Nesting?

I swear one would think that I'm nesting. I promise I'm not pregnant. I think. No, really I'm not. I've been cleaning and picking up stuff like I'm nesting... or it's a new hobby. I see a mess, WHAM! It's gone. I finally tired myself of looking at a cluttered pantry. Straightened that up. Many times before bed, I get Ivy in on the act. She's more cooperative of it. Her room is still messy. But at least I can walk into the living room without stepping on the equivalent of a six-inch spike of a high heel that fits one of her many nude Barbie dolls. As I'm cooking, I'm cleaning. Most mornings, the bed gets made. Is the dishwasher full? Get it going! Is the laundry basket full? Start a load. And so forth.

Ryan has begged me to stop cleaning so much. I feel the need to analyze why I'm cleaning. Is it medication? I'm more focused? I have more energy? I get things done? I'm bored? I'm frustrated? I hate the way things look when it's cluttered? I'm ashamed? I see something that needs to be done and instead of procrastinating I just do it? It makes my mind less cluttered if my environment is less cluttered? I feel more comfortable when things a clean?I want Ivy to grow up knowing how to do these things so that she is capable later in life? These all seem pretty valid to me. I'm fairly certain this list could go on. But I'm tired. Maybe it's all the cleaning I do. Or maybe it's allergy bull-malarky.

Cooking via Pinterest and MPM

I've been cooking like crazy. I think I took an unofficial week off two weeks ago. I've just been researching and enjoying Pinterest so much. How sad is that? But seriously? Everything I have re-pinned and cooked from Pinterest have been delicious. I have also gotten quite good at using leftovers and extras. For instance, I made my own "cream-of"soup for one recipe and then used the remainder for another recipe. I've done that a couple times now.

I cleaned out and organized the freezer and I have been cooking main courses from the freezer. I am also trying to use leftovers like crazy. There's no reason to not eat them. On top of all that, I recently re-organized and cleaned the pantry. It looks much nicer in there! And I am more inclined to use what is in there for our meals. For instance, tonight's meal was not purchased during our weekly grocery shopping. Broiled tilapia with a parmesan sauce (thank you Pinterest) and parmesan flavored couscous.

Here's this week's Menu Plan Monday

Sunday - Hot wings (but we ate fried chicken instead)
Monday - Chicken pot pie
Tuesday - Tilapia and couscous
Wednesday - Hot links and leftover sides
Thursday - Pizza
Friday - Chicken, bacon, ranch pasta
Saturday - Hot wings

Yummy food!

Loafing Meat

I went for a foo flashback for supper tonight. I had a pound of ground beef in the fridge and a box of scalloped potatoes - not my finest moment, but it did the job. Talkin about the potatoes, folks! I had planned taco soup but this week hasn't been the best. Plus, we went to Cici's on a whim last night. I just haven't been feeling the cooking bug this week. Instead of being willing to try something new, I made something with what we had that we would both like.

Meat Loaf

1 pound ground beef - mine was lean, get one with a higher fat content
1 egg
1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste (about a half teaspoon of each)
Dash of red pepper

Preheat oven to 400 F. Mix all ingredients by hand. Squeeze the living day lights out of it. Like you want to squeeze someone's little neck. Iiiiiiii might be kidding on that one. Have a sip of vodka and pipe the [expletive deleted] down. And that's a YouTube reference. I am a loser. It might be helpful to let the meat sit out so your arthritis in your hand isn't flared up and splitting your knuckles apart due to the freezing temperature of the meat.

Get back on track, Lena.

Mix the meat and egg and all the other stuff together. Make sure the egg is entirely mixed... You don't really want egg whites hanging out on or in your loaf like a giant, uh nevermind.

Once everything is mixed together, slap that lump of meat in a glass loaf pan, pat it down and bake it at 400 for about 45 minutes.

Metal loaf pan? Lower temp to about 350.

What am I thinking? I haven't made this in a long time. Tonight I had the temp too low or didn't cook it long enough at first then bumped up the temp way too much. But it came out juuuuust fine.