Food Friday - Lemon BBQ Mini Meatloaf

Welcome to Food Friday!  I'm slowly getting back on track and am actually cooking meals we'll eat :-) LOL  I had a "surprise" success this week with an old favorite.  We have several meatloaf recipes that we love and this specific recipe I hadn't made in awhile.  I had actually planned to make a differant one but I couldn't find one of the key ingredients that I thought I had on hand so I had to improvise.  Well, we might have this once a week because the kids inhaled it.  Yes. Inhaled. It. 

Lemon BBQ Mini Meatloaf
adapted from Lynnette McMaster (my sister-in-law)

These little packets of flavor are so good!!  The lemony flavor along with the sweet sauce make them hard not to inhale!  They are just plain yummy!

1 ½ pound ground beef                            

¼ cup lemon juice                                   
1 egg, slightly beaten
¼ cup onion cut small
1-2 teaspoons salt
4 slices of day old bread cut small (I usually use 1/2 -1 cup of seasoned breadcrumbs)
½ cup Ketchup
1 teaspoon dry mustard
¼ teaspoon ground cloves (I very seldom have this on hand so it is optional)
1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon all spice

6 lemon slices (I never put these on because I always forget to buy lemons!)

Combine first 6 ingredients and mix well – you will probably have to knead it with your hands.  Mix well and shape in to 6 individual loaves and place in a greased 13 x 9 pan.  Bake 15 minutes in a 350 degree over.  In a small bowl combine remaining ingredients except lemon slices.  Cover loaves with sauce and top each with a lemon slice.  Bake 30 minutes longer, basting occasionally with sauce from pan. (Honestly, I never baste them and they are fine!)  Serve sauce over loaves.

Randomness

I haven't done a random post in awhile and I'm not "feeling" my normal post for today on what I'm reading.  So, here are some random thoughts:

-- It's cold and I saw snow flurries today.  :-) :-) :-) :-)  I love snow not for any reason other then it is pretty.  I especially love the huge snowfalls we get sometimes on the weekend - the snows that start Saturday morning and go all day long, snowing us in even for just a day.  Then, to have a sunny day on the following day and see all of the crystals shining!  So pretty!!

-- Have you ever seen the Boz DVD's?  I discovered them by accident but my boys LOVE Boz.  As a matter of fact, we watch it every day .. over and over.  BUT my boys are starting to sing the songs and they are GOOD songs!

--Did you know Thanksgiving is next week?  Well.  It is.

-- Have you ever taken a "cyber" break?   I haven't.  I've thought about it but then remember something I need to go online for :-)  Some days I do try to shut the computer for more then an hour but, again, most everything I do is kept on the computer so how can I really shut it off?

--I love clean sheets.  Aren't they the best?  Sometimes I think I need 7 sets of sheets so I could put clean sheets on every single day but then I remember that I'm the maid and I really don't want to change sheets everyday :-) LOL

-- Lately, I've cooked some really awful meals.  Even things I've made many times have turned out awful.  I'm hoping that the streak has come to an end.  My kids ate the Lemon Meatloaf I made last night like it was going out of style.  Or maybe they were just hungry? :-)  (I'll share the Recipe on Friday since it was SUCH a hit!)

-- Recently, I made a list of things I needed to get done for upcoming events.  It's really helped me focus.  Now if I could only get the stuff done :-) 

-- I hate to admit this but I am SOOOO exciting to go shopping the day after Thanksgiving.  I haven't gone in YEARS but I get to go this year due to all of the kids being gone and my husband working.  The best part is I get up with my husband in the middle of the night so I'll just head out with him that morning instead of going back to bed.  I won't have much spending money but I plan on looking for some key deals and just enjoying the day :-)

-- I guess that is all - time to get the little Munchkin up and some snacks handed out.  He heads home soon and my husband will be home "early" tonight (like 5:00 instead of 6:00 ha) 

Enjoy :-)

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

Instead of doing a list this week of things I love, I thought I would share a link to Comfy in the Kitchen.  This post is a way she shares her testimony using just words, unspoken.  It's creative and it is powerful.  Beyond that I really loved the song that was being sung in the background.  Check it out and, if nothing else, just enjoy the music.

Enjoy your week!

Too Cute Not To Toot!

I must admit that I totally slacked off this week on looking for ideas.  I even, for the first time in a very long time (if ever) considered not even posting this weekly post but, I figured I would see what I can find while watching some Monday Night Football. 

I'll start out with and idea from Lines Across My face - the 13 days of Christmas  This idea is actually for hostess gifts but when I was looking at them I thought they would just make good gifts for friends or co-workers.

  Another idea from Lines Across my Face - 13 days of Christmas are these adorable burlap trees!

And. . .I'm done.  Wow, talk about being uninspired this week!  I know there are great ideas out there but I'm just not feeling inspired.  I think it is because I'm doing other things relating to upcoming events that I haven't taken time to focus on future crafts!

Pinterest Weekly Challenge - # 6

I'm enjoying this lovely Pinterest Challenge - I actually search for ideas to make sure that I get something done.  It is nice to have recipes to fall back on, I will admit, but I'm also accomplishing a few other things.

Throughout my "blogging career", I've seen lots of ideas for quiet books but have yet to make one.  In looking through ideas on Pinterest, I've come across some great ideas but, better then that, I've come across some fantastic tutorials.  How to Make a Quiet Book is my go to site because she explains every step.  I've decided to take the step and start this process of making two quiet books at one time.  Instead of focusing on the whole book, I'm focusing on one step at a time.  I will show you what I complete along the way and I can't wait until these are done so the boys can play with them.  My goal is to get one page done every 2 weeks (well, actually two pages but they will be the same . . . ).  So, this is my first step - I have to get some supplies. Fabric for the base of the pages and felt for my first page - the traffic light (Seen Here as Inspiration) I chose this one because it is pretty simple. 

I also have another simple project that I made this weekend that was inspired from from this Post on pinterest. 

Isn't that a neat idea?  Well, Darryl has headphones and cords that are always getting twisted together in his work bag and he just recently said he needs something to carry them in so  . . I bought a tin of Altoids this weekend while shopping and put this together.  I modge podged some scrapbook paper onto the top of the can.  It was that simple.  :-) I didn't take a picture though, because mine isn't nearly as pretty as this one but, I'll see how it works and maybe make a prettier one later :-)

One last thing.  I picked a new recipe to try for lunch with the kids thinking it would be something different to have.  The original idea comes from The Girl who Ate Everything and looks like this:

This is what mine looked like:

They did turn out pretty good.  The kids didn't even take a nibble of one (they ate their yogurt and cookies but no sandwich!).  I'm not a sandwich lover but I actually ate one and 1/2 of these so that is saying something.  I plan on making these again sometime when my husband is home because he loves things like this!  I did, obviously, cut this recipe down to 1/4 of the original recipe making only 6 sandwiches and it turned out fine.  Would I recommend these?  Sure - I noticed in the comments on the blog this recipe came from that a lot of people used different seasonings in the butter mixture you pour over the top so you could really change this up :-)

Have you made anything from Pinterest lately?  I'd love to see it!

Simplify Update - Scrapbooking Goals

See, I told you the last post wouldn't really be the final Simplify post!  This is just a little update of how I'm doing on those posted goals for Scrapbooking!

September 2011 - Finish 2010 Digitally and Updated our Family Album (pull the envelope and make sure that all of the pictures are in the album; file the duplicates for future projects) I did not set up this list until halfway through September so I'm actually working on these projects in October. I can say that I am halfway through December 2010 digitally and I am almost finished with Family Album project. We did just get a few family shots done last weekend which I need to order and then add to this as well.  Ok these albums are not put together yet; I had my order ready but then needed to order photos for Josh's birthday so these got put on the back burner.  My plan is to order them this next week so I have them for my scrapbooking day on November 29th.  I'm going to take the books with me to use as a break from digital scrapbooking throughout the day.   Also, I'm still working on Dec 2010 - I kinda lost the momentum I had but have started to pick it back up and really want to have December done before I go scrapbooking! 

 October 2011 - Do Jan-March 2011 Digitally; Christmas Ornament project - put pictures in kids 1st Christmas Ornaments; Update Josh and Nate's books (Pull envelopes and make sure all of the pictures are in the albums and file the duplicates for future use; order Josh's 3 year photos and put in his book as well); Order 20 pages digitally. I finished the Ornament Project   It was such an easy project, I just never took the time to do it! I will admit that I printed the photos of Nate from the computer so that they were done until I can locate and/or order the pictures I want. I didn't want to delay the project though (I should say they ARE the pictures I want, they just aren't on photo paper.) Also, I've almost finished up Josh's and Nate's books with the exception of the most recent photos from a week ago as well as photos from our last two shoots (I guess I ordered to give to the family but not for their books!). I will be ordering those this coming week and will update his book as soon as I get them! I need to finish up Dec/Christmas 2010 so I can start 2011. As far as ordering pages - I need to wait and see if I can fit it into our new budget yet; it might need to wait a little longer :-(  The same is true for Josh and Nate's books as what I stated in "September" - I will be working on these books on that Scrapbooking day.  I have not ordered pages - we've decided to earmark some Tax money at the beginning of the year so I can hopefully get just about everything ordered at once.  So, now, I REALLY want to have all digital stuff done so I can order all at once :-) 

November 2011 - Do April- October 2011 Digitally (there is one 12 hour crop that I will be going to which will help with this!); Finish Red Pet Album (before Kids, I did an album for our pets and they are so much fun but, now, I've found that it is easier just to do the pet pages in with the regular pages so I want to finish this album since it is for 2008-2009!); Alive Album - I originally started doing an album for all of my husbands concerts but, again, I found that this really isn't a great album and now I include the pages in our regular album so I need to decide what to do with the album I started; Order another 20 pages digitally. Since I am still working on Dec 2010 - I obviously haven't started 2011.  I am hoping to get Jan-April done when I go scrapbooking at month end.  I'm also hoping for a Friday evening of Scrapbooking with some friends in December, if we can work it out, where I can get more done.  The other two albums - the Pet Album and Alive Album, I just need to pull out.  I will also take the Pet album with me to try to finish on that day I keep talking about :-)  I think the Alive album is just going to "go away" :-)

So, that is where I stand right now.  Running a little behind but I'm not surprised.  I had a birthday party in October, then a shower to plan for November, Thanksgiving coming up, planning for some special December ideas plus another birthday and Christmas plans!   I still am hoping to be able to start Traditional Scrapbooking with the beginning of the new year.  I'm SOOOO ready to get back to paper and pictures instead of always being on the computer!

Happenings in this House

It's been quite awhile since I've posted a "Happenings in this house" post.  There is no reason other then I was posting pictures in other posts so I didn't really have a lot to share :-)  I went looking through photos from the month of November, since we are almost half way through this month and I'm going to post every single picture I've taken of our family.  Seriously.  Don't worry, there are only 4.  Can you believe it?  I did take pictures at a Bridal shower but that isn't my family.  I have no idea why I haven't been snapping photos other then life is pretty simple right now but, I also know the holidays are coming and there will be TONS of photos! 

This weekend, we stayed home.  We spent time on Saturday cleaning out stuff from our basement and finally getting the area organized that we had to "gut" due to mold.  We are done for now.  There is still more tear out that technically needs done but it isn't top of our list right now.  It's much more minor compared to the original project.  We took the  boys to get hair cuts (much needed haircuts!) and also Darryl and Josh cleaned up the garage so we can park a vehicle in there when the weather gets bad this winter.  That's it :-) 

 Josh has recently discovered that he can pull his shirt over his head and he has a "hat".  At first I thought he was saying he was "hot" and wanted his shirt off but, no, he was just having fun.  Today he discovered his hood on his sweat  jacket and thought it was fun to walk around with that on his head too.

 Reading.  Every day.  Many, Many times a day.  The boys LOVE to be read to - we hear "read, read, read" lots and lots throughout the day.  I think I have "Goodnight Moon" memorized now :-)  I'm not complaining - I'm glad that they to read.  I also catch them reading the books themselves which is just so adorable and yes, they have a few memorized too!

Today, while Darryl and I watched football, we set the boys up with their bean bag chairs and their current favorite video (Boz ABC and 123 - Boz videos are FANTASTIC!) using my computer.  They loved it and we actually got to enjoy football which has not been the case the last few weeks.  I must confess the first photo of Josh - we took to send to Jon Gruden.  He used to be a football coach and is now a commentator but we think Josh bears a striking resemblance.  We thought it would be fun to send him a picture :-)

So, that's what is happening in our house right now :-)