Barbeque Meatballs ala Mussack

Like I've said before...I'm a Midwesterner.  My roots are northern Midwestern...with my dad's family mostly coming from Northern Iowa and Southern Minnesota (I think).  Well, I have a cookbook that my grandma Mussack gave me a few years back. It's one of those compiled church cookbooks, where the entire ladies aid is in charge of submitting recipes. Most of the recipes are similar...none of them are particularly healthy.  It's the Sacred Heart Catholic Church of Adams, Minnesota cookbook. I love it for four reasons:

1.  There are at least 35 different "hot dish" recipes in it.  Classic northern food. 
2.  There is a recipe called "Bob's Slop."
3.  The measurements include things like "a touch of this", "pinch", etc.
4.  My grandma made notes in the margins next to the recipes she liked.

Tonight, I made a winner.  Barbeque Meatballs.  In the margin, my grandma wrote..."Good".  So, I trusted her judgment and gave it a whirl.

First step...make the BBQ sauce...

1 1/2 TBSP of sugar
2 TBSP Worchestershire sauce
1 CUP Ketchup
1/2 CUP Water
1/4 CUP Vinegar
1 small onion, minced

Mix it all together in a saucepan and put it on low to simmer for about 30 minutes.  Like this:

Next, mix together:

2 LBS of hamburger (the recipe said sausage, but I only had hamburger...so that's what I used)
3/4 CUP of oatmeal
1/2 CUP of milk
Salt and Pepper

Form into little balls and brown.  Like this:

Once the meatballs are browned most of the way through, put them in a 9x13 pan and pour the BBQ sauce over top.  Cover with tin foil and stick in a 350 degree oven for an hour.  When it's done...you'll get this:

 
Wait, here's a closer look:

They were so good that I'm serious, JC couldn't talk.  Not an exaggeration.  He loved them.  I loved them.  Mia shoved most of them into her high chair and pointed to the cookies on the counter.

Oh well...can't win them all.

15 months of baby...I mean big girl now.

She's 15 months today my friends!!!  Growing like a weed too.  We just got back from her 15 month check-up with her pediatrician and in his words..."I am impressed with this perfect child."  YES! Well, I'm not really surprised, because she is perfect, but to hear an actual medical professional say it...made my day!

Height is 32 1/2 inches (in the 95%)
Weight is 22.7 lbs (in the 55%)
Head size is 51.4...(still above 100%)

Head size is the only thing that's given us some trouble/concern in the past.  But, after an MRI, a visit to the pediatric neurologist and many doctor bills later...we all agreed that it's attributed to genetics. Great. Can we have our $2000 out of pocket expenses back now, please?  Oh well, good news is it's just money and Mia is healthy.

She got her little toe pricked to check iron count (it was perfect and she didn't even make a peep! Not one!)
We got 4 vaccinations, which resulted in about 20 seconds of crying and then we got excited about the picture of the Lion King movie hanging on the ped's office wall.

All in all, a great visit.  She also has NO "stranger danger" either!  She let the nurses and doctor just poke and prod her without so much as a peep.  Which is crazy because she really hasn't been in any kind of consistent daycare and around other people except her family.  Like I said...perfect. But wait, I think a "little" stranger danger is probably good. We'll work on that.

Here we are at 15 months this morning!  Wasn't in the mood for pictures, though. Nonetheless...

Mom's Banana Bread

So, I have a little girl that eats a banana every morning for breakfast.  She's not really a "breakfast" eater yet.  She is content with a cup of milk (warm of course), a banana and some cheerios. Oh...and can't forget Mickey Mouse Clubhouse too.  That's a must for breakfast time. 

Anyway, I ALWAYS have bananas in the house.  The last time we went to costco, we got a huge bunch of bananas that were already ripe and I just KNEW that we would eat them before they spoiled, no problem.  Well, I was wrong.  We ended up with 4 bananas that weren't going to get eaten before they spoiled, especially since Mia was going to stay at her GiGi's house this weekend (JC's mom). 

So, I decided that I needed to make banana bread.  We had the whole weekend to ourselves so I had lots of time to bake.  My mom has the best banana bread recipe.  It's simple and good.  Here it is...

In a bowl, mix:

1 stick of margarine
1 cup + 1 tbsp. of sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp of vanilla

Mix together with a mixer and add:

3-4 ripe bananas
1/2 cup of sour cream (or nonfat yogurt if you are dieting...but then, why would you eat banana bread?)

Mix together with a mixer, then add:

1 1/2 cups of flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup of walnuts (I had to omit this one...didn't want to risk the little girl choking on a nut)

You'll get something like this:

Pour in a well-greased and floured loaf pan. Like this.

Bake at 350 degrees for an hour or so.  After that, you get this.

It amazes me every time...that yucky, nasty almost rotten bananas make this.  Super good!

Uh-Oh

So, if my husband could do two things for the rest of his life it would be.  #1 - Watch college football and #2 - Play Golf.  I've golfed one time in my life and it ended with me collapsing in a fit on the 8th green because if I whiffed another ball, I was going to throw my clubs in the water hazard.  I love to drive the cart around and drink beer and watch.  That's fun.  The actual golfing part?  Not so much. 

Anyway, they've outnumbered me.  Look what daddy bought Mimi this week...

And She. Loves. Them.  She and JC hit little plastic balls in the backyard and while I may admit it's the cutest thing I've ever seen...I get flash forwards of spending every weekend of the rest of my life on a golf course.  Well, if that's the case, then I better buck up and learn the game too. 

I, on the other hand, bought Mia the cutest little white sun hat for days at the park.  She has fair skin like me so she needs sunblock and a hat.  Good thing I only buy her stylish accessories. You can kinda see it here.  Mostly though...the important part of this shot are the rocks.  That is one of our new favorite past times...picking up rocks and putting them on the slide at the park.  Have I mentioned my daughter is awesome?

GAH!!!!!

I've got a talker on my hands.  Mimi repeats everything I say and if you tell her what something is (only one time)...she knows it.  She can't form complete words that well yet, but she's getting better.  She probably knows about 25 words now and associates them with things or people now.  For example...when my computer screen goes idle and my pictures start doing the slideshow thing, if a picture of my mom pops up, she points and says Na-na.

She says Big Bird, La-La (Elmo), Mama, Dada, ki-ki (kitty), more, no, walk, doose (juice), rock (as in a rock on the ground and rock in the chair), chocolate (that one is more like cha-ca), cak-cak (duck), cracker, thank you, please, jacket, na-na (my mom and banana), wa-wa (water) and ba-ba (sippy cup/milk).  These are all of the words that she says if she sees the actual item.  If I point and tell her the name of something, she says it back to me.  Or at least tries very hard to.  She is one smart cookie, let me tell you.

Her latest word...GAH.  $20 bucks to the person who knows what she's talking about.  Here's a hint:

If you guessed GUITAR, then you know what a GAH is.  You see, my husband is a guitar player (a very good one might I add) and he has an acoustic and electric guitar hanging on the wall of his office with his amp below it.  Every now and then, he would take it down and play for Mia and let her strum on it.  Now, when she goes in his office, she points and says GAH!!!! Then whines until we get it down...(we're working on her saying please everytime she asks for something).  She sits and strums and strums and strums.  Sometimes she hums too.  She is definitely a music lover.

Today, we got the GAH down for a bit.  She loved it.

Friends and Fish

I have this great friend in Nashville. I miss her greatly.  I should call her more.  I should visit her.  Until I get my act together and actually do that, I read her blog.  Like me, she too aspires to just cook all day and create wonderful food and be Ina Garten (or whoever her culinary idol is).  Our dream is to open a catering business/bakery/restaurant...or something like that.

Anyway, I read her blog and that's how I stay connected.  On her blog, she made this Yummy Dinner.  Well, I made it too and she was right. DELICIOUS!!!

The best part.  Simple and fast.  I have a 15 month old toddler who is into everything and wants to go everywhere.  So, when I cook, it needs to be quick and uncomplicated.  I need one eye on the food, one eye on the girl.  So this recipe works for me.

FYI...from this point on, my fish will ALWAYS be coated in Panko bread crumbs.  Why would you use anything else?  They are delicious and perfect for fish!

See for yourself...

Healthy eating at our house.  Had to counteract all of that sugar and butter from these last night.  But that's okay...cause it was delicious.

It was also Mia's first taste of fish.  That was about the last thing that I waited to give her, food-wise.  I have no idea why...I just thought she needed to be "older" to try fish.

So, I gave her some.  It went in...

And came right back out.

Maybe she isn't quite ready yet.

The best thing I've ever made. Really.

So, remember when I said I was going to make this?  Devil Dogs Well I did.  And it. was. amazing.

First I made this from scratch.  Way better than box.  I will never be fooled again.

Then I made this frosting "type" mixture.  I call it that because it doesn't taste like frosting, but I cannot describe it any other way.  The first two ingredients were flour and milk.  Riddle me that.

Then you put them together...which was very hard.  Mostly because the chocolate sheet cake was so moist.  (I hate that word). But again....I have no other way to describe it.

Put it together.

Up close. Cause it's so beautiful.

I made these for my father-in-law in place of a boring old birthday cake.  So, of course...

Sprinkles are in order....

That's the happiest birthday I have ever seen.  They were a hit too, everyone just basically grunted while we ate them after dinner. We ate at a hibachi grill too (where nobody EVER has any room left in their tummies from all that fried rice)...but they made room, and it was definitely worth it.  This is THE BEST thing I have ever made.  Period.  And I'm not a baker! I hate to measure! I hate worrying that my cake will stick because I AGAIN forgot to grease and flour the pan. What if I put too much sugar?!?  Do I HAVE to really level off the top of the measuring cup?? Baking is just too stressful.  

But this was simple.  Everything from scratch with sugar, real butter, eggs, everything that's NOT low calorie.  But if you're gonna splurge, this is what you splurge on.  Period.  They are kind like homemade Suzie Q's by Little Debbie.  You know...these?

Again, way better.  Probably more fattening.  But, guaranteed made with 100% real ingredients. Just a lovely, lovely, lovely dessert.

I put Mimi in a pretty green dress for the birthday dinner.  This is the best shot I could get.  She's on the move and has NO time to pose for pictures. She's gotten to where she won't even look at me when I have the camera.  Maybe I should put down the camera for a day? Nah. 

MUH.

 No cooking today.  Nothing too inspiring to share in that department.

But, tomorrow I'm making THESE for my father-in-law's 68th birthday.  Those are worth sharing.  So, I probably will.

This morning, we went to Home Depot to get our "yard" supplies for spring.  You know, fertilizer, a rake, clippers, grass seed, etc.   Man, what an exciting life we lead!!! It's so funny how life changes.  When you are a homeowner, Home Depot is really the most fun place in the world.

Then we went to CostCo, which was pretty routine.  The saddest part was I couldn't get a hot dog from the CostCo concession stand cause it's cash or check only.  I had to give the hot dog back cause I only had a debit card!  SAD!!! Those hot dogs are good! (And probably full of preservatives I might add...but at the time, I didn't care.)

Anyway, Mia and I worked in the back yard this afternoon.  I'm telling you...this girl is NOT afraid to get dirty.  She loves to play in the rocks, dirt, mud, sand, grass, anything.  And I let her.  She entertained herself (with my supervision) for 2 hours in our backyard today while I raked leaves, pulled weeds, cut back plants and clipped monkey grass.

Well, she was playing so nicely with some bowls and spoons in the dirt. Pick up dirt, put it in the bowl...pick up more dirt, put it in the bowl...dump out the bowl...repeat, repeat, repeat.  Then we saw a baby lizard! I love those things...they are the cutest!

Then Mia found a pot of potting soil that had plenty of rain in it. It was one that I grew my herbs in last spring.  I told her it was mud.  So, she played in it for 30 minutes and kept saying "MUD" or probably more like "MUH".  Point is...she loved it. 

These pictures don't even do justice how muddy she was.  These pictures were taken right after she discovered the mud.  She had it on her face, in her mouth (yuck), on her pants, in her hair...I had to throw away her shoes cause they were just FULL of mud.

So, she played for awhile and I picked her up (kicking and screaming might I add), to go inside for a bath.  Have I mentioned she is developing that year 2 "attitude?"  Oh man, it's actually kinda funny.  I just let her throw her fits, try not to laugh hysterically at her and just tell her when she is done with her fit...we can play some more.  I think she cried for 20 minutes straight when I wouldn't let her play in my makeup bag yesterday.

Anyway, we cleaned up, had a snack, watched a little Sesame Street and while I was cleaning up the kitchen, I looked over and saw this.

She crawled in her "ottoman/make shift living room toy box" and sat in there for an hour and just played with her toys.  She climbed out, and climbed back in, climbed out, climbed back in... again, again, again.  It was pretty cute to watch, actually.

But then again, what's not cute about this girl?!?!?

I think tomorrow we might play in the mud some more.

Boring potatoes be gone.

So, I'm not the "biggest" fan of potatoes.  Unless they are in french fry form.  I'll put it this way, when the "Thanksgiving" dinner spread is on the table and it's time to dig in...I only get potatoes if I have some room on my plate after filling up with the rest of the goodies.  Which is...never.

Well, last night...against my tastebuds, I decided I needed to make mashed potatoes. Mostly because they were cheap at the store and partly because I knew it would make JC very happy to have potatoes for dinner.  It was very nice in Dallas yesterday (and the day before...and today...) and so I bought some NY Strip steaks to grill in the backyard.  So, I decided to do something with those potatoes to go with the steaks.

Let me tell you guys...here is the answer to boring potatoes.

I had this in my fridge, leftover from some concoction I was trying to make.  Boursin Cheese.  Throw it in potatoes and oh dear lord....yum.

Here's how you do it.  Easiest thing in the world. So, I used red potatoes, cut them in fourths and boiled them (like normal).  I left the skins on for color, texture and shear laziness.  I have no desire to peel potatoes.

Then drain the potatoes, put in the Boursin cheese and use your potatoe masher to mash them.  I like creamy potatoes better, but the little girl had already went to bed so turning on the mixer to mix them was not a choice.  So, use your arm muscle and mash these with a hand masher. Here is the yummy result.  Holy moly...it's fabulous. 

I made some quick gravy to put on top too.  Here is my plate from last night, steak and all.

Yes, I eat my steak with ketchup.  Don't hate.  Nothing sets off the flavor of a steak like some ketchup.  (Double points for anyone who can tell me which movie that's from).

Here's a hint.  Okay, okay... here's the "answer."   Waiting

Hormones, preservatives and crap.

If I had all of the money and time in the world,  I would grow my own vegetables, fruit, meat, etc.  I would only shop at Farmer's Markets (if I needed to) and probably only get things like milk, cheese and pasta at the grocery store.  Even if I had a lot of money, I don't think I want to make cheese or milk a cow and have to pasteurize it.  No thanks.  

The point is...I do not want to eat (nor feed my family) things like preservatives, hormones, nitrates, high fructose corn syrup, etc.  

Well, turns out, I don't have all of the money and time in the world.  Darnit.  Heck, I'm not even a full time stay at home mom.  I'm a half time at home mom...(I am very very lucky to be in my office three days a week and home the rest). But still...it's hard to juggle it all.  So, I've learned to compromise.  Case in point.  Mia's lunch today...

First, take a look at this cute kid plate and baby fork.  It's just one of those items at Target that make their way into your cart and why you can NEVER leave there without spending at least $80. 

That's besides the point.  But really, I have a love/hate relationship with Target. As a kid I remember eating lots of macaroni and cheese and hot dogs. I LOVE hot dogs, but don't really eat them because of the crap that's in them.  Same with mac and cheese...I don't even want to KNOW how long it takes for my digestive system to process all of the crap that's in that powdered cheese. 

Still, it's a great meal and very kid friendly.  So, here's my compromise...

Annie's organic mac and cheese and Oscar Meyer Angus hot dogs (free of the crap).  Yes, it's a little more expensive at the store...but really not much.  I found a deal at Kroger that sold Annie's mac and cheese for 99 cents a box...which is LESS than the preservative-filled Kraft kind.  I think the regular price is aournd $2 a box.  And for a 15 month old, that box lasts a long time. 

So, here it is....hot dogs and mac and cheese...brings back memories.  Oh...and steamed carrots too.  While I like to think she likes to eat the fancy food I make for dinner (sometimes).  Here is what she really wants.  Simple and easy for her to digest. 

Here's the deal...you don't have to buy EVERYTHING organic.  And it's a rare person who has the time to grow their own food (although I'm going to try this summer).  Does my child eat mandarin oranges in the pre-filled cups?  Yes.  Did she drink some chocolate milk with high fructose corn syrup this morning? Yes.  No, we're not perfect...but we try our best.  Why wouldn't you give your child (and yourself) the healthiest food you possibly can.

Plus, she likes it.  And doesn't throw "too" much on the floor.

We're still working on actually using that "fork" thing.  She still prefers her hands. 

No, I will not post pictures of egg salad.

I made egg salad sandwiches last night for dinner.  I did not take pictures of them.  Because if I took pictures of egg salad sandwiches and blogged about them on my cooking blog, then I seriously need to re-consider my efforts here. I'll make something awesome this weekend and share.  Maybe something by Barefoot Contessa!?!?....ooo, now I'm excited.

In other news, I let Mia do this last night while I was making dinner.

She LOVED playing in my spice "box".  Yes, I keep my spices in a box in the cupboard.  When I see those lazy susan type spice spinny things in places like Bed, Bath and Beyond and Williams-Sonoma, I think how much nicer it would be.  But then I see the price tag on one of those puppies and think my spice box works just fine.  Anyway, she had a blast shaking every. single. container.  It was adorable.  Until....she got a taste of one of the spices and she made the worst gagging sound ever.  I'm thinking it was cinnamon cause she had a little brown smudge on her cheek.  So, we had some juice and all was better.

Mia is is starting to get another cold.  I can always tell, because it starts with a few sneezes, a runny nose and then it's full on cold.  She doesn't sleep well at all when she's sick (probably because she still sleeps with a pacifier and can't breathe very well), so that means a little cold makes us all miserable and tired. I have been getting the onset symptoms of a cold, but I have been taking zicam like it's my job and that seems to always help me.  I haven't had a full on cold in a LONG time.  Zicam is the BEST! 

So, Mia is almost 15 months now and here is the face we get the most from her:

I have no idea where she got this.  She does it when she's confused, curious, mad, tired, whiny, etc.  She makes that face and says..."ooooooooooo".  It's cute.  It's even cuter when we make her laugh while she's doing it:

She smiles, realizes she can't make that face and smile at the same time and really tries to concentrate to make the "oooo" face again.  Almost like, "Don't make me laugh!!"  She's so awesome. 

You know what else is awesome? This.