Eats: Paula Deen's Basic Meatloaf

I am such a fan of Paula Deen and her cooking. I love her Southern drawl ('olive awwl', anyone?), her need to add large amounts of butter to anything everything and her perfectly coiffed hair. I even paid a visit to her resturant "The Lady & Sons" during a visit to Savannah. Their 'Sunday Buffet' might be the best meal I have ever had in my entire life. During that visit, I snatched up one of her cookbooks so I could recreate some of those delicious dishes back at home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paul Deen's Basic Meatloaf

Ingredients:

 

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 chopped bell pepper
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 8 ounces canned diced tomatoes, with juice
• 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix all meat loaf ingredients well and place into baking dish. Shape into a loaf.

 

 

 

Topping

Ingredients:

 

 

• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon prepared mustard

 

Mix ingredients for topping and spread on loaf. Bake for one hour.

 

 

 

I paired my meatloaf with freshly made mashed potatoes.

 

It was a hot, rib sticking, belly filling type of a meal. Delish!

 

 

If Julia Says So...

Who doesn't love food?

 

I love so many different types and I love to try new things.

Some are my regular-no-fail-go-to's (Mexican, Italian, Latin) while others strike my fancy at the most random moments if at all (Chinese, BBQ).

 

Here are some shots of the most recent treats!

 

 

(cinnamon rolls)

 

 

(homemade pumpkin bread - get my recipe here)

 

 

(homemade sliders)

 

 

(The Cheesecake Factory's Hot Caramel Apple Cider)

 

 

(Italian panini - last night's dinner & today's leftover lunch)

 

 

 

All photos via Instagram - @theprettyfactor

Red, White & Blue Food

With the Fourth of July festivities just a day away, here are some last minute food ideas for wherever you happen to be celebrating!

*All via my "Holidays" board on Pinterest

Handy Dandy: Freeze then Grate!

To help make the grating process a bit easier, freeze your block of cheese an hour before you plan to grate it. This will help make the cheese hard enough to grate yet it won't ruin the taste or texture!

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Handy Dandy: How to 'Fix' Burnt Rice

Ended up with burnt rice?

Just place a slice of bread over the burnt areas for 5-10 minutes -

the bread will draw out the burnt flavor from the rice making it good as new...almost! ;)

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Handy Dandy: Sugar + Batter

Adding a little bit of sugar to your batter will help make your waffles (or pancakes!) brown more quickly!

Eats: Martha Stewart's Flower Sugar Cookies

Roaming the Martha Stewart website leads to countless hours gone by with a cooking to-do list that is out of this world. I would love to know what it's like to spend a week at her house. I bet everything looks perfect and your tummy would never be empty. Sigh.

Anyway, I came across this recipe and thought it was too cute for words...and just perfect for springtime!

Flower Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

• 4 cups sifted all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• Royal Icing

 

Directions

1. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to medium; add eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low; add flour mixture gradually, beating until incorporated. Shape dough into 2 disks. Wrap each in plastic and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or overnight.
2. Place 4 or 5 skewers on a parchment-lined baking sheet, alternating the direction the tips are pointed. Repeat with remaining skewers.
3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Let 1 disk of dough stand at room temperature until just soft enough to roll, about 10 minutes. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/4- to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut out shapes using a 3 3/4-inch flower cookie cutter (kitchengifts.com). Transfer to baking sheets, placing each cookie on a skewer, covering 2 inches of the skewer end. Gently press cookies down. (Cookies will stick once they are baked.) Roll out scraps once, and repeat. Repeat with remaining disk of dough. Freeze until cookies are firm, 15 minutes.
4. Bake in batches, switching and rotating sheets halfway through, until edges of cookies turn golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.
5. Spoon royal icing into a pastry bag fitted with a small plain round tip, and decorate cookies. Let stand overnight or until icing dries completely.

How cute is that?!

*Recipe via MarthaStewart.com

Handy Dandy: 'Un-Vanilla' Baking Tip

Baking chocolate cakes?

Use the dry chocolate cake mix (or cocoa powder) to "flour" your baking dish and you won't have any white powder mess on the sides!

Handy Dandy: Meat + Vinegar

Vinegar can be a useful addition to meat:

1 - It can be used as a tenderizer

2 - It can aid in a quicker defrost!

Just pour over frozen meat; it helps bring down the freezing tempurature!

This is the *LAST WEEK* to receive a discount in my shop!

Every item is an additional $5 off!

SHOP NOW!

Handy Dandy: How to Make Perfect Pancakes

Another "Handy Dandy" tip this week:

Use an old ketchup bottle to dispense pancake batter evenly!

It helps make clean-up easy too!

Did you hear???

For the month of March, all items in my online shop will be discounted!

Take an additional $5 off the shown listing price starting now till the end of the month!

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Wine & Dine

This past weekend the Hubs and I went on a mini weekend getaway to Orlando with our best friends. It was the first vacation together for the six of us and I don't know if it could have been any more fun! It originally started as an idea (months ago) to head up to Walt Disney World and check out a park...then we realized that our time frame was during the annual Food & Wine Festival held at Epcot. Some quick planning began and before you knew it, our trip was a go!

Here are some photos from the trip...there are a bunch, be prepared!

I get seriously GIDDY every single time I see this entrance!

Yep, the Epcot sphere!

Coco-Cola flavors around the world

The World Showcase

Girls in England

Gardens in France

Eating in Portugal

*The travel passport gave food descriptions for each country offered & it would be stamped upon your purchase!

Moroccan market

Venetian masks

This display of Cinderella's Castle can be yours for only $38,000!

Our 'Mexican' boys

 My souvenir from England.

Princess crowns? I had to.

If you haven't been to Epcot's International Food & Wine Festival, it comes HIGHLY recommended! It happens every year sometime from September thru November.

If you haven't been to Walt Disney World yet, then I suggest you get on it!

It truly is the "Happiest Place on Earth!"