Tyler the nutritionist!

As I was making my shopping list for today, I noticed in the Kroger ad this week that 2 liters of Pepsi products were on sale for $.95 each.  As I finished scanning groceries in the self checkout line, swiped my credit card to pay and was bagging the food, I heard the following VERY loud conversation behind me:

Tyler: (Staring at the woman's groceries coming down the conveyor belt in the self checkout lane next to us) Look Brenna, 6 2 liters.  No...now 7!!
Lady Checking Out: Actually I have 10 of them.
Tyler: Wow...does your husband like to drink Pepsi a lot?
Lady Checking Out: No, unfortunately it's just me.
Tyler: You shouldn't drink so much soda.  It's unhealthy for you.  Or at least you should drink diet!
Lady Checking Out: I guess you're right.
Tyler: Thank you.
Me: (Very embarrassed) I'm so sorry.  This 10 year old apparently doesn't have a filter.
Lady Checking Out: That's why they are so great.

At least she was a good sport about it!  Although I couldn't really tell Tyler he was wrong.  It really is unhealthy for you...guess I taught him well.  Honestly I had to wonder to myself just how much soda the lady drinks in one day.  Don't 2 liters go flat in like 2 days once they are opened??  So she either has to drink a 2 liter within a 48 hour period or like drinking flat soda.  Hmmmm....oh well.  Either way, my apologies to the soda drinker on behalf of my 10 year old nutritionist!

The past few nights...a disgrace in cooking!

Unfortunately due to my hectic schedule this week I have nothing of any real note to show for my cooking.  I did make some really yummy blueberry waffles Tuesday night which I will be blogging about, but other than that it has been leftovers or throw together meals of no real significance.  For example, I made some pasta using my frozen homemade sauce and frozen turkey meatballs on Monday night, but I don't think photos of defrosting things in a microwave would be all that helpful or interesting.  Here is a picture though!

Monday night's dinner.

Bowtie noodles with homemade sauce and turkey meatballs.

I also made some chili cheese fries for lunch on Tuesday.  I already blogged about the chili, but I can't take credit for the french fries (other than baking some frozen ones) or making the cheese.  They were delicious though!

Tonight's dinner will be plain old tacos so again there will be no photos or blog about this.  I will be attending a fancy schmancy dinner banquet with my husband so I won't have time to cook anything really good.  Honorable mention to my good friend who has stepped up to bravely take on the task of watching my 4 kids.  I'm glad she has had quite some notice of this event so she has had time to physically and mentally prepare herself.  Luckily her mom is in town to act as backup!  She'll need it (insert evil laugh here)!  So instead of a pictorial walk through of my dinner preparation, I offer to you pictures of my cute 2 year old doing one of the things he loves to do the most....COLOR.  Weapon of choice-colored pencils.  This kid loves to draw almost as much as I love to cook.

Meatloaf

I think meatloaf may quite possibly be one of the most misunderstood foods in the world.  Kids grow up fearing the very word and run screaming the other way when hearing that is what will be on their dinner plate that night.  I think my Mom may have made meatloaf once or twice growing up and I remember it being really dry. Almost like a baked brick of ground beef slathered in some plain ketchup to attempt to give it come type of moisture.  Just the thought of the word "meatloaf" generally makes people think of the lunch lady with the hair net in the cafeteria dishing up a plate full of mystery meat. 

Well let me tell you, my kids LOVE my meatloaf.  My 10 year old decided one night over a plate full of it that he would be living with us for the rest of his life so he could always eat my meatloaf.  I told him that most wives don't want to live in their mother-in-law's basement.  He then settled for moving down the street and living in our RV in the Wal-Mart parking lot so he could continue to come home for dinner.  Nice!  I guess at least he would have free rent...although I'm not sure what condition our RV will be in 8 years from now!  I'm personally hoping he picks the college alternative vs. Wal-Mart living.  I'll give him the meatloaf recipe as his high school graduation gift!

I have been making meatloaf like this for some time now so honestly I can't remember exactly where I got the recipe from.  Usually I will make 2 different kinds of meatloaf.  This standard one for my kids and husband and a new different one for me to try and freeze the leftovers.  The last one I tried basically turned into a veggie loaf with turkey holding it together.  It also had couscous in it...VERY tasty and VERY moist.  I have some in the freezer still, so I'll post a picture the next time I defrost it for lunch.

It is so quick to make, if your ground beef is already defrosted it literally mixes up in about 5 minutes and you probably already have everything you need on hand to make it.  This meatloaf is delicious eaten that night as fall apart slices with a delicious sweet sauce on top, but it also makes awesome meatloaf sandwiches the next day.  Just reheat a piece in the microwave, stick a slice of cheese on it and put it between 2 pieces of bread.  My son even likes to take it reheated in a Thermos container to eat for lunch at school!!  If you don't like meatloaf, you should definitely give this recipe a try....it may be that you don't necessarily dislike meatloaf, you may just have never had "good" meatloaf before.  You might find yourself fighting over the last piece!

Meatloaf

1 lb ground beef (sometimes I use 1 1/2 lbs so we have more to go around...if you use more meat, just increase everything else slightly)

1 sleeve Ritz crackers plus 15 extra from another sleeve, crushed into fine crumbs

1 egg

1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp ketchup

onion powder, garlic powder and black pepper (I have never measured these.  I just kind of sprinkle on a generous amount of each and mush it in)

Sauce (This is definitely what MAKES the meatloaf!!!)

3/4 c ketchup

1/3 c brown sugar

1 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 tsp yellow mustard

Place the ground beef in a large bowl.

Add all the other ingredients into the bowl.

Mix well until all ingredients come together to form a large meat ball.  This is best done using your hands, but I guess if you are one of those people who doesn't like touching raw meat you could eventually get the same results using a fork.  I say just get over it and use your hands!!

Place into a loaf pan and press down making sure the top is flattened.  I actually try to press it in the center and make a slight indentation in the middle so after it bakes the sauce will stay on the top.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 mins.

Meanwhile throw all the sauce ingredients into a small bowl.  I think using a large glass measuring cup works best because you end up with one less dish.  Always a good thing!!  Set aside until meatloaf is finished baking.

After 45 mins this is what your meatloaf should look like.

Pour the sauce over the top and spread evenly.  My family likes their meatloaf very saucy!!

Bake another 15 mins.  Remove from oven, let rest 5 mins and cut into large slices for serving.

I almost always serve meatloaf with mashed potatoes and peas.  They just go good together.  The meatloaf is generally so moist it doesn't hold together real well in slices until it sits overnight in the fridge.  This is actually my 10 year old's dinner plate...and yes he eats every bite of it.

The Misunderstood Meatloaf!

Stuffed Green Peppers & Stuffed Invisible Peppers

I have been cooking on my own, without parental supervision, since I was around 13 years old.  One of my favorite possessions is my Betty Crocker Cookbook.  I think I might have permanently borrowed it (aka stole it) from my Mom when I left California, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't care so much anymore.  Although the cover says "New and Revised Edition" I am going to have to assume that since it is showing as being copyrighted in 1978 it probably has had a few more editions that have been published since!  This book is a whole year older than I am.  It has interesting things in it like how to prepare and freeze your own TV dinners, how to make fondue and provides you with every popular recipe if you ever want to pretend like you are back in the 50's.  I love this cookbook! Every Saturday morning after my high school best friend would stay the night, we would cook waffles from this very cookbook.  We needed something to energize us after those long nights staying up talking about boys and other teen angst type stuff.  The recipe still has the half recipe written in pencil next to the printed recipe because apparently when I was 15 it was just to hard to convert 1 cup to 1/2 cup in my head.

The Holy Grail of my cookbook collection!  Note the tattered binding and peeling label.  It is well loved.

Hands down my favorite picture!  Who wouldn't be confident in that yellow apron?!?  And who wouldn't want to serve your perfect family a perfect dinner in that stylish striped turtleneck?!?  Classy!!

The most used recipe in the book.  The page is absolutely stained with butter and oil marks!

On a side note, I was deciding what to make for dinner that week during lunchtime when my kids decided to take up one of their very favorite games, made up strangely enough by my 2 year old.  He will shout out "Aiden's turn!" and then tense up every muscle in his face and body.  Then he will shout out "Sister's turn!" or "Mama's turn!" and the next person will have to imitate what he did.  I grabbed my camera sitting on the counter and snapped some pictures.  They don't really do the game justice...he looks pretty funny when he tenses up his little body and shakes all over.  Sorry...I didn't get any self pictures of "Mama's turn!!"

"Aiden's turn!"

"Sister's turn!!"

"Aiden's turn!!"

"Sister's turn!!"

So, as an homage to my beloved cookbook and all things 1950's I present to you my dinner for Friday night...the classic stuffed green pepper.  I did kind of use the recipe straight from Betty, but put my own spin on it using ground turkey and brown rice.  My husband and kids won't eat the pepper part (well actually Aiden will eat some of my pepper, but I'm afraid his little tummy couldn't handle a whole green pepper...actually a green pepper is probably almost as big as his little tummy...especially the monster peppers I make!!  So I have to make a pan of Invisible Stuffed Peppers for everyone else.  I use ground beef for this since my husband prefers beef over turkey...and since this is a true 1950's meal I wouldn't be a proper housewife without pleasing my hard working husband!  So I threw on my yellow apron, tied my hair back into a stylish updo, straightened up the home and had the kids all cleaned and tidy by the time my husband came home from his hard day at work.  Then I gave him a quick peck on the cheek, put on his slippers for him, fixed him a pipe and handed him a nice brandy so he could relax as I placed the hot meal on the table.  Actually, I was wearing a shirt stained with spit up, had my hair in a messed ponytail, kicked the toys aside and managed to keep the baby from crying while breaking up a fight between my 2 and 4 year old AND helping my 10 year old with homework as my husband walked through the door.  I then gave him a half hello and handed the baby to him so I could take the stuffed peppers and invisible peppers out of the oven.  Typical Friday night in 2011....we can still pretend though right!!

Stuffed Green Peppers

2 LARGE green peppers
1/2 lb lean ground turkey
1 small onion, diced (probably 1/4 - 1/3 c)
2 tsp minced garlic
2 c cooked brown rice
1/3 large can tomato sauce (the other 2/3 gets put in the invisible peppers)
Salt, black pepper and extra garlic powder to taste (the tomato sauce is salty enough for my liking so I just add pepper and more garlic powder.  I'm Italian...I love garlic!
A whole lot of shredded mozzarella!!!

In a large saucepan, over medium-high heat brown the turkey with the onion, garlic and spices.  If you use lean turkey you shouldn't have to drain the meat.

While turkey is browning, prepare the green peppers by slicing off the top part of the pepper and cleaning out the seeds and white insides.  Make sure you buy peppers with a relatively flat bottom so they stand up well on their own.  You might look silly in the supermarket testing out the "standability" of your peppers, but trust me it will be worth the strange stares.  A lop sided pepper is NO laughing matter!!

Once turkey is browned, add the cooked rice.  Taste and add additional spices if necessary.  Remember that rice is pretty bland and needs a lot of help!!

Add in the 1/3 can of tomato sauce.  I make mine REALLY saucy so I can omit the step of putting extra sauce on top.  Set aside.

Place prepared peppers in a pan with enough boiling water to cover them and continue to cook for 5 minutes. 

I couldn't find my Assistant Chef.  She was on the couch watching Food Network.  The Barefoot Contessa...good choice Brenna!

Place cooked peppers in a foil lined square baking dish.  Fill the peppers with the turkey/rice mixture.

I wasn't kidding when I called them STUFFED peppers!!

My monster peppers....grrrrrrr!  Cover with foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 50 mins.

Remove foil cover and sprinkle with a GENEROUS amount of shredded mozzarella cheese.

Return to oven and cook uncovered another 10 mins. until cheese is melted.

Stuffed Invisible Peppers

1 lb ground beef

Salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder to taste (my husband also hates onions so since I'm not eating it I will omit fresh onions and use onion powder instead)

2 c cooked brown rice

2/3 large can tomato sauce

A whole lot of shredded mozzarella!!!

In a large saucepan brown the meat.  Drain the grease and season with garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper.

Ethan supervising!

Brenna trying to "help" her brother look at the camera.

Maybe he thought his fist was a pepper...or the meat was starting to burn??

Mix the seasoned beef with the rice and tomato sauce.

Pour the beef/rice mixture into a square invisible pepper (aka greased, square glass baking dish).

.

Cover with foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 mins.

Remove foil and sprinkle on shredded mozzarella cheese.

Return to oven and cook uncovered for an additional 10 minutes until cheese is melted.

My dinner-1950's style!

Holy Pepper Batman!!  I wish I had one of those Corelle plates with the mustard yellow or avocado green flower trim to serve it on.  That would really be retro!! 

Spring is on the way...kind of!

It has come to my attention that some people think the only thing we do in my house is cook.  Although we do a lot of cooking, there are other things we do throughout the day.  Cooking is just something special that Brenna and I enjoy doing together.  Last Tuesday, before I got nasty sick on Wednesday I managed to drag myself out of the house to let the kids play for a bit.  It was a relatively nice spring day and I knew that the cold would be returning shortly (which it did) so we had better take advantage of the nice day.  It's amazing how stir crazy the kids get by the end of the winter...and nothing you suggest to do inside will do.  Art, painting, Play-Doh, even cooking or baking all get a big NO!  All they want to do is GO OUTSIDE!!  I can't blame them though.  I get a bit stir crazy myself after 3 or 4 months of cold, gloomy gray and snow.  I can't wait for the next few warm days because I'll be starting to clear the weeds out of the strawberry garden, preparing our new second garden for planting, working on some landscaping and restarting my worm composting (don't worry if you don't know what worm composting is.  I'll post about that another time.  The kids thinks it's pretty cool and worms are the easiest pets you'll ever own.).

As I was finishing up throwing the baked beans in the crockpot, I could hear Ethan starting to get pretty fussy on a blanket in the living room.  All of a sudden he got really quiet so I peeked around the couch and this is what I found...a rare moment of brotherly love!  Too cute! 

Aiden consoling his brother by rubbing his head.  Apparently it worked pretty well.  Please excuse the mess! =)

Love!

Brothers watching cartoons together.

Then Ethan saw me and started to get upset again.  He was tired of laying on the ground.  Aiden appeared to be concerned.

Shortly after this, Ethan gave up for the morning and went down for a nap so I took the other two kids out in the front yard for some outside fun.  Then they got cold and wanted to come inside.  We were only outside for about 30 - 45 mins, but it's amazing how much children can do in half an hour!!

They colored pictures on the driveway with chalk.

Aiden really got into the coloring!  Note the hopscotch board behind him that Brenna begged me to draw and then used once.  Nice!

They played with bubbles.  Aiden ate some bubbles.  And then Aiden.....

SPILLED the bubbles.  He did grab a broom to clean up his mess though!  It's okay, after a winter in the garage the bubble solution pretty much loses all ability to make a bubble.  Better put bubbles on the list of things to buy soon!

Little signs that Spring are on it's way!!!  Hooray!  It just makes me smile! =)

All the big kid bikes are in the storage shed out back, but Aiden's bike was in the garage so they took turns riding around the cul-de-sac.

Then Brenna decided SHE wanted to push Aiden which was pretty funny to watch.

She thought it was pretty funny rolling down the driveway backwards.

Then she decided she was just too tired and needed to rest on the neighbor's lawn.

After we went in, Ethan woke up (it was a short nap) and I held him while the kids had a snack. I snapped these pictures while not looking through the view finder.

I don't think he is a huge fan of the big round camera lens being stuck in his face.  Better get used to it!

See....we do more than just cook!!!