Let me start by saying that it is Really Really Ridiculously Good Looking Tasting…

I experimented to get this recipe together.. so I don’t really know all the measurements, but no matter how many times I make it, it always comes out the same- Delicious!

What you need:

• 1 lbs. lean ground beef (you could do ground turkey here also)
• 1 roll of Ground Sage Sausage
• 1 egg
• Breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup to 3/4 of Brown Sugar
• Ketchup
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of diced onions (Heath doesn’t really like onions so I use closer to 1/4)
• 1/4 cup diced tomatoes (I only do this if I happen to have a tomato in the kitchen.. if not.. no biggie)

Mix together all ingredients, using about 1/4  cup of the brown sugar and saving the rest for your pan. Cover the bottom of your bake ware with brown sugar until you have an even  thin layer. Just about the size that your meatloaf will cover. This puts a great glaze on the bottom of your meatloaf and gives it a slightly sweet taste as well.

Shape the mixture into an even rectangular loaf, place on top of the brown sugar. Drizzle ketchup along the top of the meat in the famous squiggle that we all associate with meatloaf. (You don’t need to inundate it with ketchup.. it will be moist so don’t ruin it with ketchup!) Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes at 375. Uncover and cook for another 30 minutes at 375.

Enjoy!

I hate technology. I LOVE fancy, shiny, WORKING pieces of technology, but I despise anything broken. I am not a techie, I know nothing about computers (aside from the basics of course) and I do not like to fix things that I didn’t break!

Because some people in this world have time in their day to write computer code to attack some poor innocent computer somewhere half across the world, does not mean that I have time (or want to have the time) to fix it! Why the ranting? Because my poor innocent computer was the victim of a program named Desktop Defender 2010. It’s not quite a virus, its malware and it doesn’t harm the computer, but it tries to scam the user into purchasing the upgraded version of the so-called virus protector “already on your computer”. It does a fabulous job of mirroring the Vista design and if the text of the pop-ups wasn’t so juvenile, I may have believed that Windows was telling me that I had 800 infected files. And if I would have had money to spend buying the updated version, they may have conned me.

Instead, I had to wipe my computer clean. Luckily, I have an external hard drive that I try to back up my computer to regularly. Unfortunately, it has been awhile since I last did it. I’m not losing much, but an entire file of recipes that I have collected over the last month is missing now. Not life-threatening I know, but sad all the same. Also, some pictures that I had edited and was making for a project I was working on are also all gone, so it’s start from scratch on those again. And of course, all the music that I had put on from the holidays to now also departed. I am left with all the crazy things on the desktop of a brand new computer- all the programs that I havent seen in the year since I purchased it.

Lessons learned: Back up your computer more often. Pass on the new clothes and buy a malware program. Track down the evil computer hackers of the world and stomp on their hands so they can’t program anything else. (Maybe not the third one, but wouldn’t that be crazy?!)

Here’s to a new start for my computer!

Update: My pictures have not been backed up in longer than I thought. Lost my last Chi Omega functions, graduation and everything since then. :/ Maybe stomping on the hands of the programmer isn’t so crazy an idea now…

I have a love for Mexican food. Especially salsa and guacamole. So when I saw this recipe for Chunky Guac, I had to try it out. I took a picture of my own, but couldn’t quite take an appetizing picture  of my own concoction, but this one looks about right.

2 ripe avocados
1/2 medium tomato (seeded and diced)
1/4 cup white onion (dice small)
Juice of 1 lime
1 canned chipotle pepper (minced) – Just 1 pepper, not the entire can!
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
Pinch of salt

Halve your avocados and scoop out the flesh. I put mine in the food chopper to mash them, but you can do it with a fork if you have the patience. Once the consistency is how you like it, (try and leave it a little thick), mix and fold in the rest of the ingredients. Yes, it’s that easy!

If you are really wanting to mix it up a bit, try baking wonton wrappers instead of just serving with Tostitos.

If you decide try making these:
To bake them, just cut them diagonally and place on a baking sheet. Bake on 350 until they are crunchy or golden brown. Pinch a little salt and pepper on them and enjoy!
Let me tell you before you search, wonton wrappers are in the produce section – who knew?

What’s your resolution this year?

Hope this year brings the best to you and yours!

Here’s to 2010…

Here’s to 2010!

We wait all year for the holidays and then just before we think Thanksgiving is within reach, all of a sudden, the holiday season jumps on us, and then before we know it, it disappears with all the discarded wrapping paper of Christmas morning.

One thing that stays after the wrapping paper and bows are long gone is tradition. It’s been a tradition within my family for as long as I can remember to have Mimosas on holidays, birthdays, celebrations, anniversaries, Sundays, any day ending with ‘y’ really (just kidding of course, kinda). But my mother seems to have a very elite taste in Champagne. Perrier Jouet always is the other half to our holiday toasts, and this year was no different. While I love it, my taste buds arent paying the bill at the alcohol store, so I tend to reach for the Korbel. Not quite top shelf, but far enough from Andre that I am satisfied.

You may be wondering why I have such a distaste for Andre… let me quickly summarize…

I never found myself to be a drink snob by any means, but after years of Perrier (naive to the fact that it was expensive or that not all champagne tasted that way), the first time I sipped a glass of champagne at a New Years Party a few years ago, to my dismay, I believed the party-thrower had poured sour champagne. I was quickly informed it was Andre and have ever sinced strayed away at all costs.

Alas, I have digressed in typical fashion.

Back to my original thought process… this New Years, I will be with Heath, and I am in the mood for a little something different. I thought I would show you all a little bit of what we may be ringing in the New Year with, and perhaps, be you far or near, you can try some of our favorite drinks, or try some that we will also be trying for the first time.

Blueberry Batter - One of our Favorites

With Blueberries or without, and with crushed ice or without, this drink is cool, refreshing, tasty, and slightly dangerous. We made up the name because it really tastes like a liquid blueberry muffin, so feel free to use our name or come up with something on your own.

Pair 1 to 2 ounces of Blueberry Vodka (we use Smirnoff) with White Cranberry Juice.

Heath tends to pour a bit more of the Vodka and a little less juice, but you still can’t taste the alcohol in it (hence the dangerous part).

Champagne Cocktail

Thanks to Sweet Savory Life, I believe we may be incorporating our champagne this way for 2010!

Pour 1 or 2 shots of pear vodka in a glass and fill up with champagne.  Garnish with a spoon full of fresh cranberries.

Another fun way to incorporate cranberries into your New Years festivities is with a Cranberry Champagne Cocktail.

Cranberry Champagne Cocktail

Compliments of UrbanSpork.com, this recipe can use Champagne or Prosecco, whichever you choose.

Chill cranberry juice and Champagne. Place frozen cranberries in a glass and squeeze a lime wedge over the cranberries. Add cranberry juice and top the glass off with your favorite Champagne or Prosecco.

After tightening the budget this holiday season, I have decided that homemade gifts may be the best way to go for most of my friends and family. I have been thinking of what to make, how to package, and how mostly,  to make the gifts beautiful.

And thanks to the diligent blogging of my friend Melissa at Biting the Big Apple, I’ve found the best Web site ever for my holiday baking. Bake it Pretty has some of the most adorable cookie cutters, chocolate molds, and baking cups for the inner Martha Stewart in us all.

They also sell great gift boxes, so I will be able to make great little sets. Knowing me though, I’ll want everything they sell and spend more this way than just hitting up the mall. I’ll keep myself in check.. hopefully.

Here’s to a YUMMY holiday season!

I’m trying to figure out what to make for this weekend’s game, considering that I made this Gator Cupcake concoction for the UF vs. Tennessee game. For Homecoming, I want something even more creative, or yummy. Who knows, might just make another one of these bad boys.. and maybe this time… traffic willing, the sun won’t melt all my icing on the way to K Mam’s!

Since I have dubbed this part of my life “The Next Chapter,” figuratively speaking, I’ve got writers block.

This past month or so would be the random chapter you find in the beginning of some books where you are mostly learning characters, or brief plot lines. Nothing too exciting, nothing really juicy. The part where you wonder, should I continue? Did I buy a dud? Maybe I should flip to the back and just save myself the in between.

If only my life were really a book. I would be very tempted to read the later chapters to figure out where I’m going. I feel like my whole life I’ve just been skimming the text and haven’t really taken the time to figure out the nuances of my character. And even though I’m working now, it’s not the kind of work that I’m  passionate about. And the jobs I’m applying for seem to be taking their time to get their ball rolling, which unfortunately isn’t the most optimum for me.

Used to a life jam-packed with meetings to go to, decisions to make, people to meet and groups to represent, my more recent life decisions of what to wear to work and what to make for dinner are feeling somewhat menial. I feel like all of my talents, all of the things I love to do, need to somehow come together and land in my lap as a job.

That’s how things have always happened for me. My life has been more like a game of connect the dots than anything else, each dot pointing me in the right direction to the next. But now more than ever, it’s like a book, with cliff-hangers and all. But since I’m writing this story, I’m stuck. Stuck without a clear direction to go. I know it all comes together. But when? Hmmm…

We’ve all needed one.  We’ve all used one, or two.. We’ve all been poked by one time after time.

What exactly am I talking about you ask? Safety pins of course! Today marks Safety Pin Day. It was invented on this day actually.

“Before buttonholes, the world got dressed with pins. The Romans fastened their robes at the shoulder with a straight pin that had a coil in the middle allowing it to bend. This evolved into a U-shaped pin about 1000 B.C. – and pin makers eventually started to cover the sharp end with wire. During the late Middle Ages, the British decided pins should only be sold on certain days of the year. Women began saving “pin money” to go to the shops to buy their pins.”(hicards.com)

It may be a small thing to think about, but hey, it can be a huge lifesaver!! And since I’ve been slacking on my intention of providing you all with the everyday bizarre holidays of September, I had to go out with a bang for the last holiday on the last day of the month. Hence, my Ode to the Safety Pin.

So throw one in your purse, or put a few in your desk at work. Heck, maybe even put some in your glove box. You never know when a button may break, a strap may pop or a hem may come loose. Because if not, you’ll find yourself in an ode to the safety pin as well, wishing you had this small invention somewhere close.

With all the social networking and social media out there these days, I am a bit late jumping on the bandwagon with my latest addition to this blog. But nonetheless, I am doing my small part and hope that you can help me too!

Socialvibe.com is a great way to fundraise for a charity of your choice and have them be sponsored by a company of your choice, all with the help of your readers (that’s you)!

So each time you come to my page, before, after, or both, make sure that you click on the banner placed on the right hand column. L’Oreal Paris will donate money to the Children’s Miracle Network each time you do.

And the Children’s Miracle Network holds a special place in my heart after being a part of Dance Marathon throughout college. Last year, just at UF, we raised over $413,000. So, I know we can do a small part for CMN  by just clicking the banner each day.

And you can do the same thing on your wordpress.com blog, your Facebook, Myspace, Blogger, etc. Try it out at www.socialvibe.com !