Meatloaf Dinner

Another weekend down... Only two full work weeks until a little Christmas and New Year's time away!

I was nice and lazy this weekend. Friday I spent the evening with friends- hanging around and chatting about life. Call me lame, but it was my kind of night. I would choose a night of lounging on a friends couch (likely not wearing real pants) than a night out at a crowded bar almost any day.

Despite a killer headache for most of the day Saturday I did manage to get my butt to the grocery store and Target... I also made a stop by the brand new CVS that just opened up on the corner near me where I picked up a few make up essentials and some new lip products to test out- maybe I'll tell you about them sometime later this week.

I also cooked myself up a delicious meatloaf dinner which I would love to share with you all today. My mom has been making this recipe for years, and it is just plain yummy. I promise, you will not be disappointed.

Meatloaf:
1.5lbs 90% lean ground beef (I actually just used 1lb and it worked just fine)
1 cup tomato juice (I use the 8oz cans of Hunts)
3/4 cup Quaker oats
1 egg
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Sauce:
1/3 cup ketchup
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons yellow mustard

Directions:
Heat oven to 350. In large bowl combine all meatloaf ingredients (lightly beat the egg before adding it to the mixture). Once you've got all your meatloaf ingredients in the bowl, get your hands in there and mix it all together. Once mixed, form in to a loaf and place in baking pan (you can also cook this in a loaf pan 8 X 4 will work). In a separate bowl combine your sauce ingredients. Mix together thoroughly then pour over the loaf. Bake for 1 hour. Let stand for about 5 minutes and drain off any juices before serving.

I served mine with roasted asparagus and a baked potato.

Let me know if you guys test this recipe out!

Big Times Are Back

I was lazy this week and never got around to posting, but since my weekend this weekend was quite uneventful... I guess that works out.


Last weekend I spent a few hours on Sunday at The Big Big Big Big Big Fresnoooo Fair (my Fresno friends will remember the old jingle, I think I preferred the old commercials to this years "big times are back" jingle). Mom and I hit up all the important exhibits pretty quick since it was just the two of us and it was extremely hot for an October weekend. We saw horse races, all the art and home crafty exhibits, the animals, and I enjoyed a corn dog, chocolate covered frozen banana (with sprinkles) and of course the cinnamon rolls! Here's a little bit of what the day looked like according to my iPhone.

crossing the finish line

Certified CA girl

winning centerpiece

the stuff wasn't that neat

big times are back

I think I'll post another update solely devoted to pictures later and just finish this one off here. Going to the OC Fair (twice) this summer and hitting up the Fresno fair this past weekend has definitely given me a case of Fair Fever and I will have to make a point to go to some more in future years. Visiting fairs in other cities is certainly something to add to the bucket list. Who can turn down things like chocolate covered bacon, fried kool-aid, Alaskan racing pigs, outdoor concerts, horse races, and general all around good times with family and friends?!

Adventures in Cooking and Baking!

A weekend without any traveling forced me to find new things to do to occupy my time. Anyone who knows me is well aware that I am not much of a cook (I would much prefer to get fast food or microwave something before actually cooking... a habit I NEED to break). Friday night my mom whipped up some potato skins for the fam to enjoy while watching the Fresno State blowout game. The sight of the bacon cooking reminded me of the DELICIOUS bacon-wrapped hot dogs sold outside the Rosebowl at UCLA games. That was all the inspiration I needed to attempt to create my own. The product was delish but there could have been a few improvements; such as two pieces of bacon per one hot dog (the bacon shrinks as it cooks... in hindsight I should have realized that), and toothpicks to hold the bacon in place as it cooks. But overall it was a successful experiment in my opinion. Pictures!

1. Potatoe skins (pre cheese and cooking) 2. bacon-wrapped hot dog frying just like bacon 3. end result + relish, onions, mustard and a blue moon. YUM

I also decided to test out one of the recipes from a blog I've been following for awhile Gina's Skinny Recipe's.  I picked an autumn appropriate PUMPKIN BREAD recipe! This bread was incredibly easy to make (and if I'm saying that that def means something!). The end result was (one sec while I go find some good synonyms for delicious... oh here's a good one...) SCRUMPTIOUS!  I brought the remainders to work today and it was gone by lunchtime. So here are a few pics of my baking experience (since we all know I hate posts without pictures)...

(from top left to bottom right) 1. all my tools/ingredients 2.everything mixed together and ready to go in the oven
 3. baking! 4. all done and delicious! (and yes I'm wearing my jersey, it was Saturday... GO BRUINS! always)

On another note, a successful first month of (actually sticking to) blogging has got me thinking about upping the number of posts per week, but I don't want to get an crazy ideas or make promises I won't keep. That being said, stay tuned, we will just have to wait and see... Have a wonderful rest of your week!