I go back to school tomorrow after being off for the Easter holiday and Spring Break. While I most definitely didn't get everything I wanted to accomplish checked off of my list, it was a productive break!
On the upside...only 34 more days left of school, per my favorite school bud.
Lots to do this week! Opening Day is Saturday!
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Dinner Tonight - Pioneer Woman Meatloaf
I've been pretty good lately about trying new recipes, etc. Tonight I tried the Pioneer Woman's Meatloaf. Thumbs up! The only thing I did differently was use leftover cheesy garlic biscuits from Easter. I'm out of bread!
- 1 cup Whole Milk
6 slices White Bread
2 pounds Ground Beef
1 cup (heaping) Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/4 teaspoon Seasoned Salt
3/4 teaspoons Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1/3 cup Minced Flat-leaf Parsley
4 whole Eggs Beaten
10 slices Thin/regular Bacon
Sauce:
1-1/2 cup Ketchup
1/3 cup Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Dry Mustard
Tabasco To Taste
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour milk over the bread slices. Allow it to soak in for several minutes.Place the ground beef, milk-soaked bread, Parmesan, seasoned salt, salt, black pepper, and parsley in a large mixing bowl. Pour in beaten eggs.
With clean hands, mix the ingredients until well combined. Form the mixture into a loaf shape on a broiler pan, which will allow the fat to drain. (Line the bottom of the pan with foil to avoid a big mess!)
Lay bacon slices over the top, tucking them underneath the meatloaf.
Make the sauce: add ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, and hot sauce in a mixing bowl. Stir together. Pour 1/3 of the mixture over the top of the bacon. Spread with a spoon.
Bake for 45 minutes, then pour another 1/3 of the sauce over the top. Bake for another 15 minutes. Slice and serve with remaining sauce.
Serving Size: 8
Number of Servings: 8
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Review - Good Life Cafe
I had lunch with my chicas Tuesday at the newly opened Good Life Cafe'. It's nestled between Ridgewood Tap and Twisted Q on Ridge Road. It was a winner!
As soon as I walked in, I was welcomed from behind the counter. It's fresh and has a fun menu full of dishes that are named after special people close to the cafe'.
OK, and this is kind of geeky, but I felt sorta fancy with the glasses our drinks were served in. While they have a wide variety of libations, I hit the hard stuff out of the gate....Diet Pepsi! Come on, I'm on Spring Break! I'm allowed to live a little, right? Anyhooo, the glass reminded me of the ones we used in my house growing up.
Even geeky-er...it was good ice! I'm a dork, I know. Fancy glasses and good ice??? I'm in love!
Two of us had the Spinach Salad with strawberries, pecans and a raspberry vinaigrette. Oh yeah, it had bleu cheese crumbles as well, but I tend to avoid bleu cheese at any cost. I try, really...but GAG! My other friend had the Spicy Chipotle Turkey Wrap. It was a nice size, but wasn't ginormous and awkward to handle. She gave it a thumbs up!
We talked to the Assistant Manager, Christina for a bit and she told us about all the fun things they have going on. The 3rd Sunday of the month, they have a wine tasting! Sounds like fun to me!
They're open early for the breakfast crowd and there was some decent seating. One of the things that caught my attention was the sandwich special they have. It's a half sandwich, drink and a bag of chips for $5. I immediately thought of beach days. I'm not a huge Subway fan and Jimmy Johns (Vito...YUMMMM!!) isn't typically open when we trek out to the beach in the morning. Guess where I'm picking my lunch from?? You guessed it!
So...give the place a try! It's definitely a fun place to grab lunch or a light dinner with friends!
The Good Life Cafe'
As soon as I walked in, I was welcomed from behind the counter. It's fresh and has a fun menu full of dishes that are named after special people close to the cafe'.
OK, and this is kind of geeky, but I felt sorta fancy with the glasses our drinks were served in. While they have a wide variety of libations, I hit the hard stuff out of the gate....Diet Pepsi! Come on, I'm on Spring Break! I'm allowed to live a little, right? Anyhooo, the glass reminded me of the ones we used in my house growing up.
Even geeky-er...it was good ice! I'm a dork, I know. Fancy glasses and good ice??? I'm in love!
Two of us had the Spinach Salad with strawberries, pecans and a raspberry vinaigrette. Oh yeah, it had bleu cheese crumbles as well, but I tend to avoid bleu cheese at any cost. I try, really...but GAG! My other friend had the Spicy Chipotle Turkey Wrap. It was a nice size, but wasn't ginormous and awkward to handle. She gave it a thumbs up!
We talked to the Assistant Manager, Christina for a bit and she told us about all the fun things they have going on. The 3rd Sunday of the month, they have a wine tasting! Sounds like fun to me!
They're open early for the breakfast crowd and there was some decent seating. One of the things that caught my attention was the sandwich special they have. It's a half sandwich, drink and a bag of chips for $5. I immediately thought of beach days. I'm not a huge Subway fan and Jimmy Johns (Vito...YUMMMM!!) isn't typically open when we trek out to the beach in the morning. Guess where I'm picking my lunch from?? You guessed it!
So...give the place a try! It's definitely a fun place to grab lunch or a light dinner with friends!
The Good Life Cafe'
Harden Family Fire Fund
On April 9th, the Harden family lost everything when their home caught fire on the corner of 191st & Center Ave. Many of you know the Hardens because of their involvement in the community. Calvin Harden has been the president of Homewood Baseball & Softball Leagues for the past two years and gives countless hours to the organization and children in our community. The Hardens are also very involved in the music program in District 153.
The Harden Family Fire Fund has been established at Chase Bank (183rd & Dixie) and is accepting monetary donations at this time. You can also donate to the account via PayPal. If you would like to help, please use the link below or stop in at Chase Bank.
The Harden Family Fire Fund has been established at Chase Bank (183rd & Dixie) and is accepting monetary donations at this time. You can also donate to the account via PayPal. If you would like to help, please use the link below or stop in at Chase Bank.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Vocalpoint - Free Motts for Tots!
Are you a member of Vocalpoint? You should be! Sign up here and get yourself a free Motts for Tots! You have to register with Vocalpoint first. If you aren't familiar with Vocalpoint, it's a site where you can take small surveys, try new products, etc. and share with other members your thoughts.
Summer!
Well, I guess I've been out having too much fun! The past few weeks have been so much fun and the next few weeks don't appear to be any less entertaining. I've been to the beach, the Cubs game, in a parade...the list goes on! Super fun!
On my summer bucket list was to blog more often, as well as try lots of fun new recipes and share with you. Well, unless you call putting relish instead of ketchup on my hot dog down at the baseball fields a new recipe..I've failed miserably. I did manage to make a mean panzanella salad and a bruscetta platter last weekend that got rave reviews, so I feel like I haven't failed myself miserably yet. There is still at least 6 more weeks of summer vacation left. I'm on it!!!
Stay tuned....I've got to do something coupon-y or food-ie soon!
On my summer bucket list was to blog more often, as well as try lots of fun new recipes and share with you. Well, unless you call putting relish instead of ketchup on my hot dog down at the baseball fields a new recipe..I've failed miserably. I did manage to make a mean panzanella salad and a bruscetta platter last weekend that got rave reviews, so I feel like I haven't failed myself miserably yet. There is still at least 6 more weeks of summer vacation left. I'm on it!!!
Stay tuned....I've got to do something coupon-y or food-ie soon!
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Great Weekend!
It has turned out to be a really nice weekend. Thursday morning started out with big storms and massive rain. Check out our flooded street...(ironic that there is a boat parked across the street, huh?)
Thursday night, Brian and I went to see Kenny Chesney. It was his Father's Day gift (and maybe just a little bit for me, too..haha). I had no idea until around 3pm that day that Uncle Kracker was opening for him. Holy Smokes...UNCLE KRACKER!!!! If you know me, you know I have a bit of a thing for him. I was stoked!!! Even though it was like 52-freaking-degrees, it was still fun! I'm getting old, though. Kenny didn't even come on until 9PM. Maybe if I wasn't frozen by 7:30, I would have had a better attitude. Anyhow...it was still fun! And Uncle-Freaking-Kracker was there!!!! I tried to get some pictures with my phone, but I didn't really get anything good.
Friday was just a lazy day. It was nice because we didn't even leave the house all day. I had one of those total ADD days. You know, the kind where you start something and then it's a domino effect? It was 3:30PM and I was going to make homemade pizza for dinner. Aurelio's uses dried mushrooms on their pizza and Brian really likes it. So, I'm making my list for the store and open the cabinet to see if we have mushrooms. Ugh....I swear, this cabinet hasn't been cleaned out once since we moved here eight years ago. You know what's next, right? Yep...I then decide that the cabinet needs to be cleared out and re-organized right there at that moment. So out everything comes.....
So I successfully threw out a boatload of spices, seasonings, 1/3 used pudding packs (for my Mom's awesome Pecan Coffee Cake) and all sorts of other random items. I'm a happy camper now. I can see what's in there! And yes...we had mushrooms. TWO packs! However, by this time, it was well past the time to begin dinner. I know.......it's shocking that I would get side-tracked on 15 other things before the cabinet was done. We got some carry-out from Cilantro with a gift card we've had forever. Productive day!!
Saturday Jack had a game and then it was off to the Oyster's house for their annual Bean Bag Tourney. We had so much fun! While the guys were playing bags, the girls wound up playing Kick The Can with the kids out in front. I hid in a bush for what seemed like FOREVER and I'm pretty sure I had bugs and who knows what else in my hair by the end of that game! It was all worth it, though! We had some good food, fun times and Brian even won 3rd place in the bags tourney. Unfortunately, Jack's game didn't go so well. He got a couple of nice hits, though. And of course the time I'm actually standing by the plate with the camera, he gets a walk! Oh well..here is a picture of Jack watching the ball...haha!
And finally, today...Sunday. Made some blueberry pancakes for breakfast, some cupcakes for no particular reason, and now that it's been established how many packages of dried mushrooms I have, we were finally able to have that homemade pizza for dinner tonight. Jack rolled out all the dough for me. It thought maybe that would be an incentive to actually eat some. No dice. That kid is so damn picky!!!!
And that's it....after heading down to Izaak to catch a game, I'm home. And i'm tired! G'Nite!!
Thursday night, Brian and I went to see Kenny Chesney. It was his Father's Day gift (and maybe just a little bit for me, too..haha). I had no idea until around 3pm that day that Uncle Kracker was opening for him. Holy Smokes...UNCLE KRACKER!!!! If you know me, you know I have a bit of a thing for him. I was stoked!!! Even though it was like 52-freaking-degrees, it was still fun! I'm getting old, though. Kenny didn't even come on until 9PM. Maybe if I wasn't frozen by 7:30, I would have had a better attitude. Anyhow...it was still fun! And Uncle-Freaking-Kracker was there!!!! I tried to get some pictures with my phone, but I didn't really get anything good.
Friday was just a lazy day. It was nice because we didn't even leave the house all day. I had one of those total ADD days. You know, the kind where you start something and then it's a domino effect? It was 3:30PM and I was going to make homemade pizza for dinner. Aurelio's uses dried mushrooms on their pizza and Brian really likes it. So, I'm making my list for the store and open the cabinet to see if we have mushrooms. Ugh....I swear, this cabinet hasn't been cleaned out once since we moved here eight years ago. You know what's next, right? Yep...I then decide that the cabinet needs to be cleared out and re-organized right there at that moment. So out everything comes.....
So I successfully threw out a boatload of spices, seasonings, 1/3 used pudding packs (for my Mom's awesome Pecan Coffee Cake) and all sorts of other random items. I'm a happy camper now. I can see what's in there! And yes...we had mushrooms. TWO packs! However, by this time, it was well past the time to begin dinner. I know.......it's shocking that I would get side-tracked on 15 other things before the cabinet was done. We got some carry-out from Cilantro with a gift card we've had forever. Productive day!!
Saturday Jack had a game and then it was off to the Oyster's house for their annual Bean Bag Tourney. We had so much fun! While the guys were playing bags, the girls wound up playing Kick The Can with the kids out in front. I hid in a bush for what seemed like FOREVER and I'm pretty sure I had bugs and who knows what else in my hair by the end of that game! It was all worth it, though! We had some good food, fun times and Brian even won 3rd place in the bags tourney. Unfortunately, Jack's game didn't go so well. He got a couple of nice hits, though. And of course the time I'm actually standing by the plate with the camera, he gets a walk! Oh well..here is a picture of Jack watching the ball...haha!
And finally, today...Sunday. Made some blueberry pancakes for breakfast, some cupcakes for no particular reason, and now that it's been established how many packages of dried mushrooms I have, we were finally able to have that homemade pizza for dinner tonight. Jack rolled out all the dough for me. It thought maybe that would be an incentive to actually eat some. No dice. That kid is so damn picky!!!!
And that's it....after heading down to Izaak to catch a game, I'm home. And i'm tired! G'Nite!!
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