A Spoonful of Sugar...

Well, a ton of brown sugar...makes anything delicious. Here is a "new" recipe. I wanted to make a meatloaf for dinner but I wasn't sure if Pat was a fan, and I, for one, am not a HUGE fan of the same old, mundane, tasteless, bland meatloaf that calls for salt, pepper, an egg and oatmeal smothered in ketchup to hide the fact that its mushy and has no flavor...NO NO NO, this is a special meatloaf. Here is the basic recipe...

• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3/4 cup saltine crumbs, finely crushed

Directions:

1. 1
   Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. 2
   Lightly grease a 5x9 inch loaf pan.
3. 3
   Press the brown sugar in the bottom of the prepared loaf pan and spread the ketchup over the sugar.
4. 4
   In a mixing bowl, mix thoroughly all remaining ingredients and shape into a loaf.
5. 5
   Place on top of the ketchup and bake for 1 hour or until clear juices appear. 
6. 
   

I made a few "alterations and additions". I put about 1/4-1/2 an inch of brown sugar on the bottom of the pan. Instead of just ketchup, I mixed in some of 'Tony Roma's' Original Bar-B-Que sauce and covered the brown sugar with it. In the actual meat, I added some green bell peppers and celery (which I chopped up in a food processor) and also put a little bit of the Tony Roma's sauce in it, as well as a little bit of fresh garlic (only a little bit, though). 
It only took about 45 minutes to cook, so, with 15 minutes left, I put a little bit of my ketchup/bar-b-que mix on top of the meatloaf and let it finish cooking..... 
We also had sauteed spinach and fresh green beans that were boiled with salt, pepper, and BUTTER----YUMMO

OH EM GEE---Ask my hubby...it was delicious.
Try it for yourself--Add your favorite things or take out some...
One thing I LOVELOVELOVE about cooking is experimenting. When you know the foundation to a recipe--you can taylor it to whatever mood you're in....Hope you enjoy this one.

Come In For A Tour

So, a lot of people have been asking to see where I live now. I guess I am a little far away from them so they can't stop over for a visit. Soooooo...I took a few pictures of my project. In Ryder's room, I am still waiting to find a small bookcase and a dresser. (As of now, all of his clothes are hanging up in his closet and it is packed!!) In the living room, I'm still looking for end tables and a coffee table and in the kitchen, I'm looking for 2 large/tall bookcases. (You'll see all the stuff I'm waiting to put on the bookshelves)

Our little kitchen

(I'm boiling Ryder's bottles to sterilize them)

Our Kitchen Table

(I'm waiting on Pat to put those boxes in our storage in the garage)

This is going from the kitchen to the living room, there is a little area where we have a table and keep Ryder's toys.

(As of now, I'm storing things there that I want to put on bookshelves)

This is going from the living room into the kitchen

(More books for the bookcases)

This is our living room. We use the blankets to wrap Ryder in when we put him down.

(I had just gotten him to go to sleep--He is in the swing on the right under the tan blanket :-) )

Our Bed

(There is a bedside table on the other side)

Another veiw of our kitchen

All of my KnickNats:)

My Sink-this goes from our room into our bathroom

My closet is on the other side of it

Our Bathroom

This is a little nook in the hallway that we are using as a bookshelf and Ryder's changing area

Some of Ryder's Toys

(PS-I hate the way Blogger uploads pictures--not in order)

Walking into Ryder's room

We love Deer

We have a twin bed in his room in case we have a visitor from the other side of the country:)

Thank you GranJan for the sweet cross we hang on Ryder's door

Thank you Melissa for this sweet initial:)

Where Ryder sleeps

Sweet baby deer looking through his crib:)



Settling In Again....AGAIN

IN THE BEGINNING, Pat and I had a baby...little baby Ryder. At the time, and for the next 3 weeks after, I lived behind my sister and brother-in-law's in an apartment. It was PERFECT for me. 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom and a little kitchen...then came baby...and husband...and then my mom. It was not big enough for all three of us (in two different combinations) and I had to begin the journey to meet my husband at our home on the other side of the country...
So, I picked up all of my stuff--with the help of my mom, dad, brother and sister, and "moved" to Orlando, FL so the rest of my family could see the little baby bear. I had just had a c-section, so I didn't really have to pack or clean much--everyone else did that for me :)I was thankful for the help--but it still felt like a lot of work...
Then, I got to Orlando and had to figure out what I needed and unpack it all and organize it in the room I grew up in. It was nice to be back "home" with my family. (It was so hard leaving my in-laws and we all cried, but I knew it was a step closer to being with my husband.) My mom was there to help me with Ryder, except from the hours of 10pm-5am haha. If I had a question, she answered it and she gave me a lot of good advice on what to do with this new baby.
One month later, I found myself at the airport at 4am...YES-4am. I had been packing the week before because I was FINALLY on my way to my husband! YAY...this is what I had been waiting for for the past 10 months since we found out I was pregnant.
When I finally got to MY home, I was unable to set up all of my stuff and Ryder's stuff and everything had a place and it stayed in it's place and stayed organized...WHOOOO my parents would be proud of me. Then, 36 boxes of STUFF showed up at my door...OMG-I had forgotten about all of this stuff...I mean, did I really need all of this if I had just gone a month without it?

Now this is what my place looked like a few days ago. I've gotten most everything unpacked (only 2 boxes left) and Pat has thrown the boxes out. Everything is almost how we want it.
I want to go around to some garage sales tomorrow and look for a bookcase to put some of our miscellaneous items on and a dresser for Ryder's room....When EVERYTHING has a place and is put up and clean-I'll take some more pictures of the FINAL PRODUCT. It does look amazing so far---just not as complete as I want it. I'm excited for the project ahead:)