Slow Cooker Meatloaf

Can you do it?

Yes! You can!

I made my Thanksgiving Meatloaf

but any meatloaf recipe will work.

I layered some sliced potatoes and mini carrots

on the bottom then gathered up my 

mixed up meatloaf blend

and just set it on top.

I set it on low for about 7 hours

and there you have it!

This is a turkey meatloaf so there was

not much fat, just some liquid that gathered 

at the sides towards the end. 

If I was going to use a beef blend I 

would probably use very lean beef.

A grease slick on top might be less than appetizing.

I wish I would have figured this out years ago, 

but hey, 

better late than never :)

Some Before And Afters

A very beige home office.

 I managed to talk them into a little color,

the ceiling was his idea. 

It looks great, but oy, my neck!

 The best part of this is not the paint job

but rather the removal of that door!

 Shower curtains have way more personality!

Birthday Backdrops

We have had a few 

first birthdays 

around here. 

I may or may not

have gone a little overboard with

 Maddie's.

But I'm her grandma.

She's our first. 

And her mother said I could.

Something I have noticed in checking out all the 

fun party ideas on line is the use of 

backdrops.

I think they really help to set a

table off and make a fun

focal point for the festivities.

For Maddies' party I hung

streamers from a curtain rod.

I helped Viki out for 

Eliana's birthday with this:

That is just two colors of table coverings

 that I stapled

 (one on top of the other)

to thin latice strips.

I cut them into strips

and then knotted the two colors together at the top.

Here Viki tacked balloons to the wall:

This was in the garage which is probably the 

only place you could do this. 

That would be a lot of holes in your

dining room wall.

Salsa Chicken and Pasta Salad

I didn't get a pretty picture, but hey, 

at least I got one.

It was delicious. 

The only problem I had was the chef

who *tweeked* the recipe said to switch

chipotle chili powder for the regular

that the recipe calls for.

The chipotle was a good call, it has a smokey flavor

that plain chili powder just doesn't have. 

He neglected to adjust the amount of 

chili powder to take into account

the excessively hotter heat 

from the chipotle.

 I'll adjust that here.

Salsa Chicken Pasta Salad

2 cups cooked pasta

1 onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

6 ounces sliced black olives

3 tomatoes, diced

2 cups chicken breast, chopped

Feel free to add in or take out any

vegetables.

The dressing:

1/4 cup fresh cilantro 

(I didn't have any and it was still great)

1 lime, juiced

1/3 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp. garlic salt

1 tsp. chipotle chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 cup mayo

(I went light on the mayo)

Mix it all together and enjoy!

God Never Gives You More Than You Can Handle

That's not true.

God gives us more than we can handle 

ALL THE TIME.

He does it on purpose. 

It's not to be mean. 

It's to grow us. 

It's to help us flex that 

part of ourselves that turns to Him. 

I can do all things through

HIM 

who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:13

...Just sayin...

Dinner Fail

So, people think I'm a marvelous cook.

I tell them I don't advertise my failures.

Well here you go:

The salmon was good.
It was an asian kind of thing.
The problem was in the salad.
I had an abundance of cucumbers
along with a couple of avocados.
I really and truly found a recipe that used both
ingredients.
As the main ingredients.
To be served with salmon.
No.
The textures were wrong.
The flavors were wrong.
It was a bust.

There may or may not be a trip to
Dairy Queen in my near future.

BBQ Chicken Salad

In a jar!

Unfortunately I didn't think to get a picture of them

on their own, but that's them there in the back.

This is the picnic I packed for

Symphony On The Prairie

down in Indy.

Shanna sprung for tickets, 

I provided dinner.

Thing is, dinner had to survive a 3.5 hour car ride 

down to Indy.

Read: NO MAYO!

My solution was making the BBQ chicken

salad with the substitution of mini pasta

for the quinoa 

(Shanna may or may no be allergic),

packing it in 16 ounce jars, 

about 2/3 full, topped off with some chopped

romaine and a wedge of lime.

My theory was, squeeze a little lime onto the 

lettuce and then  dig down to 

combine the lettuce and chicken salad.

It was a bit messy until you get a few bites out of there, but

then it was great!

Dinner was fun, the symphony?

Well, the *symphony* was a Beatles

cover band and the sky was a

symphony of lightening. 

It all works out.....

Christenings

 Going through some old photos I came

across this one:

That's me and Big, and Ruth and Mark.

This is Shanna's.

Things sure change.

Where are the hats?

The corsages? 

But hey, we had a little Peter Max.

And then we have Leslie's.

This may or may not have been taken on the actual day

of her christening but this was the location.

No hats, 

no corsages, 

not even a little Peter Max.

But 

love,

family, 

connection,

blessings. 

Hmm, the more things change,

the more they stay the same. 

Savory Zucchini Bread

It's that time of year when we are all

pretty much looking for something, 

ANYTHING

new to do with a zucchini.

I've made some baby food 

and the mandatory zucchini bread

but I wanted something different.

How about savory?

A little surfing the

World Wide Web

(and I don't mean Pinterest)

and I came across this recipe.

http://www.hobbyfarms.com/food-and-kitchen/herbed-zucchini-cheese-bread.aspx

It's a great savory bread.

It has a little heat from cayenne but not too much.

You can use any combo of herbs you want. 

I chose thyme and rosemary

(mostly because they are right on my patio)

and it turns out that is a good mix. 

I went easy on the rosemary because I think it 

overwhelms most other flavors.

So, to list, I have made:

baby food,

sweet zucchini bread, 

savory zucchini bread, 

and still have about 2 cups of grated 

zucchini left.....

People have to learn to pick these things sooner. 

Just sayin....