YUMMY, YUMMY MEATLOAF!!! :D

Alright, I always have something to say at the beginning of my posts...something silly or just nerdy. Not this time, this is just GOOD and that's all I think I have to put out there for you!

OK, this is the recipe, let me know what you guys think! BTW makes 4 small (perfectly cooked every time) meatloaves. It's enough to feed a family of 5 and have a little left over for sandwiches. If you don't want that much it's easy to half it.

What You'll Need:

-4 lbs ground beef

-1/2 each red, yellow, and green bell peppers (chopped)

-1/2 a red onion (chopped)

-1 1/4 cups milk

-4 eggs

-1/4-1/3 cup BBQ sauce (I use KC Masterpiece-original)

-2-3 tblsp Worcestershire sauce 

-1 1/3 cups Italian bread crumbs

-1 tblsp Italian seasoning

-1/2 tsp salt

-1/4 ground black pepper

-1/2 cup ketchup

-4 tblspn brown sugar

-Bacon (optional)

What To Do:

Preheat over to 350. Grease the bottom and sides to 4 small loaf pans (the ones you can get at the dollar store, I think they're 3" X 7").

Whisk eggs. In a 4 cup measure cup (or an appropriate sized bowl) combine eggs, milk, Worcestershire sauce, BBQ sauce, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper; mix until well blended. Add your bread crumbs to the mixture and allow them to soak for a couple minutes. In a LARGE mixing bowl break apart your ground beef and add bell peppers, onion and egg/milk mixture. Using your hands mash the crud out of that puppy! Mash until all ingredients are well blended and evenly distributed throughout. There you go! Divide into 4 equal(ish) parts and press into your greased pans. Bake @ 350 for 30 minutes, at this point if you want to have bacon on it, add that now. Cook for another 30 minutes. Now you want to drain the fat out of the pan and do your topping. Combine brown sugar and ketchup and spread across the top of your meatloaf. Turn on your broiler and broil your loaves until the glaze is sizzling. Remove from the over and let cool for about 5 minutes, cut the baby into slices, serve and ENJOY! 

Goes Great with Ditalini Festive Pasta Salad (Recipe coming soon. It's not one of mine, but my mom used to make it and I have NO idea where it came from), OR brussels sprouts just steam them with butter, lemon pepper, garlic powder until tender. When they're at desired tenderness, add a fresh squeeze of lemon juice and enjoy them! They're actually really yummy! :D

Fiesta Chicken Salad with Black Bean Salsa Dressing

I love Mexican food, don't you? The problem is, it's not usually all that good for you...Bummer, right!?! I think so, too. Well, here's my attempt at making some healthy Mexican-style food! It's a delicious salad that leaves you feeling very full!   If you combine all ingredients and have left overs, you ought to just toss it out...the lettuce gets wilted and the dressing will run...not so great left over...
Note: This recipe feeds a whole family.

What you'll need:

-2-3 cups Black bean salsa (recipe previously posted)
-low fat sour cream
-romaine lettuce
-iceberg lettuce
-2 chicken breasts
-2 tblsp olive oil
-chili powder
-onion powder
-garlic powder
-black pepper
-1/2 red onion, diced (optional)
-2 avocados "diced"
-2 tomatoes

What to do (Chicken):

Slice your breasts in half so that it appears that you have 4 breasts in front of you. Lightly coat chicken with black pepper, chili, onion, and garlic powder. Heat large pan with oil over medium-high heat. When oil is warm, place chicken in pan. Fry 5-7 minutes on each side, always check your chicken for doneness. Remove from heat (allow to cool for a bit), shred or slice chicken. Set aside.

What to do (Dressing):

Take your 2-3 cups black bean salsa and add about 1/2-1 cup low fat sour cream, combine. Ban, there's your dressing!

What to do (Salad):

Chop iceberg and romaine, rinse and allow to drip "dry". Dice your onions, avocado and tomatoes how you like them. If you know that your family will eat all of the salad, go ahead and toss all the ingredients together. Personally, I prefer to dress every bowl of salad, so that if there are leftovers we can refrigerate it all separately to retain maximum freshness. Now enjoy your salad! I know I love it! :)

Best Squash You'll EVER Eat

Do you like the idea of eating squash but don't really know what to do with it? Yeah? Well, up until about a month ago I was the same way! But then I remembered my mom's squash and how delicious it was! Want to know more? Follow directions and find out for yourself! BTW my kids love it and call it "God's Candy". Totally worth a try!

What you'll need:

-1 acorn squash
-1/2 tblsp butter or margarine (divided)
-dash of salt and pepper
-1 cup + 2 tsp of water
-1 8x8 or 9x9 glass baking dish
-foil

What to do:

Preheat oven to 375. While your oven is heating, cut your acorn squash in half, remove seeds with a spoon. Coat the inside (including the exposed edge) of each 1/2 with about 1/4 tblsp butter (or more if you prefer a heavier butter flavor). Place 1 cup water and your squash in your baking dish. Sprinkle a dash of salt and pepper over your squash and add about 1 tsp water in your squash. Cover with foil (to retain moisture) bake for 1 hour and enjoy! :) But let it cool for 3-5 minutes so you don't burn the crap out of your mouth! LOL

Healthy Chicken Ramen??? REALLY!?!

Ok, I know that it sounds like I'm grabbing at straws here for another recipe, but this is actually really good and my kids LOVE it! It sounds like b.s., but really...healthy(ish) chicken ramen!
Note: if you don't have chicken stock and/or don't care about eating cleaner, you can use this recipe but using the flavor packet. If you choose to use the packet, this recipe works for chicken, oriental, and shrimp ramen. Here's what to do...

What you'll need:

-1 package ramen (doesn't matter what flavor you get because you discard the flavor packet)
-2-2 1/2 cups chicken stock (depends how soupy you want your ramen)
-1 egg
-soy sauce (or if you prefer soy free...tamari sauce)
-toasted sesame oil
-frozen corn
-sriracha sauce (totally optional)

What to do:

Bring chicken stock, with a splash or two of soy sauce and a tiny drizzle of sesame oil (no more than a 1/2 tsp) to a boil. Add your ramen noodles. Whisk egg in a bowl, then slowly stir your egg into your boillng stock, stir constantly. Add a good handful of frozen corn and bring back to a boil and let it cook until corn is warm and tender. Eat up! If you like spice, add a good squirt of sriracha sauce at the end of cooking. It is SOOOO good, especially if you have a stuffed up nose! :)

Black Bean Salsa!!!

Do you like black bean salsa, but hate paying for salsa with chewy beans? Well, I love the stuff it goes great in a salad, or on a grilled chicken sandwich (BTW-YUMMY!!!) and tons of other stuff too! Well, I got tired of paying $5 for a jar of salsa that didn't have enough beans, the flavor was weird, or the beans were just nasty...ewwww!!! I tried a couple of different ways to make my own and finally hit the nail on the head!
For this recipe you CAN use canned black beans, but honestly you run the same chance of having crappy beans as when you by the salsa in the jar...I highly suggest that you make your own beans. Don't worry if you've never done it before, the fool proof recipe follows! Another note: you can use a pressure cooker if you can brave your way through it, but those damn things scare the crap out of me! ok, here we go! :)

What you'll need:

-1 1/2 cups dried black beans
-1-2 tblsp oil (canola or olive)
-1/2 each red, orange and yellow bell peppers
-1 tblsp minced garlic
-1 small white or yellow onion (which ever you prefer)
-1/2 cup frozen corn
-1 cup LaVictoria Medium salsa
-Chipotle Tobasco
-chili powder
-crushed red pepper
-black pepper
-garlic powder
-onion powder
-dried oregano

What to do (Black Beans):

First off you have to rake through your bean to make sure you get out any possible pebbles and the weird looking beans. Then you have to soak your beans over night or do a quick soak. To do a quick soak, rinse your beans, then cover with cold water, at least 2 inches OVER the beans. Bring beans to a boil, let boil for 5 (!!!) minutes. Cover and remove the beans from the heat. Let them soak for at least 2 hours (quick soak isn't as quick as it sounds).

Ok, now that your beans have soaked you want to rinse the crap out of them! Rake you fingers through the beans in running water, get as much of that black water out as you can (It will make your beans cause WAY LESS GAS!). Once you've rinsed the beans thoroughly cover (again) with water, at least 2 inches above the beans (Add a little oil and salt to keep beans from boiling over). Add about 1/4 tsp of each of the following (or adjust to personal taste): Chili powder, crushed red pepper, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and dried oregano. Boil 2-2 1/2 hours, constantly checking the water level, add HOT water as necessary to maintain 2 inch level in pot. Boil until beans are nice and tender (or to your desired consistency).

What to do (Salsa):

Your beans are cooked!!! YAY!!! Ok, now you have to make the salsa. To do so, chop your onion and bell peppers into small pieces. Saute peppers and garlic over medium heat, with 1-2tblsp oil, until tender crisp (soft, but still a little "crunchy"). When veggies are tender crisp add blackbeans, LaVictoria salsa, a couple dashes of chiptole tobasco (to taste), frozen corn, a little oregano, black pepper, crushed red pepper, chili powder (again, to taste). Heat through. Black bean salsa is done! PUT IT ON EVERYTHING!!! YUM!

For The Bacon Lovers With a Sweet Tooth :D

I was watching The Rachael Ray Show and she was making pork chops with an apple and onion topping...It sounded SO good, but I didn't have any pork chops on hand...SO I made it work with what I had...the results? Bacon Wrapped Apple/Onion Stuffed Chicken and it was AMAZING!!!! Ok, so this one's not so healthy...

What you'll need:

-2 apples
-2 medium onions (I used red, but you can use what sounds good to you)
-4 chicken breasts
-4 tblsp olive oil (divided)
-2 tblsp brown sugar
-1/3 cup cider vinegar
-1 package of applewood smoked bacon

What to do (Stuffing):

First you'll need to cut your onions, you'll want to slice them thinly and then into about 1/2-1 inch strips. Cut your apples in 1/4 thick bite size pieces. Heat 2 tblsp. oil in a frying on medium heat and place onions in the pan and sweat them until tender. Add your apple slices and cook them until they are tender/crisp. Add brown sugar and vinegar cook until the brown sugar melts. Remove from heat, cover and set it aside.

What to do (Chicken):

First things first...Preheat your oven to 375. Now that your stuffing is ready, and your oven's going, you have to prepare the chicken. Wash and remove any extra fat (There will be plenty of fat from the bacon) pat breasts dry with paper towel. You want to make a length-wise slip in each breast, so that you have a pocket to put your stuffing in. Pack them babies up! After stuffing all your breasts, wrap each one with 3-4 pieces of bacon. In a 9X13 baking dish, add your 2 remaining tblsps oil, place in oven to get the oil hot (about 5 minutes). Remove baking dish and place the chicken in the the dish and bake for 15 minutes, flip your chicken bake for 15 more minutes. When the time is up, drain all oil and grease from pan. Bake an extra 7-10 minutes on each side. Now you're done! I like to serve mine with corn of the cob and a green salad.

Kid Friendly Spinach Salad

Did you ever wish that you could get your kids to eat healthy greens? Well, last night, I made an amazing salad that my kids asked for more of...Do you want to know about it?

Well, here's the recipe!

What you'll need:

-2 cups romaine lettuce, chopped

-2 cups spinach, torn 

-4 green onions

-2 apples, cut the way you like

-1 good helping of raisins

-2 chicken breasts

-2 tblsp olive oil

-lemon pepper

-nutmeg

-ground sage

-onion powder

-balsamic vinaigrette

-ranch dressing

-1 large skillet to pan fry chicken

What to do (Chicken):

Slice the breasts in half so that it appears that you have 4 chicken breasts. Lightly season the breasts (on boths sides with nutmeg, ground sage, lemon pepper, and onion powder. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat, when it nice and warm and the chicken. Cook over medium heat for 4-5 minutes on each side,if you like you can add a small drizzle of the balsamic vinaigrette before turning. Make a small incision to check if it is cooked through. When your chicken is fully cooked, remove from heat and shred or chop chicken....

What to do (Salad):

Wash and combine lettuce and spinach. Slice green onions and chop the apples. Combine chicken, green onions, and apples with the lettuce and spinach. Top with raisins and both ranch dressing and balsamic vinaigrette. Serve and enjoy!