Smothered Meatloaf

When I first saw this recipe I was like, "Meatloaf in a crock pot?? Whaaaat??" Then I made it. Because I love my crock pot and am always looking for new recipes. And because it's the one kitchen appliance that I can outcook my husband in. And Oh. My. Gosh. It was so good!!

The recipe came from Sandra Lee at the Food Network. Her's originally calls for a lot of mushrooms. Seeing as my husband's not a huge fan I omitted them.

Smothered Meatloaf

Adapted from Sandra Lee

4 cups Potatoes O'Brien

2 lbs. ground beef

1 box Garlic Herb Shake and Bake

1 envelope Beefy Onion soup mix

1 egg

1 (12 oz) can condensed Cheddar cheese soup, divided

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1 (10 oz) can condensed cream of mushroom soup

1 onion, sliced thin

1. Place potatoes (mine were still frozen) in the bottom of the slow cooker.

2. In a large bowl, combine ground beef, Shake and Bake, dry soup mix, and egg.

3. In another bowl, combine 1/2 cup Cheddar soup with the evaporated milk. Add to the meat mixture (I ended up using my hands. Seemed to work better than a spoon). Form it into a loaf and place on top of the potatoes (I ended up redoing a lot of the forming once I got it into the slow cooker). Make sure the meat is not touching the sides of the cooker.

4. Stir together the remaining Cheddar soup and the cream of mushroom soup. Pour on the meatloaf and top with the sliced onions.

5. Cover and cook on High for 1 hour. Turn temperature down to Low and cook for another 5-6 hours.

I've cooked mine a bit longer and it was fine. I also thank the good Lord for the timer and the Keep Warm setting on my slow cooker. Works wonders when you work an 8 hour day and you have a 6 hour cook time.

I usually throw this recipe together first thing in the morning. Then I cook it on High for the hour while I'm getting ready for work. By the time I'm ready, it's usually ready to go down to Low.

Scripture Saturday - Proverbs 31:16

She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. - Proverbs 31:16

Ah, the Proverbs 31 businesswoman. Who said Christian women can't be entrepreneurs?

Here's a biblical example of a female landowner and entrepreneur - smack in the middle of the description of the ideal way a Christian woman should be. This woman is not being shunned for getting involved in arenas that she shouldn't be - she is being put forth as the woman that men should strive to marry.

Not only is she a businesswoman, but she is a wise businesswoman. She considers her moves before she makes them. She also is wise with her finances - she has the means to purchase a field.

She is also a profitable businesswoman. Not only can she purchase a field, but she has enough earnings to plant a vineyard.

I know lots of women with the entreprenurial spirit - whether they work outside of the home in their own or someone else's business or are stay at home wives and mothers with businesses on the side. We're just doing what we've been called to do by God!

Enjoying Life

First, I want to thank Michelle at Someday Crafts for featuring my house number planter.

Thank you!!

These past two weeks have been really hectic both at work and at home. There is a lot going on at work in general and then we decided to do a heavy duty spring cleaning of the building. It now looks great and is soooo organized, but it was very tiring!

Then, my husband's family had a surprise birthday party for his grandpa's 75th birthday. We had a lot of family visiting from out of town, which was great. But we decided that some things had to be fixed around our house before they got there. So, in the evenings we were tackling projects like painting the foundation of our house, painting our decks, laying a laminate floor in a room where we had to take the carpet up...

Then, the weekend of the party, we cooked breakfast for 40 people at our house, we traveled from house to house visiting people who were in town...and, oh yeah, we had the actual party. We stayed up until 1:00-2:00 every day over the 4th of July weekend. We had a GREAT time with everyone and his grandpa was really touched and happy about the surprise. But, dang, was it tiring!!

I don't think I've been this tired in a long time. It's been really easy to get overwhelmed and exhausted at points. Then, I came across an entry in Joyce Meyer's devotional Starting Your Day Right: Devotions for Each Morning of the Year. She was looking at Deuteronomy 12:7: "And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you put your hand, you and your households, in which the Lord your God has blessed you."

She went on to say, "It is amazing what happens when you decide to enjoy God every day. It is easy to get so caught up in all your responsibilities that you forget to enjoy what you are doing. You can get so busy raising your children that you forget to enjoy them. You can get so caught up in cleaning your house, trying to pay for it, and remodeling it, that you forget to enjoy it. But you can learn to enjoy God so much that no matter what you do today, you can truly say, 'I enjoyed it.'"

What a great reminder. No matter how busy we are or how many projects we are trying to juggle, we must remember to enjoy our lives! I bet that, in 20 years, I won't remember my organizational system at work, or what color I painted my decks; but I will remember the look on Mr. 31's grandpa's face when he walked into the surprise party because I took the time to soak in and enjoy the moment. I stopped working and bustling around long enough to enjoy.

So, as we're working, and fixing our homes, and feeding our families, and caring for ourselves, let's remember to take the time to enjoy God and all the blessings he has bestowed upon us.

House Number Planter

There are lots of improvements I've been wanting to make on the house we live in, some of which you've seen.

One of the changes I've been yearning to tackle is the appearance of our house numbers. The existing set up was fairly ugly:

(There were brass numbers on there, but I got excited and jumped the gun on taking them off before I took the picture. I really need to work on that).

I really like how the wooden plaque broke at the bottom and they just repainted it. Classic.

So, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do....total mental block...until I saw Amanda at Hand Me Down House's brilliant address planter idea. SO CUTE!!

I did have to modify the idea - our numbers have to be hung on the house plus our house is really close to the street, so having two sets of numbers within 5 feet of each other seemed like overkill.

I took the existing plaque down - and there was much rejoicing!!! By me, anyway.

Then I attached the numbers that were on the plaque to a decorative holder that some flowers had been delivered in. My husband purchased some impatiens (he's the green thumb in the family. Vanessa = plant death) and repotted them into a container that would fit in the holder.

Then, because I don't do well with power tools - yet- and he didn't want holes and nicks all over the brick, Mr. 31 hung the planter using two heavy duty L-brackets and some bolts.

Now my house numbers are not an embarrassment!!

Big shout out to Amanda!! Without your creativity I would still be looking at the broken plaque!

Burrito Bake

I've made this recipe a few times and it's really good. The technique they use to cook the hamburger is also good with other Southwestern dishes like tacos and enchiladas.

Photo from Kraft Foods

Burrito Bake

Adapted from Kraft Foods

1 lb. ground beef

1 pck. or 4 tbs. taco seasoning

3/4 cup water

4 10" tortillas

1 can refried beans -or- 1 can black beans, mashed

1 cup cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Brown meat in skillet and drain. Stir in seasoning and water. Bring to boil. Cook on low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Grease a 9" round cake pan with olive oil. Place two tortillas on the bottom (the tortillas will go up the sides a little bit, which is helpful in keeping it all together when you're serving). Cover with half the beans, meat, and cheese. Place 1 tortilla on top and put the remaining beans, meat, and cheese on it. Top with last tortilla.

Bake for 30 minutes or until cheese is melted. Cut into wedges to serve.

* Note: I have also used homemade tortillas for this recipe. Because they are smaller, I used double the amount to get the coverage I needed. It tasted fine, but serving it was messier than with the larger tortillas.

Scripture Saturday - Proverbs 31:15

She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. -Proverbs 31:15

I love sleep. Love it. Adore it.

Due to this, I am not necessarily what you could call a morning person. I'm more of a hit-the-snooze-button-as-many-times-as-I-can-get-away-with-it person.

However, there are many scriptures which reference awaking bright and early and getting a productive jump on the day, including Proverbs 31:15. In this verse, the woman awakes and makes sure her family and their help are taken care of before the rest of her day begins.

I can't say that's been my strength. I rarely wake up in time for me to eat before I go to work, let alone fix breakfast for my husband. I don't have "maidens", but I wouldn't be awake to fix them breakfast even if I did.

If I could get disciplined about getting my behind out of bed, there is so much I could get done before I even got to work. I could exercise. I could fix my husband breakfast and maybe even iron his clothes for the day. I could pray and read my bible and spend time with the Lord. There are a world of possibilities - if I would just get up!

I guess that's something to work on!

While I'm working on that, I hope everyone has an enjoyable 4th of July!

Please Pardon My Absence

Hello all!

You may have noticed I haven't posted in a couple of days (or maybe you haven't, which is perfectly fine!).

We've been getting ready for a big family get together this weekend and tackling various projects around the house, a couple of which I'll share with you next week.

So, pardon my lack of posting, but I've been barely keeping my eyes open the last few days!