Good Evening everyone!

Let’s start with the meatloaf recipe. A little background. I didn’t like meatloaf as a kid. As most of you know, I rarely ate meat, and loaf form didn’t fit the bill. However, as an adult I got to experiment with different flavors and I’ve come to enjoy it as a weekly staple in our household dinner menu. Always different, always good.

Yesterday’s recipe was particularly excellent. Some ideas taken from an Ina Garten recipe. Mostly I just like to mix things up to see how they taste!

INGREDIENTS:
1 to 1 1/2 pounds lean ground turkey
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 c Italian style breadcrumbs
1 tbsp Olive Oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 large white onion
5 baby portabella mushrooms, diced
1 tbsp Montreal steak seasoning (I actually have a similar Pampered Chef version, but this is similar- any course steak/meat seasoning will do depending on your taste).
2-3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1. Sautee the onions in olive oil, with a pinch of Kosher salt until they’re translucent, add the mushrooms and the Worcestershire sauce. Add another small pinch of Kosher salt and cook for 5 minutes.

2. Place ground turkey in a large bowl, add beaten egg, bread crumbs and steak seasoning.

3. Add sauteed onions and mushrooms to the bowl and mix with a fork (mixing with a fork is actually important, it keeps the loaf light)

4. With clean hands form the meat in to a loaf and place on to foil on a baking sheet.

5. Put 1/4 c of Ketchup on top (if desired) and spread with a spatula.

6. Cook at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. and enjoy.

**Sooooo….Things we thought we’d never do as parents! What are some things you do, or did, that you thought you’d never do? Or, maybe, some things you don’t do, that you thought you might?

1. Bed sharing. We didn’t do this at all with Quinn. However, when you have 2 newborns- a whole ton of sh*t goes out the window. While nursing the twins, they weren’t waking up at the same time in the middle of the night always….So if I had already been up with Paige at midnight, aiden at 1..Paige at 2, Aiden at 3….Aiden got to nurse while I slept. He then fell asleep and would go back to sleep after Paige ate (a spouse is helpful in this case- to go fetch the crying child hehe).

2. Pacifiers. Quinn used his until my hormones while pregnant with the twins got annoyed when he was 16 months old. I threw them in the trash and that was that. With the twins I HONESTLY DON’T GIVE A DAMN! Why? Here’s why. 1. They ONLY use them in their cribs. By only I mean we don’t even let them use them in the car for long trips, they don’t use them during the day (except once or twice when they’ve been sick). It’s really only at night which is less than thumb suckers. I just don’t care and it makes them happy and it’s not a battle I choose to fight with now- I like sleep, so do they, win win. They’ll be rid of them by the time their 2…or not 😉 Again- I don’t care. And I wouldn’t care if a mom of a 3 year old told me their kid used one at night. Promise.

3. TV. I actually never had a rule for myself about this. Some days they hardly watch TV and some days it babysits them for long periods of time. There. I said it. If people watch responsible programming (like PBS or other age appropriate shows) then theres not a problem for me. But you better be reading to your kids at least 20 minutes a day 🙂

4. Food. This is actually something I stick to my guns on, with some relaxed days or minutes. They eat good food, junk food is a treat, not a staple, and it’s all good.

So, what things do you do, or not do?

xoxo,
andrea