Cajun Meatloaf

This recipe for Cajun meatloaf I got from Tasty Kitchen. It is delicious!
I have made it before and we both loved it. I made a change to the recipe by adding finely diced carrots to the mix and using only 4 stalks celery.
First I ready most of the spices and ingredients from the fridge.
Then I chopped all the veggies. This recipes had tons of veggies. I think that is why I like it so much. Well that and that it is very spicy and flavorful!

The only pan I have big enough to cook the veggies is my wok. A hint, after the veggies are cooked and before you put the bread crumbs and milk in, drain the excess liquid from the pan.

Here are two LARGE meatloaves. One on the left is for dinner and the one on the right is for the freezer. As you can see, we will eat this for at least two dinners and sandwiches.
Mark claimed the extra one for his trip up to the cabin in a couple weeks.
I will put a ketchup and honey glaze on it before I cook it.

If you like meat and veggies and spicy food, I highly recommend this recipe. I don't think I'll ever make meatloaf the old way again!

12 :30 check in

I did a little more on the cross stitch. I am going to take a break from it for awhile and put my clean sheets on my bed and make my Cajun Meatloaf for dinner tonight. YUM!

It's showing progress, but so far to go!

Cheesecake

I made Mark a cheese cake today. He does so much for me and these are the little things that show him I love him.

This is working pretty well so far...

Food Inventory
I am at the end of my third week and I love knowing what our menu is in advance. I have menus designed for the next 6 weeks. I am working around my pantry items, (oldest first) freezer items and the things that are on sale and a great deal. I have been keeping up with my inventory so far, marking things off the list as we use them and adding the newest items as I get them. The idea was to shop less and I have ....but not as much as I thought I would. I just can't pass up a great deal. It is still saving us in the long run. Today I picked up 3 racks of baby back ribs for $2.79 lb. One for our dinner today and two for the freezer. Hey, I couldn't resist that price!

I actually did some sewing last night and I have everything set to sew again today and tomorrow so I have something for Design wall Monday. I have been such a slacker in that area lately. It's time to get busy again.

Let me tell you, this Raspberry cream pie was really good!

CORN!

We love corn!
In the summer when corn is plentiful, we eat lots of it. At least a couple times a week. We miss it in the winter months. Well we buy it frozen in bags but I'm trying to cook more and use less packaging. I have tried the freeze method of blanching and freezing the corn on the cob and it turned out fine, but it takes up a lot of freezer space. I have heard a lot about doing it like this so thought I would try it. The recipe called for 32 ears of corn, so I bought 40 being the OCD person I am...............I just can't buy 32 when the sale is 10 for $2.

I know, it's not easy being me!

So I got up bright and early and got to work. How long does it take to shuck and clean 40 ears of corn....about an hour!

That's a lot of corn!
It takes about another hour to cut all that corn off the husks. I used my large roasting pan and I'm glad I did...it was half full when I finished...then I added the butter and half and half.....yes, that IS a pound of butter and a pint of half and half. That is what the recipe called for and I always follow the recipe to the tee the first time I make it and adjust afterward ...if there is a next time, that is. Oh I know I had 6 more ears than they called for, but I knew it would be ok.
An hour later.....golden creamy goodness! That will be a lot of corn in my freezer and it won't take up nearly as much room as on the cob.
Oh, and if you were doing the math, here are the other two ears....LUNCH!

Gumbo!

Well, I didn't get the job I was hoping for and I applied (grudgingly) for unemployment yesterday. Oh how I hate that! I hope I had enough time working to be ABLE to collect while I look for work. Otherwise we are going to be in big trouble!

Ok, Mark just left for a quick trip to the grocery store and then to go see his mom. I am about to jump in the shower and then have a long list of things to accomplish.

1. Make dinner for tonight
2. Piecing for a quilt for at least one hour.

Spicy Salsa

Ah, we love salsa in this house. We eat a LOT of salsa. We like a thick, chunky, spicy variety. We buy Frog Ranch Hot usually but it is around $3 a jar and we can go through 2 or 3 jars a month sometimes. Add it up, that is a lot of $$ for salsa.


My garden doesn't usually produce that well and this year was no differant. My neighbor has been most genorous with his abundant garden this year. Not only with us but several neighbors. He gave us 3 large bags of tomatoes. We tried a new recipe for salsa last week and it only made 3 quarts (= 6 pints). We liked the taste so we made a large batch this time. This has a lot of basil and cilantro and garlic and onions and peppers. It is FULL of flavor and this will last us for around 8 months. I will prolly make one more large batch before the season is through to take us through the year and also Mark loves to give it away to family and friends. We cut up the tomatoes yesterday and let them drain over night in the fridge. Today we added all the other ingrediants and here is the pot simmering. It is full to the top!




Here is the finished product. I tried it and it is delicious!

There is 2.5 hours of my time I won't get back!

My neighbor gave us a TON of tomatoes and we are making our second batch of salsa. The first came out sooooo good and only made 3 qts when it cooked down. This is at least 3 times that much. This is just the tomatoes. They need to drain for a few hours so we do it in two stages. You might not be able to tell but this is an extra deep sink and a huge colander. This will make a lot of salsa! Yummy!

Who needs the Farmer's Market....

....when you have neighbors like ours!

My neighbor Chuck brought over two bags of fresh picked veggies from thier garden. I have lots and lots of tomatoes, some peppers, both hot and mild, some cucumbers, the best green beans ever and a big zucchini. I wasn't planning on it, but Mark has already requested I make salsa tomorrow. I always make salsa first from whatever tomatoes we get because we use so much of it and it is expensive to buy....

So I cleaned the kitchen up and bleached the sink and I'm ready for a cooking day tomorrow. Maybe I'll make a dessert too.