Grandma "D" Meatloaf

Hi too all of you! Since the weather has been on the cool side here, I've started cooking more, which makes my hubby very happy these days! Today I'm going to share my recipe for my Grandmother's meatloaf. It is the best, well my family thinks so, in fact, they get down right mad if I even mention that I would like to try a different recipe! So you will have to be the judge on if you like it or not. I can understand why some people don't like meatloaf after taking pictures of making it for the blog, doesn't look the yummiest, but boy it sure is yummy after it is cooked!!OK, here we go. In a large bowl, add--eggs, milk (I mix them together first),cracker crumbs, onion, salt, pepper, sage and ground beef.

Mix all together really well, I use my hand, but only my right hand, in case the phone rings, got to be able to answer it! Now put it into a greased (I PAM mine) loaf pan.

Set it aside while you mix the topping ingredients together. In a cereal bowl, add sugar, nutmeg and dry mustard. I mix this until there are no lumps of dry mustard left.

Than add your ketchup. Mix well.

Now pour and spread it all over the top of your meatloaf.

Bake for the time stated. After it is done, take a turkey baster and remove any grease that has collected in the bottom of the pan.

Let set for 5 to 10 minutes to let the juices settle in the meat. Cut and serve.

Hmmmm......now doesn't that just make your mouth water?!! Oh and my hubby just loves to use the leftovers for meatloaf sandwiches! Enjoy. Oh, I will share my mashed potato recipe with you soon.

Meat Loaf

2/3 cup cracker crumbs

1 cup milk

1 1/2 pounds ground beef (I use 93% lean)

1/4 cup chopped onion

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground sage

Mix all together and pat into a greased 9" x 5" x 3" loaf pan. Set aside and make topping.

Topping

3 Tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup ketchup

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon dry mustard

Mix together and pour over meat loaf.

Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Serves four.


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Good-bye to Our Sweet Molly

Good-bye, sweet Molly we will all miss you so much. You were our gentle giant and you gave us unconditional love for the last 12 1/2 years. We were so lucky to get you from the family that could no longer keep you and you brought so much joy and happiness into our lives. Now you and Samantha can run and play, once again, with each other. Until we see you again, love you mu;ch.

Love from your human "pack".

Remembering 9-11

A short video I would like to share with you http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7b2ZTlWiOg&feature=player_embedded

Mary

Baked Potato Bag

Do you have trouble making a really good baked potato in your microwave? Boy I use to, until my mom told me about these baked potato bags. My mom received one of these bags from her granddaughter, Jennifer, last year and was just going on about how good your potato comes out. Well, I don't know about all of you but when I try to make a potato in the microwave it either comes out all shrivel up or still hard in the middle. So when I got home from her house, I did a "google" search and found all kinds of ideas on these bags. I must say though, that after reading what some people had to say, I was also scared to try these in the microwave too! I guess if you don't use the right kind of fabric/batting, they can start a fire or scorch! Hmm....
Well as you can see I decided to give it a go and hope my husband didn't kill me for messing up the microwave.

YOU MUST USE 100% COTTON FABRIC, COTTON BATTING, COTTON THREAD and COTTON FLANNEL. This is very important in making these bags. They also suggested that you only use them in microwaves that have a turntables too.
You can make sweet potatoes, corn on the cob. You can reheat biscuits, rolls, tortillas, sweet rolls, etc.

To make your potatoes: wash the potato and dry with a paper towel, wrap the potato in the damp paper towel you just used. DO NOT POKE HOLES IN THE POTATO. Pop into the bag and put in microwave. Bake for 4 to 8 minutes, depends on the size of your potato, checking every 2 minutes and turning the bag over every 2 minutes, until you squeeze it and feel it give some. I let mine sit in the bag for 2 minutes after removing from the microwave. DO NOT use the bag over and over to cook many potatoes. The bag may overheat and scorch or start a fire. Heat it only ONCE, then let cool COMPLETELY before using again. Wash the bag if soiled, dry before using. Do not use fabric softener.

Here is where I found the directions for making my baked potato bags:
http://www.threadsmagazine.com/item/5585/baking-potato-bag

Now I've made my bags two different ways, one with the cotton batting and one with cotton flannel fabric. The two that I made with cotton batting I gave to my daughter to have. Than I looked at my mom's and the one she had didn't have any cotton batting in the middle, her's just had cotton flannel fabric on the inside and cotton fabric on the outside, so that is what I did with the ones in the pictures.
You can make these bags to any size you would like, the one's in the pictures are small, just right for one potato for a single person. I cut the material at 9" x 16".

I must say that the ones we had last night for supper were very good! Of course, that was after I put about 1/4 stick of butter and some sour cream on mine!!
To see a video on how to use one of these bags go to this link and scroll down:
http://www.potatobakingbag.com/index.htm

Thanks for stopping by to see me!!
Mary

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How to Separate Eggs with a Funnel

Hi everyone!! I hope you all are finally cooling down, we are here in the Midwest this past week and it was wonderful!! Now that the weather has cooled down some I will be doing more cooking and hope to share some of my homemade creation will all of you. But for now, I wanted to share with you a cool tip that I found at Stacy Makes Cents HERE. This seems like a very useful tip and I hope you all find it helpful too!

Thanks for stopping in to visit with me, have a great week-end! Mary

Happy Labor Day

I hope you all have a safe, happy week-end filled with lots of good food!!

Mary

Tangy Buttermilk Cheese Bread in the Bread Machine

Oh my goodness, I can't believe that I haven't been on here for some time! Sorry about that! We finally got some cooler weather, in the high 80's and hubby and I have been busy in the yard trying to make it look nice again. Oh, and we finally had some much needed rain too, woohoo!
Today I want to share with you a recipe that I found on Allrecipes.com. You can see the original recipe HERE I found this recipe back in 2007 and have enjoyed making it ever since and even in the summer too! First you need to put your yeast, sugar and warm water together so that they get all happy!

See how happy they got! This will make your bread rise so you don't want your water too hot or too cold or your yeast will die.

Now put your happy yeast mixture into your bread machine pan and all the rest of your ingredients in the order that your bread machine tell you too.

I set mine at 1 1/2 pound loaf, white, light crust. After the allot time, this is what I got! Oh, boy does it ever smell good too! YUM!!

Here is what the inside looks like, yes, the cheese does disappear. This is good warm with butter on it, toasted with butter on it and I've even made grilled cheese sandwiches with it too!

Hope you give this yummy bread a try!

Tangy Buttermilk Cheese Bread

1 1/8 cup buttermilk**

3 cups bread flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

3/4 cup sharp Cheddar cheese, (I just go ahead and use one cup of cheese)

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Place ingredients in bread machine pan in the order suggested by the manufacturer. Select White bread setting. Start

This makes a 1 1/2 pound loaf of bread.

**I use 1 1/8 cup water and 4 tablespoons of powder buttermilk

Thanks for stopping by to see me, please come again!! Mary


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Fleece Blanket

Oh, this is probably not the time of year to show how to make a blanket, it's only 100 degrees and heat index of 107 here in KC, but this is also the time of year the fabric stores seem to run really good sales on fleece material. So first off, I'm going to show you possibly the worst picture I could take of the material I used. Ugh...I just hate when that happens. As you can see it is for the University of Missouri team. I made two of these, one for each daughter. The youngest one has season tickets for MU games this year and I thought she would like to have a nice, soft, warm blanket to take to the cold football games.
First you need to cut off the selvage edges, as you can see this had one that was over an inch wide!

Do this with both pieces of material. Oh, I used 1 1/2 yards of each but I probably could have used 2 yards each, as it is just a tad too short for me, I'm 5' 7" tall.

Than I laid the material out on my dining room table, wrong sides together, yes, what I'm going to tell you what I did, was probably alot harder than what I should have done, but this is the way my brain said it would work best. Than make sure everything is all even and straight, yes, I did have to cut more off around the sides and end to make it nice for sewing. Than I pinned around the whole middle of the blanket, to keep it from moving.

Now I didn't do what everyone else does when they make these, I didn't cut fringe and tie them, I seem to have issues with fringe, so I went a different route.

Then I proceed to turn under both edges and pin it all the way around the blanket, heck what else do I have to do, right...lol!

Next I sewed around the whole blanket. I'm always afraid that my seams will come apart, so I always check them, which was a very good thing I did, because I found a couple places that I didn't catch. So I proceed to put my machine on zig-zag and go around the whole blanket again! That time it did the trick! I also sewed in three different place from one side of the blanket to the other so that when it is washed it will stay together in the middle and not pull out.

There it is all done and both girls were very happy to get them! Those fleece blankets are so warm....gee, I think I need to make myself one for this winter!

Now try and stay cool! Thanks for stopping in to see me and I enjoy any comments that you leave too! Have a crafty day................Mary

Dessert Cake

Hi everyone! Hope all is well and that you are staying cool, we are having a heat wave in my part of the country. Today I want to share with you a recipe that I got from my mother along time ago. It is my dad's favorite, as well as everyone in my family too! I think if you try it you will see why. So let's get started, shall we.

Below is a picture of the ingredients that I used, recipe will be at the end of the post. My mom is a diabetic, so she used all sugar-free products and it still taste the same. The very first thing you need to do is drain your pineapple before you start anything else. The pineapple needs to be well drained. I use pineapple in it's own juice. Sometimes I will save the juice, other times not, you choose what you would like to do. I let it drain for around 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Now take your Jiffy cake mix, water and egg and put it into a large bowl, you'll see later why I use such a large one.

Mix together for two minutes. Pour into a greased 9" x 13" cake pan, and bake for 15 minutes. Take out of the oven and cool.

See how much juice I collected from my pineapple. I like to save it and drink it, YUMMY stuff and it is good for your digestion too!

Now spread your well-drained pineapple on top of the cooled cake.

Set aside for now. Now take your room temperature cream cheese and your hand mixer and blend it to make it creamy. Now gradually add your 1/2 cup of milk to the cream cheese, mixing the whole time you add the milk. Add milk gradually or you will have lumpy cream cheese. I used a medium/small bowl for this.

See this is how it should look after all of the milk is added.

Set this bowl aside and get the large bowl and add the 2 1/2 cups of milk. Now with your hand mixer on low, gradually add one package of pudding, when that is all mixed, add the second package of pudding, continue mixing until the pudding start to set- up a bit, probably around 2 minutes. This should prevent any lumps.

Now pour the cream cheese mixture into the pudding mixture and stir to thoroughly combine the two together. That's why I used the large bowl.

Now spread this mixture over the pineapple/cake.

Now spread your carton of Cool Whip over your pudding mixture. Put into the refrigerator and let set up for 3 or 4 hours. I usually make this the night before I need it.

Keep refrigerated until serving time. ENJOY!!

Refrigerate any left-overs. This holds well for 3 or 4 after making, if it last that long!

Dessert Cake

1 package yellow Jiffy cake mix- follow the directions on the box to make and bake, but bake in a greased 9" x 13" cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 mins. Cool

Add on top:

1 - 20 ounce can crushed pineapple, drained well

Then mix together and set aside:

1 - 8 ounce package cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup milk

Then mix together:

2 1/c cups milk

2 small packages INSTANT vanilla pudding mix

Now pour the cream cheese mixture into the pudding mixture and combine well. Pour over the pineapple and cake. Spread Cool Whip over top. Refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours before serving. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Serves 12

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Broccoli Slaw Aka Asian Slaw

Hey everyone! Are all of you staying cool and hopefully dry too? We are hot, hot, hot here in my part of the world, but it is almost the middle of July, so what do I expect?
Today I'm going to share with you a recipe that I found over on Splitcoatstampers. What you say, a recipe on a stamping web site?? Yes, they have a forum on there where they hold recipe swaps that you can sign up for and some of the people will share pictures of their recipe swap cards too. This recipe on SCS was called Asian Slaw. I copied off the recipe and made it exactly as it was written. Well, we thought it was too salty and peppery too, so I made a few adjustments to the recipe and tried it again, and this is what we call a winner!

First you need to mix together, packet from the ramen noodle, pepper, salt and sugar. Stir it all together and mash any clumps down, so it it nice an smooth....

Than add your apple cider vinegar and oil. Mix the dry with the wet, stirring to incorporate the two together.....

Now set aside for three hours. Alot of times I will do this part the night before and put the lid on my container and leave it out on the counter top overnight. Yes, you can do that and it will not spoil as all of the ingredients are those that sit in your cabinets anyway, besides, I have put this mixture in the refrigerator for three hours and have come back to a solid mass. Than you have to let it get warm up again so that is melts enough to be able to mix the dressing with the other ingredients, so I just leave it out.

Now when you are ready to make the salad add, broccoli slaw (this is sometimes called broccoli coleslaw), chopped green onions, slivered almonds and sunflower seeds. I usually mix this together about one hour before I'm ready to serve it. Mix it all up well.

Than right before you are ready to serve it, crush your ramen noodles. I take my rolling pin and smash them right in the ramen noodle package, saves on clean up unless you get too aggressive when you are smashing them! Add them to your slaw and toss, to get the dressing all over and to mix it all together well.

Serve. Refrigerate any left-overs. Serves around 6 to 8 people.

Broccoli Slaw

Slaw:

1 bag (12 to 16 oz) broccoli slaw

4 green onions, chopped, tops included

1/2 cup slivered almonds, I use sliced ones

4 tablespoons sunflower seeds

1 package chicken flavored ramen noodles, crushed

Dressing:

Flavor packet from the ramen noodles

1/4 teaspoon salt, you can add more if you want

1/4 teaspoon pepper, you can add more if you want

1/4 cup olive oil, can use vegetable but I like olive better

4 tablespoons sugar, you can add more if you want

4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Directions:

Prepare dressing at least 3 hours in advance. Pour over all the slaw ingredients, EXCEPT the ramen noodles. Toss to coat well. Right before serving, add the Crushed ramen noodles.

I hope you enjoy this recipe, it was my mother-in-law's favorite salad recipe! Mary

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