I Would Do Anything For Love....

yesterday morning i woke up to my son yelling. not atypical, he yells a lot in the morning for me to come get him. but this yelling was continuous until i went in and found him sitting in his crib, tears streaming out of his eyes, his face filled with snot from the nose down. this is one of those moments where the strength of your stomach is really tested. 

i passed the test and spent my morning fighting him to get the snot out of his nose and off of his face and trying to keep him from wiping his drippings all over our couches and blankets. i was even a good mommy and still let him play with all of the pots and pans. i just resolved to wash everything at the end of the night.

i texted E about all the cute sickness related things jp was doing--snoring, drooling, screaming at the snot sucker, climbing onto the oven... that one might not have anything to do with being sick...

E called me around 4 when he was on his way home from work (don't be jealous of his 4 o'clock departure, he goes in at 5am and has to go back at 5 pm!) and told me that whatever jp had he also had coming on and would need medicine and an early turn in after dinner.

what better time for some nice, heavy comfort food than when both of your men are sick and will be going to bed early? 

i should mention before i put this recipe up that i don't generally eat meat. i am not at all a strict vegetarian, and i don't frankly care so much about animals. i choose my mostly meatless lifestyle because 1) i don't like the texture and taste of almost all meats, save fish, 2) vegetarianism is a healthier lifestyle when carried out appropriately, 3) i would prefer to not support a market that is lending a helping hand to the creation of antibiotic resistant strains of diseases, and 4) americans consume ENTIRELY too much protein!! the suggested serving of protein for the average adult female is 50g--you can get that in one 5oz serving of chicken. you can get your ENTIRE day's worth of protein from one chicken breast. the main part of your dinner. think of all the other sources of protein you take in at all the other meals!!! that's a lot of protein that you don't need! unless you're a body builder. then by all means, have a dinner of meat with a side of meat, topped with meat. :) ok, off the high horse, back to the ground!

tonight wasn't a special night. we weren't celebrating anything. no major events, no happy victories. but both E and jp were exhausted and zombie-like by the time dinner rolled around, so both of them sat quietly at the table and ate dinner. jp actually laid his head down on his high chair for a while. i decided that instead of making myself a second meatless entree, i would just sit with them, eat the meat, and enjoy this rare moment of total compliance :) i could have fed them cat food and neither would have noticed. glorious.

leanne's marvelous meatloaf

1lb ground beef (85/15 or fattier. you need fat for meatloaf)

3/4c breadcrumbs (or crushed chex mix for you gluten-freers)

1/4c finely chopped, almost minced, veggies of your choice

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp garlic salt

1 tbsp black pepper

1 tsp your favorite grill dry seasoning, or a hot spice (cayenne, chili powder, etc)

1 egg+milk to make 2/3c

preheat to 375

mix it all together REALLY REALLY well, with your hands. if it's still pretty wet and not really sticking together, add more breadcrumbs/chex mix. if it's one giant clump of hardness, add a tad more milk. either way you're going to end up with this sucker baking in a ring of its own fat. quite a sight to behold.

put the mixture in a well greased bread pan. i used a 9x5 and it was a bit too big. 

bake until the edges start turning dark dark brown, approx 1-1.5 hours depending on your oven, pan size, and pan location in your oven.

* veggie ideas-- i used  red, yellow, and orange petite bell peppers and mushrooms. other good ones? corn, tomatoes, mushroom varieties, large bell peppers, spicy peppers, shredded carrots, apples, green beans (WELL DRAINED if you use the canned ones), broccoli, etc. bear in mind that you could load this loaf down with a ton more veggies than the recipe calls for if you wanted to. it's really up to you, just keep an eye on the texture. well, keep a hand on the texture!! :)

i also made bacon gravy (go big or go home!!)

this is enough for about 3-4 servings

6 slices bacon

flour

cook the bacon until it gets crispy. you need the fat in the pan

once all the bacon is cooked, set it on paper towels to drain and grab your flour and a whisk.

sprinkle about a tablespoon of flour in to the fat while whisking, heat at medium-low. break all the flour up and see how thick your gravy is. add flour a tbsp at a time until it's just a little thinner than you would like and let the gravy simmer while you break all the bacon into bits. add it back in to the gravy and let it simmer for another minute or two. pour it over slices of meatloaf. die and go to heaven.

the boys were sleeping by 8. that might have something to do with the benadryl they both got, but i'm going to attribute it to a food coma :)