The Ultimate Comfort Food: 4 Meatloaf Recipes You'll Make Again and Again

Ah, comfort food. It's just so...comforting. No matter what's going on in the world you can count on a home-cooked meal to set things right. Maybe it's the memories of a simpler time that are conjured up when you serve a thick, steaming slice of meatloaf made from grandma's meatloaf recipe. Or maybe it's just nice to put aside the problems of the day and lose yourself in the moment while enjoying a relaxing dinner with your family. Whatever the reasons, you can't deny what a difference a meal of plain and simple American cuisine will make.

The Quintessential Loaf: A Meatloaf Recipe for Your Every Mood

Meatloaf has risen to the top of the go-to recipes list because it's easy to make and the inexpensive ingredients are staples that are usually on hand on your pantry shelves. Meatloaf has undergone a few evolutions since Grandma made it, but whether you're making a basic meatloaf recipe or dressing it up, you can always count on an uncomplicated yet satisfying meal.

  Easy and Delicious Meatloaf

 

Wherever you got your basic meatloaf recipe, they are all essentially the same. This easy recipe gets its roots from the basic meat, egg, breadcrumb formula, but with a few contemporary changes that give it a little extra that will make it your new favorite meatloaf recipe.

Ingredients

·         2 lb. lean ground beef

·         1 pkg. (6 oz.) stuffing mix for chicken

·         1 cup water

·         2 eggs, beaten

·         1/2 cup barbecue sauce, divided

Directions

·         Heat oven to 375 degrees.

·         Place meat, stuffing mix, water, eggs and 1/4 cup barbecue sauce in bowl.

·         Mix just until blended

·         Shape into loaf in 13 X 9-inch baking dish.

·         Top with remaining barbecue sauce. Bake 1 hour or until done (160 degrees).

                                                  Ciao-Down Italian Meatloaf

 

Solve the dinner choice dilemma of whether to have Italian or American by serving up this appetizing meatloaf with an Italian twist. Pasta on the side with garlic bread will compliment the meal nicely.

Ingredients

·         1 pkg. (6 oz.) stuffing mix for chicken

·         1 jar (24 oz.) spaghetti sauce, divided

·         1 tsp. dried oregano leaves, divided

·         1-1/2 lb. extra-lean ground beef

·         1 cups chopped zucchini

·         1 cups sliced fresh mushrooms

·         3/4 cup shredded low-moisture part-skim mozzarella cheese

Directions

·         Heat oven to 375 degrees.

·         Mix stuffing mix with half each of the spaghetti sauce and oregano. Add meat; mix well. Pat into 13 X 9-inch baking dish.

·         Mix vegetables and remaining spaghetti sauce and oregano. Spoon over meat mixture; cover.

·         Bake 25 min. Top with cheese. Bake, uncovered, 10 min. or until meatloaf is done (160 degrees).

                                             Cheesy Mini Meatloaves

Spice things up – and give your meatloaf a new look to boot – when you make these fun and flavorful meatloaf minis. Go all out with Mexican rice and refried beans to make a weeknight fiesta for the family.

Ingredients

·         1 lb. ground beef

·         1/2 cup finely chopped onions

·         1 egg

·         12 saltine crackers, finely crushed (about 1/2 cup)

·         1-1/2 cups Mexican style finely shredded four cheese blend, divided

·         1 cup thick 'n chunky salsa, divided

Directions

·         Heat oven to 400 degrees.

·         Mix first 4 ingredients with 1 cup cheese and 1/2 cup salsa.

·         Press into 12 muffin cups sprayed with cooking spray. Use back of spoon to make indentation in center of each. Place muffin pan on foil-covered baking sheet.

·         Bake 20 to 25 min. or until meatloaves are done (160 degrees). Top with remaining salsa and cheese; bake 3 min. or until cheese is melted.
                                                  

                                   Bacon 'n Cheese Meatloaf

Channeling another comfort favorite, this meatloaf recipe uses the makings of a bacon cheeseburger to create a delicious meal that is almost effortless. The hard part is saving leftovers for a bacon cheese meatloaf sandwich for lunch tomorrow.

Ingredients

·         1 lb. extra-lean ground beef

·         1 egg, beaten

·         1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

·         1/4 cup milk

·         1/4 cup dry bread crumbs

·         1 Tbsp. finely chopped onions

·         1/2 tsp. each garlic powder and dried oregano leaves

·         1/8 tsp. cracked black pepper

·         4 slices cooked bacon

Directions

·         Heat oven to 400 degrees.

·         Mix all ingredients except bacon.

·         Shape into loaf in 9 X 5-inch loaf pan; top with bacon.

·         Bake 45 min. or until done (160 degrees). Let stand 5 min. before removing from pan and slicing to serve.

Quick Tips

·         Cook meatloaf until the middle is no longer pink or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center part of the loaf reads 160 degrees Fahrenheit.

·         Try using ground turkey, pork or veal as tasty substitutes for beef; it’ll give your meatloaf a unique flavor.

·         Make mixing mess-free by putting all the ingredients into a gallon-size reseal-able plastic bag. Press the air out of the bag before zipping it closed, then squeeze and mash until all the ingredients are mixed. You can even shape the meat into a loaf inside the bag before transferring it to the baking dish.

No Gift Birthday Parties

My son has a ton of toys. He receives them for presents from my family and me. Some of them are birthday gifts and Christmas gifts but sometimes they are for no reason. Honestly, I kind of feel like when his birthday comes along it just means more stuff. Now that he is older and will start having birthday parties with friends, it will only get worse. I am thankful for the gifts we receive of course. I really am.

I have an issue with the quality of some toys now days. I can tell you that I have quite a few toys from my childhood that are still in good condition or well working condition. I bought Noah a remote control helicopter for his birthday that was broken less than a month later. Another issue is a lot of toys are made in China and end up getting recalled for lead or whatever reason.

I would like to see my family and friends use their gift money to go towards his college education. That would be a gift that would really last a lifetime. I also think that quite a few parents are interested in a no gift birthday party. As my mom would say, your presence is present enough.

Did you know saving just $25/month when your child is a toddler can result in up to $10,000 when they're ready for college? That's just one coffee a week.


If you reach $1,000 in the 60 day window GradSave will give you $100 to use towards your college savings or to pay for your birthday party.  How cool is that?

You can learn more about the GradSave Birthday Challenge.

What do you think about no gift parties? I look forward to your thoughts.

How To Monitor Your Kids Online – Gecko Monitor

We all know of the dangers lurking around the digital corners of the internet, especially when it comes to letting kids loose online. Of course, sometimes we can do everything we can do avoid these unwanted websites, but occasionally there's no avoiding them. There's also another side to the issue – Kids curiosity. Whether children mean to click something or not, curiosity sometimes gets the better of us all, which means sometimes those dangers are unavoidable.

But luckily, help is at hand. When I talk to people about how to introduce kids to the world of the internet I talk about a 3 step process; Control, Monitor and Trust. The first step – Control, is the first introductory stage to the web. It means controlling what your kids can access and filtering what they see. Applications like Net Nanny can put a lock on internet browsing, meaning any webpages that contain profanity, adult material or a number of other questionable topics are blocked, and on some 'allowed' websites swear words and marked out.

Of course, there's no right age at which you should allow your children free reign over the net, and every parents opinions will be different. But at some point it is going to happen, and this (along with a few other situations) is where is recommend stage two – Monitor. Monitoring your kids online is a great way of letting them have their digital freedom, while at the same time maintaining some control and peace of mind. You can check over what they've been looking at at any time, even without them knowing if you wish.

Gecko Monitor makes this process easy and manageable. The software, once installed, will run silently in stealth mode (or visible if you wish) monitoring everything that occurs on the computer. When you wish to review the activity logs, you can open the software with a secret key combination and password.

When you view the logs you'll be able to see everything that has happened while you've been away from the computer. Gecko Monitor, will monitor and report on all of the following:

• All applications used.
• All websites visited.
• All documents opened, created, saved and deleted.
• Anything copied and pasted.
• Any documents printed.
• All keystrokes entered.

The software will also log the times and dates of all activities. You can either review the logs on your home computer or have them sent to your email address to view from a remote location. Gecko Monitor has a free trial available on the website.

The third and final stage is of course – Trust. At this point (as hard as it may be!) trust must prevail over monitoring and control. Hopefully with the help of the above software getting to that stage might be a little bit easier!