It's Meatloaf

My mother made her Meatloaf like this with two exceptions. She didn't use Sun Dried Tomatoes or the product Mrs Dash. She did use all the seasonings in Mrs Dash separately. I just find it more convenient to purchase one bottle of spice instead of four.

I have to say.... I have many of Mrs Dash spices. They are a salt free spice and really adds very good flavor to any food.

Ingredients:

2 lbs of lean ground beef
1/2 cup of milk
5 slices of white bread
3 eggs
3 tablespoons of Mrs Dash, Tomato, Basil and Garlic
1 tea spoon of black pepper
2 tea spoons of salt
Sun dried tomatoes (optional)

Directions:

Mix together, milk, bread, Mrs Dash, black pepper, salt, eggs and Sun dried tomatoes.
Then add ground beef and mix. Once the mixing is completed, shape the meat into a loaf and place in a shallow baking pan coated lightly with olive oil. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

I find that using the fresh bread and mixing it with milk makes for a moist and tender Meatloaf.


Leftover meatloaf is great cold in a sandwich with catsup.
This picture is showing roasted red, sweet potatoes with caramelized onions. I will post this recipe next week. Have a great weekend.

Cub Scouts

Tonight is Cub scouts and I have something special for the boys to do. This is so they can keep track of their progress towards getting their Tiger Cub badge. I am going to have them all participate in making a wooden Tiger Cub stand, so they can display their achievements towards the badge.
I first drew out all the face parts of the Tiger Cub.
Using a Jig saw, I cut all these pieces out of a 1/4 inch piece of plywood.

I have 24 boys in my Den and I want to make sure they all have a part in making this. I think it is so important the boys feel like they are part of something they think is great.

They are all going to paint a piece of the Tiger Cub and help with putting it together.

In the Tiger Cub Scouts there are two main badges they will need. The first one is the Bobcat Badge and the second is the Tiger Cub badge.
The past three weeks we have completed all eight requirements for the Bob Cat Badge. They will be getting that badge at the October Pack meeting.

There are approximately twenty three topics I need to hit on in order for these boys to get their Tiger Cub Badge and move to the Webelos level.

This Doodle Tiger Cub pole will help organize and keep the boys excited about completing all the requirements. I have made a few topic trinkets for them to add to their name as they complete each one.

Thank you everyone! I enjoyed reading all your wonderful posts on "What would your children say?" Wednesday. I hope to see you all next week.

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I'm doing the bills!!!!

It's all about the children and what they come up with in their young and innocent years. Another week of "What would your children say?" Wednesday!

This happened about three years ago. The Cisco Kid would have been three years old.

We were visiting with Grandma and Grandpa when out of the clear blue The Cisco Kid went to Grandma's computer and started typing. Grandpa said, look at him on the computer. When I turned around to look at him, he was typing away. I then asked the Cisco Kid what he was doing and he immediately said…. I'm paying the bills. We thought that was the cutest thing to come out of a three year olds mouth.

He got that from my husband the Chief. Any time my husband is working on the computer and the Cisco Kid asks what he is doing. The Chief’s response is always “I’m paying the bills”

Children really do learn and copy their parents.

Italian Meatballs

This is the time of year when I do most of my cooking. Fall and winter is when the weather in Florida starts to cool down and the holidays are just around the corner. Now I can get into cooking.

The great thing about making Meatballs is they do very well when frozen. I make a very large batch and put half in the freezer. When I am ready to use the Frozen Meatballs, all I do is defrost them and put them in the oven for fifteen minutes, just enough time for them to get hot and crisp up slightly.
2 lbs of lean ground beef
1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 teaspoons salt
½ cup chopped flat leaf parsley
3 cloves of garlic chopped fine
½ cup Sun Dried Tomatoes packed in oil (optional)
3 tablespoons of Mrs Dash, tomato, Basil & garlic
2 eggs
Oil for frying

Mix all ingredients together and roll the meat into 3 inch balls. Put oil in a frying pan ½ inch deep. Allow the oil to get hot before placing the Meatballs in the oil. Place the Meatballs in the frying pan and fry to a golden brown.
Turn Meatballs every couple of minutes so all sides are golden brown.




I love Sun Dried tomatoes so I add some for myself. As for the Chief he likes just straight Meat.





Participating and reading about "What would your children say?" Wednesday, is a real good laugh for mid week.

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Chocolate dipped lady fingers

This is the sixth of twelve posts on my Family Heritage Christmas cookies. Every Monday from now until Christmas I will share my full collection of Christmas cookie recipes with you. My Christmas cookie collection consists of twelve different kinds of cookies. Every year I bake over 500 cookies and give them to our family and friends.

I have already posted about my Almond Crescents, no cook S’mores, Almond cups , Coconut Macaroons. and Crisp sugar cookies.

These lady finger cookies are really easy to make and it will look like you spent hours in the kitchen makeing them.
Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1 egg
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1tea. vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet Bark Coating
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts


Directions:
Cream 1 cup butterm sugar and egg. Add flour and vanilla, mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Shape dough into logs 1/2 inch wide' cut log 2-1/2 inches long. Place on un-greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 14 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on wire rack. In a Microwave melt chocolate. Dip one end of each cookie into chocolate and then into nuts. Place on waxed paper until chocolate cools and hardens.

Makes about 2- 1/2 dozen

My Favortie Dessert....Tiramisu

 I can’t tell you enough how much I enjoy this dessert. I had gone to and Italian Restaurant many years ago and ordered their Tiramisu. It was totally wonderful. I have never found Tiramisu that tasted like that again. They were either to sweet, to soggy or made with cream cheese. A few years ago I decided to make my own recipe. It took me three tries to get this to perfection.

1-1/2 lb. Mascarpone cheese
1 pint of heavy whipping cream
6 eggs
2 packages lady fingers
3 Tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons of powdered sugar
3 shots (3 oz) Cognac or Brandy
8 espresso sized cups of coffee (about 14 oz)
4 Tablespoons powdered unsweetened cocoa.

Dipping:
Combine the ingredients in a bowl. Espresso, two shots of cognac, one teaspoon cocoa. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Pour 1/8 inch of espresso mixture into a shallow flat-bottomed bowl. This step is very important because you don’t want to over soak your Lady finger so it becomes soggy. Set bowl aside.

Mascarpone cheese mixture:
In mixing bowl beat egg while tempering them, add sugar until creamy white. Let cool completely then add mascarpone, 1 shot of Cognac or Rum and mix until blended. Refrigerate until you are ready to assemble.

Prepare your heavy whipping cream by beating until it becomes stiff and then add powdered sugar. Fold in the mascarpone mixture and set aside.

Important tip: Quickly dip the lady fingers in the 1/8 inch espresso. Get the right amount of espresso on the cookie. Do not let the cookie stay to long in the Espresso mixture. If you soak the cookie in the espresso mixture to long you will end up with soggy cookie instead of it being firm & moist.

Assembly: Build a layer of dipped Lady Fingers across the bottom of the Glass pan. Spoon a layer of mascarpone mixture across the layer of cookies. Use about 1/3 of the mascarpone mix. The layer should be about (3/8in.) thick. Dip another layer of cookie in the espresso mixture and lay on top of the mascarpone cream. Spoon a second layer of mascarpone mixture across the second layer of cookies. Use the remaining mascarpone mix for a total of three layers. Sift cocoa on top of the final mascarpone layer. Hold the sieve over the tiramisu and tap the sieve on the side with your finger. The cocoa should sprinkle down in an even layer. Use this technique to cover the tiramisu with a very thin layer of cocoa. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving. serves 12 to 15

The Mad Scientist is at work

The Cisco Kid decided what he wanted to be for Halloween.

He has been a fireman two years in a row for Halloween. I really wanted him to be something else this year. I know if I would have asked him what he wanted to dress up as, he would have said.....Fireman... again!

I knew that the costume he was going to wear had to be his idea. He really loves a few things besides being a fireman. He loves his laboratory and he loves his trains. Since he has been a fireman two years in a row and the train conductor costumes don't come in his size anymore. That left....Mad Scientist. I loved the idea!!! Now to convince The Cisco Kid!!!!! I came up with three costumes he might be interested in. Swamp monster, Mummy and the Mad Scientist. I showed him some pictures of all three and he picked, Mad Scientist. He didn’t like the scary masks for the other two. He liked the idea so much he started telling me how he wanted it to look. He said….mom I want it to look like one of my experiments blew up. That’s all it took for my creative mind to start oozing creepy Halloween ideas. This is what I have so far.

The Lab jacket. It's on order.

The safety gloves to conduct the experiments The Mad Scientist has to look mad. What better way than to have these crazy teeth. This is the oozing creepy part. These are going to be sewn all over his lab coat with some red splats, to look like his experiment blew up and parts went flying. My Challenge is going to be, finding a good pair of Mad Scientist Steampunk Goggles. These are really cool. If I can’t find a pair of Steampuck Goggles, I will have to improvise and get creative with a plain pair of goggles When we are done with the costume, I will post it.

Thank you so much for participating in "What would your children say?" Wednesday.