When bad things happen to good toys

This Christmas Zabba got a really great gift from Gramm. It's an art desk that has a white board, a clip to hold papers for painting-this flips down to make a desk, compartments galore, bins that fit into the compartments and the best thing about it (well, according to Zabba). It has a stool!!


The other day while I was searching the house high and low for a missing Mr. Potato Head part (which fits nicely into the compartments of the art desk thankyouverymuch) Zabba got ahold of this:




Yep, that's right a permanent marker. So, when I was on my hands and knees under the dining room table I realized that Zabba was very quite-much quieter than any 2 year old should be unless they are sleeping. So I slowly backed out from under the table to see what she was doing and was greeted by this:

Nice-eh? Incase you were wondering it's a baloon.

So, if you ever run into this situation, here's what you do:

1. Use a dry erase marker (the one I used was Expo, but any dry erase will work)

2. Color over the permanent marker with the dry erase marker

3. Wipe off with either an eraser designed for white boards or a wet cloth

4. Hide permanent markers from 2 year old.

In my opinion, the last step is the most important.

Lara's Famous Meatloaf

Ok, so it's really not that famous, but it is definitely liked a lot in this household. Ok, so maybe not really liked a lot by the household, but more just by me. I started out by using my mom's recipe and have slowly started to add some stuff here and add some stuff there to make it my own. Also, Kraft Foods Magazine has helped me out by suggesting making them in cupcake pans and I love doing this.

I start with all the ingredients: Chopped onions and green peppers, bread crumbs, ketchup, hot sauce, worcestershire sauce, 1 egg, garlic (today used garlic powder), chili powder, season salt, salt, pepper, and of course 1 lb of ground beef.

I add it all together and unfortunately it is just a little bit of this and a little bit of that so there is really no recipe. Once it is all in the bowl, you have to mix, mix, mix and doing this with your hands is the best way.

Most people now put it in a bread pan and you can do that, but I have one very picky little eater and I am always trying to find ways of making food fun for her to eat. She loves cupcakes, so when I saw in Kraft's Food and Family Magazine (best magazine for quick, easy recipes) to put meatloaf in cupcake pans, I thought it would be great. They also give ideas to personalize the mini meatloaves. I like mine with ketchup in the middle and cheddar cheese on top. Babe likes his with BBQ sauce and PooPie - well, she really doesn't like it but she does like to choose what to put in it and it's always different. She will act like she is going to eat it, but she is a faker. If it's not fruit, it's a no go in her book!

And Ta-Da! Bake at 375 for 30 min - another part of the cupcake version I like, you cut the bake time in half. Let's get real, who has the time or brain to remember to make the meatloaf and put it in the oven an hour ahead of time.

Kraft's Meatloaves
1lb ground beef
1 pkg Stove Top Stuffing
1 cup water
3/4 cup Kraft shredded cheddar cheese

Mix meat, stuffing mix, water and add-ins (see below). Press in to a greased muffin tin. Make an indention in the center of each and fill with sauce (see below). Bake 30 min. Top with cheese and bake an additional 5 min.

Add-in options:
American Style -- add-in 1 tsp of garlic powder, sauce - BBQ sauce
Italian Style -- add-in 1 tsp Italian seasoning, sauce - spaghetti sauce
Mexican Style -- add-in 2 tsp chili powder, sauce - salsa