Meatloaf

On Feb 2nd the Tastefully Simple team that I am a part of is making dinner for a local PADS http://www.sspads.org/ shelter this one is done by a church in Palos where they feed and house women and children living out of their cars on Monday nights.

After the boys go to school that morning, I am having Anna skip school to join me in going over to my TS sponsor Desiree's house and cook. Anna of course loves to cook, and I am hoping even at 4 she might 'get' a bit of what we are doing and why.


Dinner will be meatloaf, mixed veggies, mashed potatoes and dessert. Being that we are making meatloaf, along with Anna, I am bringing my favorite kitchen gaget. My cooking probe.



Interestingly, just two hours before I went to the meeting on Monday where Desiree shared with us about doing this community service, I had made weight watchers meatloaf. Meatloaf that was good enough to please not only Anna, or Tom, but good enough that Patrick said and I quote :-):

"This isn't as bad as I thought."

Then I said "Would you like some more?"

"Nope."

Truly it was like a 3 fork rating from Phil Vettel.



Then w/in hours Meatloaf Kismet occured and I am hoping maybe we could make one or both of the big meatloaf using the recipe below:



This is the not doubled or tripled recipe.

1 1/2 lbs ground lean turkey or ground chicken (i used ground chicken because that was what was on sale last week, and I only buy what is on sail. (I'm like a localvoire, but I'm a salevoire.)

1 onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1 egg white

3/4 cup ketchup

1/2 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs

1 tblsp yellow mustard

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper



Combine the turkey, onion, bell pepper, egg white, 1/4 cup of ketchup, the bread crumbs, mustard, salt, and pepper in a large bowl; mix well. Form the mixture into a loaf and put it into a loaf pan.



Spread the top of the meatloaf w/the remaining 1/2 cup of ketchup. Cover and cook until the meatloaf reaches an internal tep of 165.

shop talk

I was running late for a dentist appt this morning, so I called to make sure they could still see me and the girl who answered the phone said yes, so I arrived 10 minutes late for my appointment, sat down in the waiting room and got out my pen and paper to write my To-Do list for today.

A kindly old lady, and she was that clique as you will see, was finishing up her appointment by giving the receptionist a saran-wrapped and ribbon-topped plate of yummy looking cookies. Once she left, the receptionist said:

"Victoria, I tried to call your house, the blahblah was supposed to be delivered today, but it isn't here yet, can we reschedule you."

*note: she didn't say blahblah, I think she said cement?

I rescheduled for Thurs.

When I got back in the minivan, I thought, ooo good now I have extra time, what can I do?

Wash the Van?

Rush home and do laundry?

Make Client Care Calls?

Or return an item to Carson's and buy stuff w/the store credit.

Guess what I picked???

I decided to torture myself so after I got my $55 credit, I went straight away to the shoe department to see if they have the Ruff Hewn boots I have been lusting after and searching for daily. (not really daily, I just didn't want to end w/a preposition). And they did, what a joyous occasion right? I asked for the boots, the sales clerk found them right away, used my credit of $55 plus $6 difference and off I went, just as I was leaving the shoe section, I wisely looked in the box planning to lovingly adore my new boots.

You know what happens next, they were the wrong boots. I went back to the counter, talked to the clerk found out--the ones I want are sold out. I said: "Sure they are, they are too cute not to be completely gone."

Forlornly or is it Forelornly? I walked out of shoe department and went looking for sunglasses, which I couldn't find and wandered into the 'Social Dresses' department. Of course, I was drawn right away to the signs that said: CLEARANCE UP TO 70% OFF.

Did I mention that I am going to Tucson AZ next week and on a cruise in April? At our Leadership Conference there is an awards dinner, and it's basically like Tastefully Simple Prom (minus the hassle of a date!) and apparently all cruises have some sort of fancy dress up night. Being that I was not going to be spending any money, I started rummaging thru the clearance racks.

It's a good thing I've logged many hours going through the racks at TJ Maxx and Marshalls because they had Petite, Missy, Women's and dowdy Mother-of-the-Bride dresses mishmashed together. I was really pressed for time, no way could I miss getting Anna off the bus. So I ran through the dresses ASAP and found 2 that I really liked. First is this blue dress that is pleated. It is sapphire blue, the color I aways wanted my prom dress to be, if I had gone to prom. The original cost was $100, it was marked down to $59.99. The second dress is more of a classic dress black and sparkly, it shouldn't go in and out of style. Original cost of the dress was $118, it was marked down to $69.99. I took the dresses over to a mirror and held them up to see how they went w/me and I really could not decide which one to get.

The posted clearance signs said something about additional discounts on the clearance price but since there was a bunch of small print--and since I didn't happen to have a calculator with me, I took both dresses up to the counter. When I go shopping from the grocery store to Wal-mart to Carsons, I usually have a few items that I will buy only if the clerk check the price and tells me a number that is in the range of what I am willing to pay.

'Sara' price checked the blue dress, which turns out is a 'YELLOW DOT' items (whatever that means!) and it's only $24 bucks! I'll take it! Then Sara who is 20-year old super tiny clerk warns me that the black dress may not be a YELLOW DOT item...she scans the ticket and...

Wahoo! It's only $25.95~~ so I got both!

50 million things to do

I have 50 million things I want to do. Some more than others. And now I will post my list of what I need to do, feel free to read this if you need reading material to fall asleep because fascinating it is not!
1. make appt to get taxes done.
2. do paperwork that has to be done so I can get taxes done.
3. count days until Cruise.
4. apply for a passport so I can go on my free Cruise.
5. figure out when my flights are for Tucson.
6. figure out when my flights are for Miami for the Cruise.
7. figure out if someone can watch the kids so Tom can work while I am on the Cruise.
8. get painting done in the house.
9. update my ipass cc number
10. send out coaching call forms to people on my team.
11. stop and take a breathe.
12. stop making this list, it's stressing me out!

Happy New Year!

Wow, it's hard to believe 2009 is here. Do you know what 2009 is? April 2nd tom and i will have been married 10 years.

Holy Moly 10 years! And then right after that, Patrick will have 1st communion and then I get to celebrate our 10 year anniversary by going on a Carnival Cruise with all my favorite Tastebuds (tastebuds: my tastefully simple friends).

Then as I have already been told a dozen times just this evening, Patrick is going to be 9 this year. And you know what that means? He will be 9 on May 9th! Yes he is planning a big bash for his golden birthday.

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Would you like to know about my new 2 favorite things?
1. the scramble game on Facebook. Oy. highly addictive and totally a blow to the ego to see that my vocabulary isn't nearly as large as I thought it was! On the plus side, I am better at doing the JUMBLE game in the paper now...
2. Pride and Prejudice (v. 2005) Sigh. It's the original Chick lit made into a fabulously romantic movie.

IceSnow Storm

We woke up to snow and ice. Most of the schools called off school but not our schools! Tom almost had to stay home cause he couldn't get traction to leave our street. It was a brutal morning on the roads. Even the main roads were ice and slush city!

Here is our drive after I got done shoveling, it was tough heavy ice!

Las. Vegas gets 4 inches of Snow.

Crazy weather and we are looking at a big storm coming to Chicagoland w/in hours. Now who knows because sometimes they say we are getting a big storm and we get like maybe 1 inch of snow.

In any case, the snow in Las Vegas reminds me of Leadership Las Vegas in ah 2006 where it was in the 20s on the strip and they had a dusting of snow (it was January) now that was a major bummer--to go from January in Chicago to January in Chicago in Las Vegas.

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Red 40.
That is a red food dye that I really think makes Bryce have an attack of ADHD. I have kept track of when Bryce doesn't listen, and is fighting w/his sister and brother and yelling and over a couple weeks I saw that if he get the food coloring he is aweful. Today was his school Christmas party and suffice it to say I think the cupcakes had red frosting
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Countdown to me going to Leadership Tucson 27 days. :-)

Too much to do.

I really need more time before Christmas. Not to shop, I have that done, but to do Christmas Cards --haven't started on that yet, might not do it this year. And the wrapping of the presents which is the number one thing I like doing least during the holidays--and it shows in the crappy way I wrap because I am too impatient to put any effort into wrapping. I really should switch over to all Gift Bags. That is a great idea for next year.

I have had 4 Tastefully Simple open house events this year, and so far the ones at people's homes have not gone well for me --saleswise or bookingswise--I'm just not running into my people--the people who love the TS and who like trying new things (f00d-wise) and would like to host a party. I have 2 more events left, both of which are fundraisers --one of which is for PADS which stands for something like Parishes, A? Delivering Shelter. It's churches that open up and provide shelter on a certain day of the week for the homeless --different churchs do different days of the week. So that is a cause I am very happy to fundraise on behalf of--also this Fri I'll be at a Spa Night fundraiser for Relay for Life and that is another great one I love to fundraise for through my business.

Statistics I am happy about.
My sales are up 15% this year and I am thisclose to $47,000 in sales.
My Team Sales are up over 35% for the year--and they are past $125,000 for the year.

A few of my favorite things

My Laptop
The DVR
Public Libraries
Starbucks Peppermint Mocha Coffee
Hagen Dazs Peppermint Bark Ice Cream
Clementines
Pedicures
Facials
A great pair of boots that doesn' cost over $60
Paperback Books
A new notebook
going to the movies
Bisque Soups
Pilot Precise V5 Pens
I tunes
Laptops
Cranberry Orange Bread
Basalmic & Basil Dipping Oil

My heart has been stolen

I was at Carsons Piere Scott, mid moring on Blacke Friday, when I saw and tried on the most fabulously wonderful boots ever. Doorbuster. Picked over boxes. No boots left in my size (I need and 8.5--I like to wear thick socks-I can't stand having cold feet).

I hugged the pair I tried on and left. Last night I dreamed of the boots. Today I googled the boots. Ruff Hewn.

Sold only in the Carson family of stores. Bon-ton, Bergmans, Elder Beerman, sniff sniff, they don't care the style online. Ruff Hewn Amsterdam. I searched and searched and I cannot even find a picture of these boots.Tears are streaming down my face. Oh beautiful boots!

thanksgiving dinner success!

We decided to stay home and have dinner just the 5 of us. I was happy that the kids got the idea of giving thanks when we played a little thank you game.

I was EXTREMELY happy that my first attempt at brining a Turkey was a total success and that Tom loved the cornbread dressing recipe and the cranberry sauce recipe--all of which I found on foodnetwork.com.

GOOD EATS ROAST TURKEY
Ingredients
1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey
For the brine:
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1/2 tablespoon allspice berries
1/2 tablespoon candied ginger
1 gallon iced water

For the aromatics:
1 red apple, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup water
4 sprigs rosemary
6 leaves sage
Canola oil

Directions
Combine all brine ingredients, except ice water, in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Early on the day of cooking, (or late the night before) combine the brine and ice water in a clean 5-gallon bucket. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area (like a basement) for 6 hours. Turn turkey over once, half way through brining.

A few minutes before roasting, heat oven to 500 degrees. Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes.
Remove bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard brine.

Place bird on roasting rack inside wide, low pan and pat dry with paper towels. Add steeped aromatics to cavity along with rosemary and sage. Tuck back wings and coat whole bird liberally with canola (or other neutral) oil.

Roast on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F. for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cover breast with double layer of aluminum foil, insert probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and return to oven, reducing temperature to 350 degrees F. Set thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let turkey rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving.

And I love Tyler Florences recipes...this is no exception!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/caramelized-onion-and-cornbread-stuffing-recipe3/index.html

Lastly I skipped the walnuts for this Cranberry Sauce:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/foodnation-with-bobby-flay/cranberry-sauce-recipe/index.html

And now I am looking forward to getting up and shopping on Black Friday!