Bountiful Baskets and the Best Meatloaf Ever

A tale of a happy and healthy kitchen.

Remaining offerings from this weeks' basket
Spaghetti Squash, Watermelon, Canary Melon,
Green Apples, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Plums,
Apricots, & Banana's (I've used most of the plums,
The lettuce, one of the Spaghetti squashes, the onions,
the green onions, celery, snap peas, carrots, and probably
some other little things that my preggo brain has no
recollection of!

About a year ago, my Mom told me about Bountiful Baskets and how they could benefit my family. At the time, I couldn't afford them, or told myself I couldn't afford them. If I could go back knowing what I know now, I would slap my old self silly and tell her that she can't NOT afford to get the baskets. It's been 3 weeks, but let me tell you, my budget, my tummy, my kids, and my scale are all happy. <<>> Anyways, this week, I had a couple things left over from last week's basket that needed to get used, and some things in the current basket. I also had a lb of beef in my fridge that needed to get used or frozen, and i'm trying to avoid the freezer right now (moving soon, trying not to store!). So I started googling and going to recipe blogs. I asked google What's for dinner tonight? and once I found something I could tolerate, it took me to meatloaf. Which sounded good to this pregnant momma (weird, not a huge meatloaf fan...). And then I remembered my mom making meatloaf once upon a time, and hiding things in it that my family would most likely protest at eating. And inspiration, and a couple of recipes that were tweakable finally fell into my lap/bowl. So here it is. The Best Meatloaf I've ever made:

6 1/2 months pregnant with #4. This is my tribute
to healthy eating during pregnancy... I should be
much larger than this, and have been with all the
previous children at this point.

1 lb ground beef (lean!!)
2 Tbs milk
1 Tbs water
1 small green apple (chopped)
1-2 carrots (chopped/shredded)
1/2 onion (chopped fine)
1/2 cup bread crumbs/seasoned stuffing mix
1 egg
1/2 unpacked brown sugar
1/2 cup ketchup
squirt of mustard

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

So, take your beef, milk, and water and mix them together- to moisten the beef. Toss in your apple, carrots, onion, and stuffing mix. Put on gloves or not (I totally wrapped my hand in saran wrap bc i hate hate hate touching meat and didn't have sandwich baggies...) and mush the ingredients together (mix well). Add the egg and smoosh some more. Form into a "loaf" and put in your pan (bread pan, metal or glass).  Mix up your brown sugar, ketchup, and mustard well, and pour on top of your meat loaf. Bake for an hour. Once done, and once it's cooled for 5-7 minutes, I pull it out of the pan to drain the not so lean part of beef juices. This is also an ideal time to slice it into portion sizes on the serving platter- or in my case, the tupperware dish any leftovers will get stored in.

About half way into the baking, I realized meatloaf wasn't going to fill us up.. what was I going to serve with it??! So I went back to my Bountiful Basket... and saw potatoes! Sweet! Classic! Meatloaf and potatoes for dinner at my house last night! And then I really got creative. See, I still had some green onions left over from the previous basket, and some carrot shreds too.. I'm a great mashed potato/ potato  soup maker. THIS IS MY THING- mom has me do it when I'm home for thanksgiving. So here's what I did:

4 small/medium potatoes (scrubbed, quartered and then sliced thin for faster cooking)

I wish I had taken a picture of the meatloaf itself, but I'm not
the best photographer... 

1/2 carrot- shredded (whatever I had left over)
1/4 c butter
2-4 tbs milk
1/2-1 cup chopped green onion
 (I also added the remaining stuffing crumbs (2/3 cups) for flavor and bc I originally added too much milk (I am bad about measuring and do a trial by pour method)

Bring some water and a tbsp of salt to a boil, add the potatoes and carrots together. Drain. Add butter and milk, mash with hand smasher thingymabobber. (Or cheat and toss in a blender.. I hand mash to keep the texture lumpy). Add green onion and stir in.

Serve.

I don't have any left overs. Last night it was my two kids (ages 1 and nearly 3), myself, and a portion for my good friend and neighbor V. I was seriously impressed with myself and glad that V encouraged me to write it down for further reference. So here it is. For your use, my use, and V's! And I have nothing but this to show for my efforts. Dirt and empty dishes.

One note I would like to make regarding this meal: There are no seasonings used/added (minus the salt to boil the potatoes). Yes, the stuffing came pre seasoned, but I didn't add anything beyond that... which is rare for me. But I am so glad that I didn't do it (Honestly, I totally forgot because the kids were whiny and clingy and hungry... crying and distracting the cook from her masterpiece!). The natural flavors of the fresh fruit and veggies were amazing. I will be repeating this experience!

In the words of Sariah. Peace Out Ya'll!

Confessions of a guilty mom

Today was supposed to be ridiculously crazy. I had a list of things THAT HAD TO GET DONE before 10:30 this morning when I had the housing inspector coming over for a pre-move out inspection. I got up,  got the kids dressed, and off to daycare we went. I came home and made myself some tea to help wake me up (because we all know I am not a morning person!). So, thinking I had about an hour and a half until the maintenance guy was going to be here, I sat down for two minutes to drink my tea- AND THE DOORBELL RINGS! Dang it. There is only one person who isn't afraid to ring my doorbell and that person is the person who doesn't know any better (everyone who normal comes over either just walks in or knocks for fear of waking me up). And there he is, the kind home inspector. I did not have my floors vacuumed, or mopped, or swept. I did not have my toilets scrubbed to a glistening sheen of perfection, and I'm pretty sure there was a diaper from this mornings dressing session that didn't quit make it to the trash can (it was next to the trash, just not in...). I mean, I did spend 3 days getting ready, so the house is clean, all I HAD to do this morning was the floors. I looked at the clock when the doorbell rang- it was 9:15. Hello?! 10:30?? Whats the point of making a specific appointment if they are going to ignore it? Dang housing. So in he comes, asks me five questions or so, looks at the tubs (which happened to be clean thank goodness!) and then told me we were done. WE'RE DONE???? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I JUST SPENT MY ENTIRE WEEKEND TRYING TO GET THINGS IN ORDER SO YOU COULD SPEND TEN MINUTES NOT LOOKING AT ANYTHING???  Fine. Be that way. It's a good thing he was a sweetheart. I mean really. So then I decided the vacuuming could wait. The mopping could wait. The toilets most definitely could wait. My entire mornings worth of plans was shot. So I did something "scandalous"... I went to the movies by. my. self. AND IT WAS AWESOME! I put on one of Chad's hats, my biggest pair of hideous bug eye sunglasses, and drove my minivan to the theater. Oh yes, I went out by myself, and I WENT IN DISGUISE...

just in case someone recognized me and asked me where my kids were or what I was doing or where I was going... I even snuck some food/snacks. I'm so bad. I LAUGHED OUT LOUD at a preview. I'm totally going to go see that new Disney movie... I sat in the back row so no one would notice me, but it was so cool- the theater I went to, had automatic reclining lazy boy chairs... for each person. So I totally put my feet up, turned off my phone, and snacked on a fudge round. Heaven.

And then I was driving home. And I looked at my gas tank, and saw that it was just above 'E.' I thought about filling up, decided it could wait, and went on home. But having noticed the tank, I began to feel a little guilty... so to assuage my mommy guilt, I went and picked up the kids early (which I justified by saying that I was saving gas by not going home and then going back out to get the kids). Well, lucky for me, it was just after snack time, and just before nap time! So I brought them home, and Ben went right to bed. Sariah is waiting for me to go lay down. Oh yea, mommy guilt assuaged, and secret identity safe. I felt like a celebrity hiding from the paparazzi today. It was thrilling. I might do it again, someday. Like next week when that Disney movie comes out...