. My kids won't anything that resembles soup or stew.

I finally gave in a few months ago and have been trying out several recipes and thought I'd report back. I'm putting them in order from our least successful to the most successful.

Slow Cooker Hoisin Shredded chicken with Asian slaw by Cooking Canuck.  

The chicken was way too salty and the slaw was tasteless.  I did leave out the cilantro (because it's nasty), so maybe that was the problem.

Six Sisters Slow Cooker Cashew Chicken

super salty.

Six Sisters 8 Slow Cooker Meals

We tried the ribs (greasy), chicken cacciatore (mushy and bland), and the broccoli Alfredo (mushy, watery, and bland)-my son lovingly referred to these meals as "crap in a bag". My kids hate taco soup and stew so I didn't try those.  The maple Dijon chicken looks like it may be ok.  If I try it, I will let you know.

Balsamic Chicken by the Crock Pot Exchange
Pretty good, although a little watery.  If I made it again, I would drain the tomatoes (at least one can). My father-in-law really like it, although he added BBQ to his serving- weird?


Crock-pot sandwiches are perfect for those nights that we all don't eat at the same time. I just make everything up ahead of time and people assemble a sandwich when ready to eat.

Meatball Subs-just throw some frozen meatballs and a jar of pasta sauce.  Cook for a few hours and then throw on a roll and top with cheese. Nothing fancy, but easy and cheap.  I can feed all 5 of us for $5. 
If we are all eating at the same time, I just heat it up in the microwave, but the crock-pot is just a way for me to have it hot for everyone, no matter what time they come home.

Pulled Pork and Coleslaw

Yummy and works with chicken too.

Buffalo Chicken with Bleu Cheese Slaw

I pretty much make this once a week. These would be great for tail-gating.

Buffalo Bleu Grilled Cheese

I had some chicken leftover, but ran out of buns. Most amazing grilled cheese ever!

C &C Marriage Factory's Balsalmic Glazed Pork Loin

Downright yummy.  I forgot to put in the soy sauce (I don't know if that made a difference).

Here's some more recipes that you could easily make in a crock pot:

Rouladen
This is my very favorite German dish!

Sauerbraten
This is pretty much everyone else's favorite German dish.  It's a tangy roast that just falls apart.  Mahlzeit!


There you have it.  I will come back and add to the post and let you know about my future fails and triumphs with my crock-pot.


To see where I link up or to add your party, please click here.

How to Clean Up A Crime Scene

source

I have a sweet friend Judy.  She is charming and delightful and always gives me a small gift when I visit her.  She is a widow and currently undergoing chemotherapy, but she is always going out of her way to do thoughtful little acts of service for others.  

On Friday morning, her son took her out to do a little Christmas shopping.  While she was gone, two jerks(I can't really think of a word strong enough) broke her front door down and robbed her.  They stole her jewelry (including her wedding rings), a TV, and a quilt.  She feels very blessed that she wasn't home.  

She called the police who came and dusted for prints.  I've seen them do this a lot on TV, but have never thought how to clean it up.  Finger-print powder is black, messy, sticky, and really hard to get rid of.  She tried several things, but nothing worked.  I read a few places online to try scrubbing bubbles.  It was amazing!  All the fingerprints came right off the furniture.  The police spilled some on the carpet, and that was more challenging. It only came out about 95%.  I used a little lemon oil as well and then busted out my rug shampooer. 

Overall, she was pleased with how it looked and even sent me home with chocolate. I just hop they can track down the thugs that did this and get her stuff back-especially her wedding rings.

PS: Scrubbing Bubbles didn't give me anything to write this-just thought I'd pass on a little info that I pray you never need to know.

Truvia® Gingerbread Cookies

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Truvia® Natural Sweetener for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

This summer during my 30-days no sugar challenge, I made epically bad cookies.  My kids still tease me about them. 

Searching for tastier ways to cut down my family's sugar intake, I have come across Truvia®Baking Blend.  It is all all natural sweetner with the same texture and sweetness of sugar, but with only 75% of the calories.  One 1.5 lb.bag ofTruvia®  Blaking Blend has the same amount of sweetness as a 3 lb. bag of regular sugar.  You do not need to go to any specialty grocery stores, it is available at most local grocery store chains.  You'll also  appreciate the closeable easy pour spout.  

Truvia® Baking Blend can be used in all of your holiday baking.  There are lots of great recipes here: http://truvia.com/recipes/.  I thought it would be fun to try the gingerbread cookies.

Gingerbread Cookies

 

¹⁄₄ cup Truvia^® Baking Blend
¹⁄₂ cup butter
1 ¹⁄₄ tsp ground ginger
1 ¹⁄₂ tsp ground cinnamon
¹⁄₄ tsp ground cloves
¹⁄₄ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
¹⁄₄ cup molasses
1 egg yolk
2 cups all-purpose flour

 

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1.Preheat oven to 350° F.
2.In a large mixing bowl, mix together Truvia^® Baking Blend, butter, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, salt and baking soda until combined. 
3.Add the molasses and egg yolk and mix well. Gradually add flour and mix until blended.

4.    Split the dough in half and wrap in plastic wrap.

5.On a floured surface, roll out half of the dough ¹⁄₄ inch thick, then cut with cookie cutter.
6.Place cutouts on cookie sheet and bake for 10–12 minutes.

7.    Allow to cool 5 minutes on pan, then place cookies on a wire rack to cool completely.

 

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Calories, 140; Total Fat, 7g; Saturated Fat, 4g; Trans Fat, 0g; Cholesterol, 25mg; Sodium, 120mg; Total Carbohydrate, 20g; Dietary Fiber, 1g; Sugars, 5g; Erythritol, 2g; Protein, 2g; Vitamin A, 4% DV; Vitamin C, 0% DV; Calcium, 0% DV; Iron, 6% DV. 

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*These cookies have 140 calories and 5 grams of sugar per serving as compared to the full sugar version that have 160 calories and 11 grams of sugar per serving.

Visit the Truvia® website for more tips and information on Truvia® Baking Blend

 

I was worried when my dough resembled brown sugar that I had done something wrong, but they turned out great. So don't be alarmed if your dough looks like the above.

 

Enjoy!

So what's you favorite holiday recipe that you could re-create using this great product?  Please share in the coments below.

HOOT Chocolate

I love to recycle a good idea and the owl treat bags from my daughter's b-day party are an excellent idea. (I originally stole the idea from the amazingly creative Lisa Storms). I thought these would be fun neighbor or teacher gifts. 

 For the Christmas themed bags, I made a PDF file, which you can find here . You can either use my PDF pattern or just make your own with scrapbook paper.

You can fill them with whatever you want, but I wanted to do a "Hoot Chocolate" themed bag.

Inside of the bag, I put some Chocolate Covered spoons (tutorial here), a bag of cocoa mix, and a label. Here's a PDF to the labels.

In case you need a Cocoa Recipe:

Hot Cocoa mix (taken from Better Homes and Gardens):
10 cups of powdered milk
16 ounces of powdered sugar
1 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 3/4 cup powdered non-dairy creamer
pinch of salt

Mix in a large bowl until combined. Add  1/3 cup mix to 3/4 cup hot water.

You could also say "A little something from our nest", unless you have any ornithologists on your list that know that owls don't really live in nests but in "cavities.

Or how about "We wish y'owl a Merry Christmas"?

UPDATE:  These would be perfect with these Owl Spoons.


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Bufflalo Bleu Grilled Cheese

Are you ready for the best lunch ever? 

My husband pulled his back out doing sit-ups during his annual PT test.  He came home bummed that instead of getting an extra day of leave for maxing it, he would know be faced w/ mounds of paper work and having to re-take it.  He was also hungry.

We had some left-over buffalo chicken and bleu slaw, but no more crusty rolls, just regular bread.  Using what I had, I whipped up a grilled cheese.  It was AMAZING.  
Butter 2 slices of bread.  Place cheddar cheese on one and chicken on the other. Grill.  Open sandwich and add bleu cole slaw.

Serve one one of your kid's plastic plates. Enjoy!

To see where I link up or to add your party, please click here.