New Year, New Blog Post

On Painting...
So waaay back in the Summer(How I miss the Summer) I got brave and entered two paintings in a local art show. I wasn't expecting to win anything so I wasn't surprised when I didn't. However, I wasn't expecting to SELL a painting either so I was totally surprised and overly excited when I went to pick up my paintings and instead of two paintings, I picked up a check and one painting!

This was the first time I'd sold a painting to someone whom I did not know personally and it felt GREAT! :)

The painting that sold, Fox's Forest, is pictured here.

There was a mix up at the gallery so my painting titled "Mama and Owlets" was listed as "Not for Sale",  but I l think if they had marked it with my asking price, it would have sold too. That's what I like to tell myself anyway. It's currently hanging on my living room wall.

I'm currently working on teaching myself to use watercolors and I'm having so much fun with it! I love how quickly I can finish a painting and how they look pretty good, even though I don't really have the techniques down yet. Here are a couple samples.:

From an online tutorial

Tiger Lily from Disney's Peter Pan...and that's my version of Ariel in the background. 

On Cooking...
I'm currently obsessed with this recipe from Plain Chicken. I've made it three times already and I just finished up a steaming bowl of this chicken chili concoction. It's so delicious and perfect for this ridiculously cold January in Kentucky.  Seriously, grab your crock pot and make a batch!

On Quilting...
I'm quilting again! YAAAAY! It's been forever, but I  pulled out a quilt top I started maybe 6 years ago(?) and I'm using it to practice free motion quilting. My stippling is still a hot mess, but by the time I got to the fourth block, my paisleys looked all right. If you are looking to learn FMQ, I highly recommend Leah Day's courses on Craftsy.com.

Whew, that was a lot! But it feels good to blog after so long an absence. I just may do it again soon!

Candy Corn Butterfingers

I have developed a bit of an addiction to Pinterest as of late. One of the first things I "pinned" was this photo linking a recipe for homemade Butterfingers.

Photo Source: http://www.thesaltypineapple.com/2011/08/i-love-food.html

When I realized the recipe consisted of only three ingredients, I had to try it!  You'll notice that I don't have a photo of the bars I made. Mine weren't quite as pretty as these. They weren't so much bars as they were nuggets, chunks and pieces. This was probably due to the fact that I did not let them set up as directed. Being impatient, I simply shoved the dish into the freezer and busted 'em up when they were cool. Despite their unpretty looks, they tasted fantastic! And yes, they taste like actual Butterfingers, but the texture isn't as flaky or crunchy. They were good, Y'all!  These are going onto my Christmas candy rotation!

Candy Corn Butterfingers

1 lb. candy corn
16oz jar peanut butter 
16oz pkg. chocolate candy coating

Melt candy corn in microwave on high 1 minute. Stir and continue cooking in 15-second intervals until melted, stirring after each interval. Stir in peanut butter. Spread mixture in a buttered dish(I used cooking spray). Cool completely. Cut into squares. Dip in melted chocolate candy coating. Lay on waxed paper to set.

Pumpkin Brownies

I was watching an episode of Hungry Girl on Food Network the other day and she made these absolutely yummy looking fudgey-brownies using a can of pumpkin, some peanut butter, light chocolate syrup and a box of brownie mix. It's not the first time I'd thought of trying this recipe, but seeing her eat them and hearing her talk about how wonderful they tasted, well it made me have to try making them.

I didn't have any chocolate syrup, so I mixed the brownie mix and pumpkin.

Next I added 2TBS of melted peanut butter to the batter and made it all pretty.

Baked at 350 for about 40min.

Don't they look yummy?

So. Not. Yummy. They weren't terrible, but they didn't taste like any brownie I've ever eaten. They had a weird(pumkin, no doubt) flavor that I just could not get past. I wonder if the chocolate syrup would have eliminated some of the pumpkin flavor?  Looking at the photo I can almost hear them saying "I'm not what I pretend to be".

They weren't for me, but that doesn't mean it's a bad recipe...my Vegan Husband loved  them!

Apple Crumble for Folks Who Don't Like Cooked Apples

I don't like cooked apples.

Or so I thought.

And then I watched Melissa D'Arabian on The Food Network make an apple crumble.

An Apple Crumble with Cardamom-Vanilla Caramel Sauce, to be exact.

And I thought to myself, "How have I lived 39(not really) years without having eaten an Apple Crumble with Cardamom-Vanilla Caramel Sauce? Truly, I haven't lived!" Then I changed the channel and got mesmerized by something else, probably Billy the Exterminator or reruns of Three's Company.

A few weeks later I was in the grocery store and remembered that I wanted to make that apple thingie with the fancy sauce. I had no idea what ingredients I'd need other than the apples. SO, I picked up some Granny Smith's, came home, hunted down the recipe, and realized I could make the apple crumble but not the Vanilla-Cardamom Caramel Sauce. Honestly, I reasoned, if it takes four words to describe the sauce, it's probably over my skill level anyway. I settled on making the Apple Crumble alone.

Since I wasn't making the Fancypants Sauce version, I decided to check out other recipes for apple crumble before I got started. What I ended up baking was a conglomeration of Melissa D'Arabian's recipe and one I found on Joy the Baker, and...

Oh. My. Gosh.

I felt the need to apologize to all those cooked apples I'd turned my nose up at in the past!

Apple Crumble for Folks Who Don't Think They Like Cooked Apples


What You Need:
For Filling:
5-6 medium Gala apples (or a mix of Galas + Granny Smith), peeled, cored & sliced
1Tsp. lemon juice
2.5 Tbs. sugar
1.5 Tsp. cinnamon
pinch of salt

For Crumble:
2/3 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cups brown sugar
2/3 cups oats
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans
pinch of salt
one stick of butter I use light margarine since my husband is vegan, but in my heart, I know butter makes it better.

What You Do:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Toss apple slices with lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon and salt and set aside.

In a separate bowl mix crumble ingredients until uniform.

Melt butter in baking pan. Pour melted butter into crumble mixture, leave the excess butter in baking dish to coat pan. Arrange apples in dish and cover with the crumble mixture. This crumble mixture will be dough-y(expert culinary term)sometimes I try to pat it out and lay it on the apples, other times I plop globs of it over the apples, covering as much of the filling as possible, either works.


Bake till apples are cooked through and topping is nice and brown. 45min. to an hour.


Serve this warm and top  with some Vanilla ice cream, and if you're more adventurous than I, make yourself a fancy Vanilla Cardamom Caramel Sauce to go with it. Don't forget to come back here to tell me what you think!

And for those of you just joining me, I'm giving away a few fabric postcards. Check my previous post for details on how to get one.

Best Oven Fried Chicken (no, really!)

Fried Chicken. Sigh. I direct you to my first(and only) slightly sad attempt at frying chicken. I almost got it right, and probably could have eventually gotten a handle on it if I'd kept at it, but I gave up.  I know.  I should be ashamed. I'm Southern after all, and from Kentucky...the Fried Chicken Capitol of the World! But me and fried chicken, we just don't jive. 

So here I am, four and half years after starting what I thought would be a cooking blog and I still can't fry up a chicken and I'm still not much of a cook either. This may explain why my cooking blog has morphed into a random craft/sewing/apron/quilting/ blog where I occasionally share a recipe. 

Which leads me back to the chicken...

I found a recipe for oven "fried" chicken that was a snap to make and tasted great! This recipe comes from the book Eat What You Love by Marlene Koch.

Best Oven Fried Chicken

What you'll need

• 2 large egg whites
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground sage
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 1/4 cups corn flakes
• 1/4 cup plain breadcrumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 lbs skinless chicken

***My changes due to lack of ingrediets: 1/2 cup egg beaters subbed for egg whites; paprika subbed for cayenne; Italian seasoning subbed for sage & thyme; I used precut chicken breast tenders.

What You'll Do

1. Preheat oven to 400. Place a wire rack on top of a baking sheet and spray with cooking spray.
2. In a shallow bowl, whisk together egg whites with  garlic powder, onion powder, caynne pepper, sage and thyme.
3. Place the cereal in a plastic bag and crush thoroughly with a rolling pin. Place in a shallow bowl and mix with  breadcrumbs, pepper, and salt.
4. Place flour in a third shallow bowl.
5. To bread the chicken pieces, first dredge the chicken in th flour to coat. Next, dip each piece of chicken into the egg white mixture, followed by the crumb mixture, making sure to cover all surfaces. repeat until all the chicken is coated.
6. Place the chicken pieces on the prepared rack and bake for 45 minutes, or until the chicken is  golden brown and reaches 180 degrees.

I'll admit to being a bit skeptical of any recipe titled "BEST" anything, but this was good stuff, y'all!  The chicken was juicy inside and crispy outside--just the way I like it! It was truly the best oven fried chicken I've tried....and I'd bet that cooking it on the wire racks is what made the difference. Give it a try and tell me what you think!  And I'd recommend you pick up a copy of this cookbook, especially if you're a cooking novice like I am. It has lots of familiar recipes(without exotic, hard to find ingrediets), made healthier.

Alert the Media! I cooked and ENJOYED a vegan dish!

This afternoon I did something I rarely do, and cooked a vegan dish for my husband. I know, I'm a bad wife, blah, blah blah. As I've mentioned, he is a die hard vegan and I am sooo not. Although I did try it once, and I lasted about a week!

I recently picked up a copy of Eat What You Love and this recipe looked interesting, so I thought I'd give it a try. Despite the fact that I used soy crumbles in place of ground beef, this dish was fantastic and very flavorful! I really liked it and my husband devoured two huge helpings in no time flat.

Of course I never have the exact ingredients a recipe calls for, so I made a few substitutions. My version is what's listed below.

And yeah, I know that's a canned crescent on the plate. I was so wrapped up in the noodle dish, bread was an afterthought and sides weren't even a thought. A fresh salad and crusty homemade bread would have been great with this!  Although I do loves me some Pillsbury Crescent Rolls...I'm not gonna lie.

Why is food so hard to photograph? 

Nutty (not really)Beefy Noodles

Here's What You Need:
8 oz whole wheat spaghetti
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and shredded

1/4 c. peanut butter
2 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs white wine vinegar
2 Tbs ketchup
1 Tbs brown sugar
1/4-1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 c. warm water
3/4 tsp. cornstartch

12 oz pack of Yves Meatless Ground (or 1lb. lean ground beef)
2 Tbs. minced garlic
2-4 green onions, chopped

Here's What You Do:
1.  Cook pasta, drain and return to pot. Add peppers and carrots, cover.

2. Whisk together peanut butter, soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, brown sugar,ginger, and red pepper flakes until smooth. Wish in warm water and cornstarch.

3. Heat soy crumbles and garlic in a (very) large saute pan. About 5 min.

4. Pour sauce into pan with the soy crumbles and let simmer until sauce thickens. Stir in pasta & veggies and cook 5-7min. until the veggies are crisp tender. Top w/green onions.

 For the unmodified by yours truly version of this recipe, check out the book.  There is a recipe for a 175 calorie vanilla cake batter milkshake that is worth the price of admission all on it's own!

She Cooks! OK, it was just Campbell's Macaroni and Cheese, but She Cooks!

I  don't know when I last posted a recipe. In fact I had been thinking of changing the name of this blog to something along the lines of And She Can't Even Step Foot Into The Kitchen! due to my lack of cooking related posts. After all, this blog started out as my adventures learning to cook.  OK, so I still can't cook, not really, but since I decided to stop hating my body, I've also decided it's time to fill it with real food...things other than cereal, cookies and fast food.

Now, y'all try not to scoff too much at my choice of recipe here, but I made Mac & Cheese, from a can of soup. I know, I know, it's not exactly health food. But you know what, it's not cereal, it's not cookies, and it's not fast food...so it's OK! And besides, I did use whole wheat blend pasta and 1%milk.  Anyway it's not like I'm not gonna eat the entire casserole dish full in one sitting! Maybe. I figure if I take the time to cook it, it has actual ingredients like milk, cheese, and pasta, it's not that bad.

So here's the recipe:

I clearly used waaay more breadcrumb mixture than the recipe called for.

Ingredients

• 1 (10.75 ounce) can Campbell's Condensed Cheddar Cheese Soup
• 1/2 (10.75 ounce) can milk
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 cups hot cooked corkscrew-shaped pasta or shell-shaped pasta
• 1 tablespoon dry bread crumbs
• 2 teaspoons butter or margarine

Directions

1. Mix soup, milk, black pepper and pasta in 1-qt. baking dish.
2. Mix bread crumbs and butter and sprinkle over pasta mixture.
3. Bake at 400 degrees F. for 20 min. or until hot.

I liked it. Nice and creamy--good texture. The flavor was a bit bland, however. Maybe adding some additional sharp cheddar cheese or some garlic powder or some other seasoning would liven it up. Still, it's pretty good, not to mention super-duper quick and easy to throw together.

Kellie Cooks(and eats) A Vegan Dish...And Lives to Tell About It!

My husband is a vegan. I am sooo not a vegan. He is thin, I am chubby fat extra-large not thin. I'm certain I could point out more health related differences between us and chalk it up to his vegan-ism, but I'll stop at the thin/not thin thing. Since that's where I always end up...Weight. Sigh.

I tried to do the no meat/no dairy for a while not too long ago. It didn't last long...almost made it three weeks. Surprisingly, I didn't miss the meat that much, but those of you who know me know that I'm not a big fan of veggies(or beans) and I will go out of my way to avoid eating them. Instead of replacing meat and dairy with vegetables, I was replacing it with Cheetos and Little Debbie cakes. So I stopped that little experiment before the weight gain got out of hand. Yeah, I know. Pathetic.

Despite my failure as a vegan, I have begun to become more interested in trying to eat healthier {{{hides M&M's wrapper and half empty glass of Coke}}} and think it's about time I started cooking(if only occasionally) for my husband of 23 years. I'm going to try a bit harder to prepare food that Mark will eat not only because it fits his vegan diet, but because it tastes good. And hopefully I can tolerate it...change is hard, people! My mother keeps telling my taste will change. Um, Mom, I'm still waiting for cauliflower and cabbage to taste like Cheetos and Little Debbie cakes.

My Grandma Doris got us this cookbook for Christmas two years ago and yesterday I blew the dust off, and cracked it open. How sad that it took me two years to use it! There are some recipes that Mark wouldn't touch due to the dairy/egg ingredients, but I have come across several that either omit those things or could be easily altered.I made a dish called Southwestern Fettuccine Bowl. It turned out to be a great recipe! Mark absolutely loved it and I will admit that I liked it too, despite my preconceived notion to the contrary. A quick and easy dish, loaded with good stuff...I'm sure it would be just as good with a whole wheat pasta of some sort substituted for the fettuccine noodles if you wanted to make it even healthier.

Southwestern Fettuccine Bowl

What You'll Need:
8 oz uncooked fettuccine
Olive oil-flavored cooking spray
1 cup chunky salsa
1/3 cup frozen corn
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons chili sauce
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 can black beans, drained, rinsed
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

What You'll Do:
1. Cook and drain fettuccine as directed on package. Spray fettuccine 2 or 3 times with cooking spray, tossing after each spray. Remove from saucepan; cover to keep warm.

2. In same saucepan, mix remaining ingredients except cilantro. Cook over medium heat 4 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until corn is tender.

3. Divide fettuccine among 4 bowls. Top each with about 3/4 cup sauce mixture. Sprinkle with cilantro.

Photo brought to you by Betty Crocker. We ate ours much too quickly to get a photo!

Caramel Snack Mix

I make this Caramel Snack Mix often--especially when Holiday time rolls around. It never fails to please. I wanted to share it since it's the perfect time of year for all things sweet and snack-y and because Patty asked about it! So, from my cookbook, here's the Caramel Snack Mix recipe, which is really just a different (and sweet) spin on Chex Mix

Caramel Snack Mix

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup white corn syrup
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup almonds
1 (12 ounce) package crispy corn and rice cereal

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C). Spray a large roasting
pan with non-stick cooking spray.

In a medium-size microwave safe bowl, mix butter, white corn syrup
and brown sugar. Place the mixture in the microwave and cook 2
minutes, or until butter melts.

Place the cereal, pecans and almonds into the prepared roasting pan.
Pour the melted butter mixture over the cereal and nuts and mix gently
until the cereal and nuts are coated.

Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

As the snack mix is cooling, be sure to continue to stir so that the mix
will not harden in one big lump.

Notes: I change up the kind of nuts I use and I usually use a little more than just one cup each...I like it w/peanuts, cashews & pecans. You can add another couple cups of cereal to keep it from ending up quite as sticky. It's also good with some microwave popcorn added to the mix.

It travels well too...My BIL Scott after opening a bag I mailed to him and Jackie in Poland one Christmas.

Mini Hawaiian Roll Sandwiches

Need something quick and easy to take to a family/church gathering? You must try these mini sandwiches...they are deeeeelicious!

Assemble sandwiches:
24 Hawaiian Rolls
1 lb of ham, thinly sliced
3/4-1 lb swiss cheese (I bought 1 lb and had some leftover)

To assemble sandwiches faster, slice the entire package of rolls at once to make the top and bottom layer and simply cut them when they come out of the oven. Add ham and cheese.

Mix together
1/2 cup melted butter
1 TBS dry mustard
1-2 TBS onion flakes, depending on your taste
1-2 TBS poppy seeds, depending
3/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Drizzle a little of the mixture over the ham and cheese layer before placing top layer of roll. Drizzle remaining mixture over the rolls. Bake at 350 until cheese is melted. Best when warm, but not bad cold either!

I did not need to know about this...

Did you know you can make donuts from canned biscuits? I did not. I wish I still did not. They are dangerous. Very dangerous.

Take these...
Then do this(I used the top of a water bottle to make the holes)...
Fry 'em in some hot oil...

and you get this...I doused them in powdered sugar, but I imagine you could frost or glaze them too. One thing...don't expect them to taste like Krispy Kremes. More like a Funnel Cake...especially when doused in powdered sugar and still warm.

I had to throw them away. NOT because they weren't yummy, cause they were!

Imagine me, standing at the counter, mouth full, powdered sugar falling from my lips and all over the front of my shirt yelling, "MMM! Mmmm! MMMaan!..deesh are shooow goooooo!"

Yeah. It was scary. I would've eaten all of them in 30 15min. and made myself sick had I not thrown the rest away after those first 2...ok, two and a half. I really need to learn some self control.

Next time I make these there will be someone nearby to share with me...I'd be a shame for another batch of biscuit-dounuts to suffer the same fate.

Loafin' around on a Sunday afternoon

Have you seen this book? I bought a copy for my brother for Christmas and after seeing( yet to taste) the loaves of bread he made and hearing the rave reviews, I had to have a copy for myself.

And I'm so glad I did! I've only made two loaves so far. The first loaf turned out, well, ugly. It didn't rise much either....still, it tasted pretty good. The second loaf turned out much better!
After a couple days in the refrigerator the dough was easier to work with, it did better rising, and the flavor even improved!
Even though the book explains the process in detail and in such a way that even a kitchen doofus such as myself gets it, I'm still slightly shocked that I made a loaf of tasty homemade bread without much effort.

The loaves I've made so far were from the basic and least complicated of the recipes, but the others don't appear to be overly complicated. However, I am going to keep working on perfecting this basic recipe before I move on to any of the others. It's good, y'all. Crunchy crust and chewy inside...just the way I like it.

There's a related blog and I intend to spend some time there getting tips and additional recipes.

I'm so tired, but I'm finished! Well sorta...

11:00p.m. here in the Bluegrass on a Thursday night and I seriously need to get some sleep. BUT, I have spent the evening finishing up this quilt top that I started on Monday and by golly, it's gettin' blogged!It's nothing fancy, but I'm comfortable with strips and thought that would be a good way to get some momentum going quilt-wise. I do realize that a pieced top does not a quilt make, however. THAT will have to come later when I can find a walking foot for my Kenmore and some courage to go with it.

I also attempted my first artisan loaf of bread tonight. No, it ain't pretty! I definitely need more practice with this. Although it didn't taste half bad slathered with honey butter.

Roll Out Sugar Cookies

Last summer I published my own cookbook. I collected recipes from family, friends, and co-workers, added photos, paid a nominal fee and 'viola! I have a cookbook of my very own. I did it on this website.

Lately, I've become addicted to making these sugar cookies that a friend and co-worker told me about. Her recipe(and story about the recipe) is below as it is listed in my cookbook. They are scrumptious as far as sugar cookies go! In fact, I'm making more tomorrow night!

Roll Out Sugar Cookies

Alfreda tells me, "This is our all time favorite cookie, even if it is a

sugar cookie. I got the recipe from a friend at church who had Jules in

Bible School when she was little. I now bake these all the time and

with my kids at school for certain holidays. The dough is the perfect

consistency for cutting out shapes. I usually just use sprinkles

appropriate for each holiday or season instead of the icing before

baking. We love them better like that."

1 cup softened butter ( 2 sticks)

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp. Vanilla

2 tsp. Baking powder

3 cups flour (all-purpose)

Set oven at 375 . Mix all ingredients together. Roll our dough 1/8 in.

thick, beginning with a dusting of flour on the rolling surface. Cut

cookies, decorate with sprinkle candies, place on an air-bake cookie

sheet. Bake for 7 - 8 minutes. Cookies will not look brown or done but

remove them from the oven to cool.

Icing

2 lb. bag powdered sugar

1 cup Crisco

(dash of salt)

1/2 cup hot water

1 tsp. Vanilla

Mix together til smooth.

*Mix with Wilton brand food coloring . Do not use liquid food

coloring as it will make the icing too thin.

***the only thing I have done differently is add a tbs. of milk. I goofed up my first time out and HAD to add milk in order to mix the dough. They turned out yummy despite my goof up and I've added that little bit of milk each time.

The icing on these is soooo good! The black icing you see is store bought Cookie Decorating icing that comes in a handy pouch for decorating. Here's my first attempt at using it to outline a cat. Yeah. Sad, huh?Second try was a little better.

OK. Lipstick Jungle starts in 9 minutes. I'm outta here!

I've Been Cooking...Well, Sorta...

I made these Cinnamon Apples w/a recipe from the Apple Barn. They were WAAAAY sweet(don't say I didn't warn you) but tasty nonetheless!Cinnamon Apples
Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients
6 small apples
1/4 cup red cinnamon candies
2 cups sugar
2 cups water

Instructions
Wash apples, pare and core. Combine sugar, water and cinnamon candies. Boil 5 minutes. Add apples and cook slowly until tender. Cinnamon extract and red food coloring may be substituted for red candies. If desired, apples may be cut in halves or quartered. And yeah, I added some red food coloring for fun!

Next up...

OK, this doesn't really qualify as cooking but if you want to jazz up store bought lemon poppy seed muffin mix, add lemon juice to a cup of powdered sugar until it is liquid enough to be drizzled from a spoon. Drizzle over cooled muffins. YUM!

Happiness in a Box

Yesterday Mark and I went out to the city park to do this and to enjoy the beautiful weather we've been having the past few days. Upon returning home, I discovered a big brown box on the front porch. My swap package from The Shabby Princess! The Shabby Princess and I participated in the Favorite Things Swap on Kelly's blog. I sent her a few of my favorite things, and she sent me a few of hers.

Inside the box I found...
Which I promptly unwrapped to discover...

• Two wonderfully scented candles...I caught a whiff the moment I opened the box and my kitchen/living room is currently infused w/the scent. Love it!
• The most FUN cups ever! I can pretend I'm back in the Bahamas lazing on the beach! And she even sent an extra for Mark...how sweet! Yes, I've tried mine out already!
• A variety of Post It Notes. Apparently the Shabby Princess is obsessed with stickies ;) How did she know that I can never find these when I need them?
• The book The Great Gatsby, her favorite, and one that I've enjoyed as well. I was watching my copy of the movie(starring Robert Redford & Mia Farrow) a while back and thought to myself "I need to read that book again!" Now I can! Yay!
• A pair of absolutely gorgeous Gatsbyesque earrings. Very vintage inspired. I love them!
• And finally, The Shabby Princess sent me a copy of her favorite cookbook, Everyday Italian: 125 Simple and Delicious Recipes by Giada De Laurentiis. How awesome is that? And what makes it even more special is that she actually marked her favorite recipes. So thoughtful! I'm really excited to try out some of these recipes!

What a wonderful surprise this package was! I am still overwhelmed and completely delighted by her generosity! Thanks again so very much, my friend!

Y'all should pay a visit to the Shabby Princess! She's a smart, amiable, aspiring writer who loves a great shoe and a bit of glam. Her personality really shines through in her blog...and she makes me giggle, often!

Paradise by the Oven Light...OR...Meatloaf

Are ya'll sitting down? You should be, cause what I'm about to tell you might cause you to fall over if you're not. I cooked! That's right! I actually 1. gathered ingredients 2. mushed said ingredients together and 3. prepared a meatloaf. And it was edible! Tasty even!

Now this was not my first attempt at meatloaf. My first attempt at meatloaf can be found here and it is my favorite meatloaf recipe(it uses Italian sausage), but this one comes in a close second. I wanted to try something without the sausage as it creates a lot of extra fat and I've been feeling a little Jabbaesque lately.

This recipe was easy, easy, easy. So easy, in fact, that even I couldn't screw it up...and I threw in some extras as I went along. I found the recipe on allrecipes, and like my other ML recipe, people who said they didn't like meatloaf raved about it, so I knew it was the one to try.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 pound ground beef

Glaze

• 2/3 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons prepared mustard

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, combine the egg, milk, cheese, oats and salt. Add the ground beef, mixing well, and form this mixture into eight miniature meatloaves. Place these in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish.
3. In a separate small bowl, combine the ketchup, brown sugar and mustard. Stir thoroughly and spread over each meatloaf.
4. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes.

My additons: some seasoned bread crumbs, a couple shakes of parmesean cheese, onion, Lawry's & a little pepper. For the glaze I omitted the mustard and used Corky's Smokin' Hot BBQ sauce instead.

Again, I was really happy with this one and I have five more little meatloaves in the freezer for when the mood for comfort food strikes!

I couldn't take a pretty picture of this dish...I'm afraid my meatloaf was just not very attractive.

But then neither is this Meatloaf.