Cheesy, Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf

So school has pretty much consumed my life which is fine and also means the blog has taken a backseat but don't fret!!!!! I found this recipe on Pinterest, of course.

Source: mommyimhungry.blogspot.com via Lisa on Pinterest

Sounds amazing, right??? After I laid out all of the ingredients I noticed we were about to, literally, eat a farm. Turkey, beef, eggs, cheese, bacon...the farm hahaha.

Now I wanted to add bacon! Everything is better with bacon! Plus I didn't have all of these ingredients on hand and the hubs doesn't like onions :-/ so I used onion powder...it's just not the same

So here are the ingredients I used:

1 1/2 Pounds Ground Turkey

1 Pound Ground Beef

2 Eggs

1/2 Pound Bacon or as much as you want hahaha

1/4 Cup Onion Powder (I am pretty certain an 

onion diced would be muuuuuuch tastier)

1/4 Cup Breadcrumbs

1/2 Cup Grated Parmesan to mix into the meat (I just used the 

cheap, Kraft kind)

2 Cloves of Garlic

1/2 Tspn Basil

1/2 Tspn Thyme

1/2 Tspn Salt

1/2 Tspn Pepper

1/2 Cups Italian Cheese blend (to melt on top)

BEGIN!!!

PREHEAT YOUR OVEN 350 DEGREES FARENHEIT

Grab your loaf pan and spray it with cooking spray

Line your loaf pan with the bacon strips; as many bacon strips as you want haha

Put everything (except the Italian Cheese for the topping and bacon, thought i have to say...diced bacon may be amazing mixed into the meatloaf...just sayin') into a bowl and mix it all together. I just used my hands. Moosh everything together so it's blended but don't overwork it.

Shape your meat all together and place it on top of your bacon in your loaf.

Now tuck your bacon in! Just pull the bacon slices and overlap them so your meat is nice and tucked in for the oven :-)

I put a baking pan underneath my loaf pan in the oven because of the bacon splatter and meaty juices...

Cook for 45 minutes - 1 hour (we have a gas oven and 45 minutes was perfect)

Take your bacony meatloaf out and sprinkle the cheese on top. 

Pop it back into the oven for about 7-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

The hubs put ketchup on top and I think next time I might put some bbq sauce or pasta sauce on top of the meat before I tuck in the bacon...but this is pretty much food coma, amazingess!!

We ate it with the husband's famous roasted potatoes (I honestly don't know what he puts in it otherwise I would share :-/) and roasted asparagus with cheese!

The asparagus is beyond easy! 

Oil a baking dish

Lay your asparagus in and sprinkle with some salt and garlic powder

I used the italian blended shredded cheese and just sprinkled it all over the asparagus

Cook in the oven at 400 F for about 10 minutes

YUM!!

THAT'S IT! Super easy and super filling dinner! and seriously takes no time at all and while the meatloaf cooked...we may or may not have made rice krispie treats hahaha ;-)

ENJOY!!!!!!

- Lisa

Park Your Broom HERE..for 1 hour

HALLOWEEN IS COMING! It's officially OCTOBER!!!

SO GOOD OL' PINTEREST TO THE RESCUE!

We are totally decorating this year...we have some skeletons to put and crafts with the kids but to start with...the witches need to park somewhere...DUH!!

So here is the awesome lady who did it on Pinterest!

Source: craftyladylindsay.blogspot.com via Lisa on Pinterest

She used those awesome plain boards at the craft store! I couldn't find any :-( so I went to the next best place...IKEA...specifically the As-Is section and found a sweet door for $3!!

Snagged some Orange paint from Michael's and spiders from Michael's...with a coupon of coooouuurse!

Busted the trusty, amazing Silhouette Cameo and printed out the words, witches, and witch hats:

STEP ONE DONE!! TA DAAAAAA!!!

AND DONE! Super easy thanks to the Cameo of course...I snagged the hooks from Lowe's for about $2 each, glued on the spiders, and that's Emma's broom for her witch costume!

I couldn't find a little frog/toad...just HUGE one's soooo I might print out a little toad silhouette and stick it on there...maybe...I'm definitely busting out some more of these...possibly for a shop that may possibly open next week ;-) I'll keep you all posted!

We also have a Halloween Fairy that needed to a place to park her broom so here's a mini version with some different color vinyl :-).  These are those mini boards at Michael's for about $2!

The only thing that's left to add are little hooks for her broom :-)

I'm linking up here for October!!!

More coming!!! Pinterest (ok...Homework haha) is calling my name with all of their holiday shenanigans!! I LOVE IT!!!

ENJOY!

Lisa!

Busy, Fantastical Time!!

WHOA...SEPTEMBER ENDS SUNDAY!!! Well to back track since it's been a little bit of a time consumed month....

 I have finished my first quarter of school (wooo!!), Emma turned 4, my older younger brother got hitched, my youngest brother turned 23, Emma started back to pre-school, Taitum is climbing on EVERYTHING...and a whole lot more that I'm sure I'm missing so I'm sorry haha

To the IMPORTANT thing!! My older younger brother got hitched!!! aka...he's the middle child...i'm oldest and we have a youngest...so he's the older, younger one hahaha

The location was fantastic! The weather was perfect! The speeches were perfect! And everyone looked amazing!!

Here are some photos I snagged and some from my pops!  Cannon's in Dana Point...so great!

This is totally normal...from left to right: my hubs, Nik aka the groom, my older brother, Michal

This is also totally normal...hahahaha Michal, the hubs, Paki the youngest and Nik in the chair haha

The flower girls!!!

THE CEREMONY!!!

THE NEWLYWEDS!!

Uncle Paki and Emma

 This is very normal hahaha me and Paki!

 The hubs and I!

 We can do serious hahaha...it's boring but we can do it haha

KELLY AND NIK!

 and here is some of the swag i made for them :-)

 One awesome celebration done!!!  NOW ONTO SOME HALLOWEEN DECORATING ON MONDAY!!!

Check me out on Instagram to see some projects getting done!! Post coming next week!

@3girls_and_a_boy

HAVE A FANTASTICAL WEEKEND!!!

Lisa!

Cheese Stuffed Chicken with BACON

bacon...like the awesome Ann Marie over at White House, Black Shutters always says "makes everything taste better!!" seriously...it's true!

ok anyway, I saw a recipe on Pinterest aka the amazingly, fantastical website we all know and love :-)

BUT now i can't find it because for some reason I didn't pin it :-/ but here is the recipe!!

chicken breast

string cheese

bacon

toothpicks

super easy

Preheat your oven to 500 F...yes 500

I sliced my chicken in half lengthwise so they were thinner pieces or you could pound them because you are going to be wrapping them around a piece of string these

Cut your string in half...

Place your cheese in your chicken and then roll your chicken

Take a slice (I used 2 haha) of bacon and wrap around your chicken

Secure with your toothpicks

I used a 9 x 13 dish sprayed with cooking spray...THIS WILL SPLATTER but my dish wiped clean...after a soak haha

Put in the oven for 15-20 minutes

um this was amazical!!!!

The Pinterest recipe didn't have bacon...we added that haha

Super easy...quick...and great leftovers! Plus since you slice the chicken breast in have you can technically get 2 chicken wraps from one breast or a mini one and a bigger one haha

Here's our end photo!!!  Serve with some garlic bread and veggies or rice or whatever really..eggs? haha

HAVE A FANTASTIC WEEKEND! 

We are having a Mad Hatter Tea Party for Emma's 4th Birthday tomorrow!!! Pics and what we did will be up as soon as I can :-)

-- Lisa!!

Kids...

oh man...emma has been on a roll lately with comments hahaha

here are some I wrote down

Me: Hey Emma! what do you want for dinner on your birthday?? (it's wednesday!)

Emma: Chicken...and rice! OH Pears!!

do i like pears? yes I love pears!

Me: ok...anything else?

Emma: ummm YEAH! PICKLES! and broccoli and carrots. That's all

hahaha

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Emma: mommy?

Me: yes emma?

Emma: do you have a baby in your tummy?

Me: no! why?!

Emma: oh...are you suuuuure? you look like you have a baby in your tummy

Me to Dad: BABE! Emma just said I have a baby in my tummy!

Dad: hahaha just called you fat

Me: BABE

Emma: mommy it's ok. you're pretty

Me: thanks emma

ha...man...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Emma: mommy, can i be Ariel when i get bigger?

Me: sure emma...you can try of course

Emma: MOOOOOM! i can't be a mermaid! i'm a human girl!

Me: oh...ok yeah well you're right

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Emma: ok taitum, you're going to be the dog and I'm going to walk you

Me: um WHOA WHOA WHOA!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

yeah...that's all i remembered to write down hahaha...I hope you're all having a fantastical Labor Day Weekend!!!

Baked Oatmeal with Berries, banana, and CHOCOLATE

OK...if you haven't checked out this Kirsten's blog, you NEEEEED to!  She is a wife and momma who, like many of us, is addicted to and pins away on Pinterest and rarely puts it use...I MEAN WHOA!!! SHE DOES!!! She runs a house, manages a toddler, and puts a pin to the test EVERYDAY!!!

So, I bet you can't guess where i found this pin??  HER BLOG! so i made it for breakfast this morning and um HELLO! amazingness!! and best of all...easy!!

I used her recipe tweaks:

PS... for some reason i didn't have baking powder... :-/ so a good alternate for 1 TEASPOON of baking powder:

1/4 teaspoon of baking soda

PLUS

1/4 teaspoon cornstarch

PLUS

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder (i used the above alternate)
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
• 1 teaspoon Chinese five spice (I just used cinnamon.)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup walnut pieces, chopped (I left these out because i don't like them.)
• 1 cup sliced strawberries (I used frozen mixed berries. I would definitely recommend this!)
• 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 cups milk (i used almond milk)
• 1 large egg
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 ripe banana, peeled, 1/2-inch slices

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F and generously spray the inside of a 10-1/2 by 7 inch baking dish with cooking spray and place on a baking sheet. ***NOTE: I do not have a 10 1/2 by 7 inch dish so i used my 8 x 8...came out fantastically***

2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, sugar, baking powder, orange zest, Chinese five spice/Cinnamon, salt, half the walnuts (if you use them), half the strawberries/berries mixture and half the chocolate. (Save the other half of strawberries, walnuts and chocolate for the top of the oatmeal). 

3. In another large bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, butter and vanilla extract.

4. Add the oat mixture to prepared baking dish. Arrange the remaining strawberries, walnuts and chocolate on top. Add the banana slices to the top then pour the milk mixture over everything. Gently shimmy/shake the baking dish to help the milk mixture go throughout the oats.

5. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until the top is nicely golden brown and the milk mixture has set. For an extra tasty top, sprinkle a tablespoon or so of extra brown sugar on top then place back in the oven under the broiler and broil for 20-30 seconds. Serve warm with an extra sprinkle of sugar or drizzle of maple syrup.

This smells REALLY GOOD when it's in the oven!!! it tastes UUUUUHMAZING!!! i just may make the dry ingredients as a staple on the kitchen counter because it's seriously really yummy!!!

Try it...check out Kirsten...HAVE A WONDERFUL TUESDAY!!!

-- LISA!

DIY Spider Repellent!!

OK...so i CANNOT be the only person who is scared of spiders...i don't care how big they are or how small they are or if they help kill other bugs or whatever...i DO NOT LIKE THEM!!!!

I've tried every spray out there and, yes, i step on them...i don't like them...did i say that already?

so i saw this on the all amazing...PINTEREST!!!

Source: streetarticles.com via Lisa on Pinterest

so i had to try it...mainly because there are spiders in the backyard where the dogs are and the kids go and the chemically stuff isn't so savvy with the pets and kids...

so the recipe calls for:

a spray bottle (i got mine at the dollar store)

natural soap (i just used the kitchen soap that is nice and thick)

pepperment essential oil

i added some water because the soap wasn't spraying great

um this stuff is AMAZING!!! i spray around my house and window sills once a month now...it kills the spiders and smells like christmas

i've read some articles that state lemon and other oils will work but i haven't tried them because most of the articles i've read say there is something about peppermint that they just don't like

AND another thing i've notice...

where there is a trail of ants (well unless it's from your trash can or some type of food)...there is usually a spider near by...yuck

this stuff does in fact totally work!! i don't know if my neighbors enjoy the smell but i don't have spiders so tooooooo baaaaaaaaaaad....MUUUUAHAHAHAHAHA <---that's my evil laugh ;-)

I hope everyone's weekend was wonderful!!!!

-- Lisa

Sweet & Sour Chicken

ok so...i think by now we've all seen this awesomeness on Pinterest:

Source: madeitateitlovedit.blogspot.com via Lisa on Pinterest

To start with, Made It. Ate It. Loved It. is a great blog with some fantastic recipes!  They are the masterminds behind the awesome chicken recipe.

The recipe calls for some things I did not have on hand so here is my modified recipe:

What I Used:

Chicken Breading:

5 chicken breasts cubed

salt and pepper

1 cup cornstarch

4 large eggs, beaten

1/3 cup Olive Oil

Sauce:

3/4 cups sugar

3 Tablespoons ketchup

1/2 cup white distilled vinegar

1 Tablespoon low sodium soy sauce

1 teaspoon garlic salt

Directions:

Breading the chicken:

Rinse and trim your chicken.  

Cube (about an inch) and put into a medium bowl. Salt and pepper those cubed chicken pieces and toss so their evenly seasoned.

Heat your oil in a large skillet.

While your oil is heating, grab 2 bowls and pour your cornstarch in one and beat your eggs in the other (i beat 2 at a time because the cornstarch gets pretty sticky in there).

Coat your chicken in the cornstarch and then evenly coat in the egg.

Sizzle that sucker in the oil until brown (about 3-5 minutes over medium-high heat and I flipped them).

Depending on your size of bowls for dipping and skillet, you could probably do at least 5 pieces at a time.

Place breaded chicken into a 9x13 baking pan and set aside..try not to snack on them or snack away like i did hahaha

SAUCE!! 

MMMMM

Once your chicken is done, heat your oven to 350 F. 

Whisk all of the sauce ingredients together until smooth and pour over your chicken.

Toss the chicken so they're evenly coated.

Place in the oven for 15 minutes and then take it out, toss the chicken and put it back in the oven for 15 minutes.

This is so good...and we had a ton of leftovers since dad isn't home haha.  I made couscous and steamed broccoli and this was sooooo yummy!!!

I'm definitely trying their Crockpot Teriyaki Chicken!!! 

Enjoy!!!

-- Lisa

Broccoli, Zucchini & Mushroom Pilaf

Broccoli, Zucchini & Mushroom Pilaf

OK so today we decided to eat with a theme…GREEN!!!  Picked by Emma of course haha

So we brought this HUGE zucchini home from Nona’s house yesterday and I used ½ and Emma LOVES zucchini and mushrooms so…broccoli, zucchini (green done), mushrooms and orzo pasta.  Orzo is my go to, quick pasta and it’s small so the kids love it almost as much as the little macaroni haha and it is beyond easy to manipulate.

Here’s what you need:

2 teaspoons olive oil

1-½ cups of chicken broth or a 14 oz can

1 or 2 zucchini (we used ½ of a HUGE zucchini so, depending on how much you like zucchini…go bananas haha)

2 cups of broccoli

1 basket of sliced mushrooms

2/3 cup of orzo pasta

salt (I used garlic salt)

pepper

Steps:

Chop your zucchini, rinse your mushrooms, and trim your broccoli.

Grab a large saucepan and heat up the olive oil on medium high heat.  Once the oil is hot (toss a mushroom or zucchini in there to check the sizzzzzzzle)…Put the mushrooms and zucchini ONLY in the oil and toss around until tender…about 3-5 minutes

Pour your orzo DRY into the pan and mix…This is a rice a roni step… stir until the pasta is a golden brown.

 

Pour your chicken broth in and your salt and pepper and stir.  Grab your broccoli and stir that in last gently.

This is the kind of chicken broth i use so i used 1 1/2 teaspoons with 1 1/2 cups of water aka 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth aka a 14 oz can :-)

Cover and let it simmer for about 12-15 minutes.

Once it’s done simmering…LEAVE IT COVERED and let it sit for about 5 minutes so it gets nice and thick and yummalicious.

THAT’S IT! One pan, one bowl meal…easy clean up too!  Next time (not “green” eating day haha), shredded carrots, onions, even chicken would be good with this!!!

ENJOY!

Lisa!