This week’s menu included meatloaf and you may think Oatmeal? Meatloaf? Yep, replace the breadcrumbs with oatmeal and you increase the nutritional value of your meatloaf… something this mom is ALWAYS trying to do.

So, here’s the recipe…

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees
2. Mix in a large bowl (the best is really just with your hands):
   1. 2 lbs of good quality ground beef *
   2. 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
   3. 1 cup old fashioned oatmeal
   4. 1 cup ketchup
   5. 1 cup chopped cilantro (you can use parsley)
   6. 3 large eggs, slightly beaten
   7. 2 tsp non-salt garlic herb blend (like Mrs. Dash)
   8. 1 tsp salt
3. Form mixture into a loaf, about the size of a loaf pan, on a cookie sheet
4. Glaze the loaf with ketchup
5. Cover the loaf cross-ways with 8-10 slices of bacon. Tuck the ends of the bacon underneath.
6. Cook for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes , until internal temperature reads 160 degrees.

Enjoy! … and go create your day over at Quaker Oats so they can donate some more!

*Costco is one of the few places that check their ground beef at the store for E-Coli.

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Inspiration Surrounds Us

Anything – Big or Small – Can be used to make something beautiful…

Well, it actually starts with the list on Saturday morning over coffee. What’s in the fridge, the freezer, the cupboard… what does the week look like? Any nights I will be out for the evening with board meetings, etc… I put together the list of meals, what nights I intend to make them on and finally… what do I need to pick up at the store. It’s a delicate balance between what amazing new recipe did I come across last week – that I am thrilled to make – and most likely have no ingredients for… versus… what have I got stocked-piled that I can frugally make?

Getting a jump start on the week means more quality time focused on helping the kiddos with homework. More face to face time with Fab!Hubby cause neither one of us is stuck in the kitchen cleaning up. It also helps us put more in the vacation fund cause I put away some warm-up, healthy lunches Fab!Hubby and I can grab on the way out the door in the morning.

For anyone out there who is thinking about starting this tradition… my 2 suggestions are:

1. Get a good bottle of wine and have a glass or 2… you are gonna be the kitchen for a bit… might as well enjoy it.
2. Put on a good pair of supportive shoes. I know it sounds crazy… but most kitchens are tile and that’s hard on your feet and you won’t stick with the habit for long if when it’s all said and done – your feet are yelling at you.

And my 3rd and not are strong suggestion is to turn up the music… get the family involved… it can be fun!

So on the menu this week?

• Spicy Shrimp and Grits – Shrimp and Cherry tomatoes served over grits. I have the shrimp in the freezer and picked up the grits and tomatoes at the farmers market. This is a 2o minute meal I will make the night of.
• Meatloaf with Parmesan, Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes. Picked up all the ingredients… this was Sunday Family dinner meal with enough left overs to serve again this week.
• Curry Veggies over Qunioa for lunches… its a a recipe I throw in all the left over veggies I have from the week before.
• Wednesdays = Pizza Movie night – a night off from cooking and dishes mid way through week.
• Quiche – Cause I have gone a little nutty with the egg purchases lately and I have ready made pie crust that is calling to me to make something obscene like chocolate cream pie with whipped cream with (maybe next weekend I will give into temptation.)
• Homemade granola or peanut-butter bread for breakfast. I cook up a whole mess of bacon and stick in the fridge for a quick zap in the microwave in the mornings. (my boys have decided they want MEAT! with their breakfast)

So that’s the menu… I will be posting my recipes for all of these coming up this week… stay tuned… yummy stuff to come!

… and have amazing, wonderful, successful, peaceful weeks!

Quaker has created an application that allows you to Create Your Day.   Go to their website and create the perfect breakfast for you, for a friend, your child’s teacher, your husband.. whomever you’d like.   Using their application, answer a few questions and it creates a fun card with the ideal oatmeal to get them revved and ready for whatever lies ahead of them that day.  It then allows you to share it via email or facebook.  For every dish that you create (4 per day) through March 31, 2010… they will donate $1 up to $25,000 whoops… $25,o0o has already been donated!!! So they’ve upped the ante to $50,000.

Let’s make Quaker eat that $50,000 and up it to $75,000.

Please help me in this.  No child, no family, no person in this country should go hungry.

The App is super cute and fun… I could play around with it all day… @thisisnotapril says I am like a cat… which is so totally a compliment in our neck of the woods.

So here is my super cute Create Your Day story…

(How did they know peaches and cream is my favorite oatmeal? It’s like oatmeal magic!)

Anyway… whether you are as entertained by this as I am or not… go check out the oatmeal magic… create your day… and help Quaker Oats do a little towards ending hunger.

Go on now… go… now>>> oooo… and then tell me what kind of oatmeal did you get… I wanna know – and then go tell Rachel cause she’s got some cool stuff to give away!

Daddy-Man, cutting his eyes at me across the room, “Well, let’s just ask if I am allowed to go in there”

(It’s our room, we share it, there is no other room… the kids just know who’s in charge… well… sometimes… actually rarely… but ya know.)

Thanx for the pic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28473961@N02/2707028441/

This is the pudding I grew up eating… I can whip it up in 15 minutes or so… 10 on a good day… and for the life me I can not make instant pudding that is not lumpy, which is a good thing cause compared to this EASY to make (I promise, after practicing a few times, this recipe just flies) I can’t stand to eat instant pudding.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Sugar, organic really is better… nudge, nudge
• 3 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 cups whole milk (don’t substitute, I’ve tried, trust me)
• 5 egg yolks (make omelets with the whites, ya know – to make up for the pudding with whip cream)
• 3 tbsp butter, cut into small peices
• 4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate (like Baker’s Brand 100% cacao) stuck in the microwave for 30 seconds and stirred to thick liquid. DO NOT over nuke!
• 1 tbsp Mexican Vanilla, if you can get it, double strength like Penzey’s will work

Directions:

1. In a medium sized, heavy bottomed, scratch resistant sauce pan mix the sugar, cornstarch, and salt with a wire whisk.
2. Add 1/4 cup of milk and whisk to a paste
3. Over high-heat – whisk in the rest of the milk and then the eggs. Whisk until no yellow streaks remain and then keep whisking continuously until the mixture thickens and begins to bubble deep slow bubbles  – sounds weird, but you will see what I am talking about. DO NOT stop stirring – it will burn on the bottom. (You can do like all the other recipes say and cook it over medium heat, slowing stirring… I ain’t got that kind of time or patience)
4. Once it starts to bubble, keep stirring – count to 60  in your head then take it off the heat. Don’t just turn the heat off… move it to another spot.
5. Stir in the butter, chocolate, and vanilla – keep stirring until all the butter is melted and the chocolate is evenly mixed in.
6. Pour into a 3 cup bowl – cover with a plate – stick in the fridge to set.

Tip: You can use this as pie filling – just pour it into a baked pie crust (preferably NOT one of those store bought graham cracker things.) You can also spoon it into 6 individual bowls. I think most recipe say to wrap in plastic wrap – I don’t believe in plastic wrap, its terrible for the environment, I would rather have cracks on the top of my pudding and just cover it with whip cream.

Whip Cream:

Put 1 cup of whip cream, 2 tbsp sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla in a blender – turn that baby on – and whip it up till there are those beautiful whip cream peaks – ’bout a minute. (check it at 45 seconds – cause you really don’t want to make butter)

JJ Note: I have been known to serve this pudding warm out of the pot into a bowl with the whip cream melting on top… I really do prefer it this way to any other.

Thanx for the pic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23701579@N00/437069665/

Gretchen shared that 2 very important contributors to happiness is getting enough sleep and getting rid of clutter. Heloise added to choose the top 3 most important parts of our home to keep clutter free and focus on those.

I am no stranger to top 3 rule. A very wise friend of mine talked down from the ledge in one my early mommy on the verge moments with the top 3 rule. I had taken my spiritual serenity and my emotional well being and tossed them out the window over what my child care was feeding my first born. I had this very rigid idea and a long list of do’s and don’t’s when it came to what my kiddos were going to put in their bodies… let me tell ya… fruit loops and white bread where on the serious don’t list. My girlfriend (who had raised 4 boys mostly on her own) suggested I make a list of the top 10 most important things. Prioritize them… demand the first… ask for number 2 & 3… then let everything else go. My sanity and the peace of my soul were worth more than anguishing over what my kids eat.

So I liked Heloise’s hints for picking 3… as I made my bed this morning I took it to a deeper level. Yes, in the beginning simply going through the motions is the beginning to shifting the way we do things. However, I believe at certain point intention needs to factor in. I may make the bed… but what is it I intend to get out of making the bed. I choose to be present and in the moment… actually using all of my senses to be in the moment making the bed. What I want to get out of making the bed is a feeling of peace and sanctuary  when I come into my room. I ask The Universe to bring this into my life as I make the bed. Simple Abundance introduced me to the idea that any action in my life can be a prayer if I do in connection to Spirit.

I intentionally leave my closet messy sometimes… it’s a conscious choice – to allow my inner rebel something to say “NO! I won’t do it” about. I like the living room to be tidy, so when I walk in from work and the day… it says out there is chaos and whirling energy – in here is a space of calm. My cook books in the corner of my kitchen however are stacked, dog-eared, open, etc… seeing them in use  – inspires me to use them. But the mail always gets opened, sorted, and filed the moment it comes into the house. In this way I say to The Universe I am responsible and accountable around the money commitments I have made… when you give me more money I will treat it with the same honor and love. Call me nutty – but this has made a huge shift in the energy I have around money and money maintenance.

These are just a few of the areas in my life where I act to “de-clutter” or stay tidy… or not… depending on what it is. The biggest thing I would invite you to think about is if you are taking on the act of de-cluttering… think about what it is you want to get out of the act… rather than just completing the act alone.

Thank you for this food, please let it be good, mommy repaired it.

Done.

Fab!Hubby, “Amen.”

(me… trying not fall out of my chair)

Thanx for the pic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12544973@N05/3008772187/