Family Recipes - Sweet and Sour Meat Loaf

My husband and I both have some pretty amazing cooks in our families, all of whom have very diverse cooking styles. This inspired me to start a blog series where I will occasionally feature a family member's recipe with an interview. A couple of weeks ago my sister had us over for dinner and she agreed to let me feature this recipe.
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What are you making? Sweet and Sour Meat Loaves


Can we get the recipe?
Meat Loaves:
2 lb. hamburger                    1/4 tsp. pepper  
1 1/2 tsp. salt                       3/4 c. cracker crumbs
1  egg                                  1/2 of the sauce
1/2 small onion, chopped

Sauce:
1/2 (20 oz.) can crushed pineapple           1/3 c. brown sugar
1 c. catsup                                             1 TBS. mustard
1/4 c. vinegar

Directions: Mix all of the meat loaf ingredients in a large bowl, along with 1/2 the sauce. Make individual portions by using 1/2 to 3/4 cup of meat per loaf. Place meat loaves in a greased 9x13 pan and pour remaining sauce over loaves. Bake @ 350* for 1 hour.

How would you describe your cooking style? Tried and True - I like to make the recipes that I know are going to be good...I'm not one to venture out and try new and weird foods, although I give a lot of credit to those who do!

Where do you find most of your recipes? Our church's Dutch Delights [cookbooks]...this is where you'll find REAL home cooking!

If you had to eat out, where would you choose? It would be a toss up between Panera Bread and Logan's Steakhouse...the two are very different, but both have excellent food!

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Not only is my sister one of my very best friends, she's also a wife, and mother of two (sweeeet!) boys. Thanks, Amanda, for going along with my crazy idea!

working

Who ever said sewing wasn't dangerous?

I want to remember...

when the sick days are long

and all that helps is being close

i want to remember it

not as an inconvenience

but as a precious moment in time

never to be had again

I tried it...

I tried it and I love it. I'm officially hooked.

Every afternoon for the past few weeks I've made myself a berry, banana, and spinach (!?) smoothie. (I heard about it from Jenna, who heard about it from Janel.) I know it sounds less than appealing, but really the spinach is pretty much tasteless and it doesn't make the smoothie look as gross as I thought it would. What a great way to get those dark leafy greens every day!

Here's how I make mine (and of course smoothies can be very easily manipulated):

-frozen blueberries

-frozen raspberries

-1 banana

orange juice (amount depends on how thick/smooth you want it)

-1 large handful of baby spinach

Blend until smooth!

Christmas Cards - What to do with 'em

I always hate pitching all the lovely photo cards we get each Christmas. I recently came across a great idea on Apartment Therapy that turns your photo cards into a cute little book. I pinned it so I could find it later, and put the idea to use today.

Pretty fun, huh? I hope to start a collection of these little "books" over the years. I think it would be fun to get them out every once in awhile to see how the people in the cards have changed.

*Rings available in the office section of any big-box retail store. Use a paper punch to make the holes.

Sweet Potato Chili

It's nearly dead of winter and I'm already tired of the same old cold weather recipes. I went on the hunt for some revamps of my winter stamples and found this glorious new (to me) take on chili.

I found the Cookie + Kate blog whilst pinning one day and that's where I found this Vegetarian Sweet Potato Chili recipe. It's super hearty, uses cocoa powder and cinnamon, and if you let it simmer long enough the sweet potatoes take on all the flavors of the chili. It became and instant favorite for us and I decided it was definitely share-worthy. Head on over to the Cookie + Kate blog for the recipe.

PHOTO FROM COOKIE + KATE BLOG

Care to share any of your mid-winter favorites?

Horses

We took a little road trip this weekend to visit grandparents. Grandma lives in the city. Grandpa lives in the boondocks. I love each place equally as much. I love the energy and the excitement in the city, and I love the way I instantly revert back to my country girl self in the boondocks.

Grandpa has horses and horses rank #1 on my favorite animals list. (Dogs are a close #2). I could literally spend hours out by the fence, talking to them and petting their noses. I kind of get lost in my own little world.

I was really excited to show Little Miss the horsies. She suprised us and was not at all scared of them. She loved touching their noses. Like mamma like daughter I suppose.

I hope your weekend was swell! 

Fabric shopping

psst...most of the bags you see pictured in this post are discontinued. If you see something you like I am always happy to consider custom work. Contact {vanessa at lynndavid dot com} if you you'd like to inquire. :)

A great question came up in the comments section the other day. It was,

"...Do you design your own fabrics or do you buy them from somewhere? If so, where do you buy from?"

To answer the first part, no, I do not design my own fabric. (I would, however, love to do that someday!)

I do buy my fabric, and am generally pretty picky about where it comes from. I try to stay away from a certain big box fabric store (starts with a "J" and rhymes with "Boann's") as much as possible when shopping for fabric. Not because I'm afraid of quality or anything, but mainly because I have a short list of favorite fabric designers - none of which can be found at said store. (Plus the whole take a number and wait thing really stretches my patience.)

So I guess I should back up and share my favorite designer list: Amy Butler, Heather Bailey, and Joel Dewberry. (I told you it was short!) If you see me using a boldly colored and printed fabric, there's a 90% chance it's from one of these three designers.

Here are my favorite places to buy them:
Etsy (Change the search box drop-down to "supplies" and enter the designer's name or specific fabric. You'll see fabric from several different shops and it's a great way to search for the lowest price.)
Fabric.com (All of my italian linen and dupioni silk comes from here. You can also find a lot of designer fabrics at this website. They have free shipping for orders over $35 and a really great return policy - which is important since you can't see in person the fabric you're about to buy.)

Another great place to find fabric is in your closet or at thrift stores. For crafting purposes, I'm finding this is my favorite way to have unique textures and patterns in my projects. For instance if I have a shirt that no longer fits right, I cut out the applique or whatever I like about it and repurpose it.

So if you've got a project in the pipeline and have been looking around for some great fabric, I hope this helps!

Resolution

It all started several months ago when I realized I had so much scrap fabric that I was getting overwhelmed. I'm a recovering fabric addict, and believe me I've got a stash. So I started picking out all of the "warm" colored fabrics and cut them into squares. I was going to make a quilt. Until I realized all of my freshly cut squares totaled well over 100. I was back to feeling overwhelmed...and was really no closer to putting some of my scrap stash to good use. Eventually my would-be quilt landed in the bottom of a shoebox and has been stored away for the past several months.

Yesterday I was doing a bit of organizing and came across my squares again. After staring at them for awhile I thought to myself, "What if I tackled this project, but over the course of the year?" Maybe it was seeing all of the glorious patterns and colors again that got me excited, but I decided it was totally do-able. So I now have another resolution to add to my list: FINISH THAT QUILT! 

New Year and a project

Happy New Year everyone! What a whirlwind the past couple of weeks have been! I love the holidays but man oh man I am ready for some normalcy! Tomorrow starts a week of *hopefully* on-schedule naps and meal times and sanity. I was never much of a schedule person before I became a parent...but it's incredible how one missed nap can rock your world.
I have some ideas for the blog this year, including some do-it-yourself projects, recipe projects, and home improvement projects. Nothing too big, but hopefully enough to satisfy my creative drive.

Today I'm going to post my first DIY project: a bookmark. I have a modest stack of books I'd like to get through this year, and I'm going to need a good (and cute!) bookmark to get me through. I really love the flag bunting that seems to be all over the place right now and it is what inspired this bookmark.

First you will need to gather these supplies:
-a piece of heavy kraft paper or cardboard cut to whatever size you'd like your bookmark to be
-a page or two torn from an old book (I used part of a reference section)
-thread
-needle or sewing machine
-japanese masking tape, stickers, or other decoration
-a pen
-a Sharpie pen
-a ruler
-glue

First you will want to use your ruler to draw out diamond shapes over your book page. Make sure to draw on the back side of the page.

Cut out your triangles and pick out the best looking ones.

Secure the triangles in place with a small amount of glue. Be sure to put glue on just the bottom tip, not the whole piece.

Get out the sewing machine and stitch down the tops of the triangles. The triangles should now look like flags or pennants on a strand. You could also use a needle and hand stitch. I stitched my first line and wanted a little more substance, so I went back over it again a second time.

If you are using tape, cut a notch into each end of a small piece and adhere to the kraft paper.

I'm a doodler, so I just made a quick little design on top of the tape. Other alternatives would be writing an inspiring word or your name.

And that's it! Now you have an adorable bookmark to use every time you pick up your book.

I have a terrible habit of starting more than one book at a time...so maybe I should go make a few more!

Boring-est Post

Welcome. You are officially reading the boring-est post of the year! *wild cheers!*

So much has been going on, but yet none of it blog-worthy. What to post...what to post....

Ah! I did get a new planner for my 2012 schedule...

I typically buy a very plain, minimalist calendar every year. This year I was brave and picked something bold. Must have been the extra shot of espresso in my coffee. Who wants to bet I'm sick of the pattern by March?

Aaaaannnddd....now I'm taking bets over a planner. A sure sign that it's time to end this post.

(Pat yourself on the back...you have just survived the boring-est post of the year!)

No, really.

"...brown paper packages tied up with string. These are a few of my favorite things..."

No, really, I actually do love brown paper packages tied in pretty string. Pretty packaging makes my heart go pitter-patter.

I've been working hard at tying up all of my brown paper packages...err...wrapping Christmas presents this year, and I'm loving the results!

I purchased all of my pretty string at The Gilded Bee on Etsy. (Caution: if you're like me you may drool upon seeing this shop!) I bought my brown kraft paper in the shipping isle of my local big box store.

The tragedy? We have decided against a Christmas tree this year, (I've got a baby who pulls on everything) so there is no pretty place to display all my pretty packages. For now, they are on small table behind the couch next to the nativity so we can enjoy them until they are gifted.

I'm pretty sure brown packages with pretty string will become a tradition in the years to come. Hopefully Little Miss will enjoy this stuff as much as I do and we can make it our thing. At least until I inevitably become "uncool". (Which had better be a long time from now!)

PS - In case you're in the mood for some Christmas candy making...check out this melt-in-your-mouth buttery caramels post from last year!

Table Talk

My 8 month old recently discovered that she can pull the tablecloth down to the floor. And subsequently everything on the table comes down with it.



Excuse me, Little Miss, but that tablecloth is there for a reason. Momma doesn't exactly love that...um..."vintage" table top. But since I cannot speak baby language and you cannot speak momma language...the tablecloth's got to go.


You know, vintage is very in right now. (Just keep telling yourself that, momma!)


PS - Correction on the chocolate dipped clementines post: after thinking about it (and confirming it with Brooke), the idea for those was born after I popped a piece of chocolate and a clementine slice into my mouth at the same time. I happened to be at Brooke's at the time, and then my brain just jumbled it all together. My apologies! So if you make them and hate them...no blaming Brooke!

Chocolate Dipped Clementines

For all our sakes, I promise this is not turning into a food blog. I'm not really that great of a cook. But I love being in the kitchen, food is fun to photograph, and it's just that time of year, you know?

A good friend of mine, Brooke, first introduced me to chocolate dipped clementines at a Christmas party a few years back. Ever since, I absolutely have not been able to resist making them around the holidays. Here's how to make them, according to Vanessa (aka - totally made up, no recipe followed):



Start by placing wax paper on an appetizer plate. Peel and separate 3 - 4 clementines. Place 1.5 - 2 cups chocolate chips in a small pan over the stove. *Note: Treat yourself and use good chocolate. It doesn't really matter if you use milk/dark, just go with the good stuff.* Heat the chips over medium-low heat stirring frequently, if not constantly. Once the chocolate is good and melted remove the pan from the heat and dip your citrus slices. Place the clementines on the wax paper. When the chocolate starts to thicken put it back over the heat and stir until you get that smooth consistency again. When all of the slices have been dipped, eat the rest of the chocolate with a spoon place them in the refrigerator. After the chocolate coating has hardened a bit (15-20 minutes?), cover with plastic wrap and keep refrigerated until it's time to serve.

They are delicious. And halfway healthy. Actually, if you're a believer in the benefits of dark chocolate I'd say you have an excellent argument for totally healthy!

Enjoy!

*See an update to this post here. (Scroll to the bottom.)

Winter Wonderland