Lemon Meringue Pie

I have to start out by saying, meringue is awesome. It is my new favorite thing to make. I got to bust out the Kitchaid mixer for the first time Saturday night, when I got the urge to make a pie. I had never made lemon meringue pie, but there's a first time for everything. I followed the recipe for the filling that's on the Lemon Jello Pudding box, and then the meringue recipe on the thing of creme of tartar. I had origionally printed a recipe to make it from scratch, but it included buying about 8 things I didn't have. This turned out just as well as far as I am concerned.

I want this room...

I am in love with this room. If I could afford to redo my bedroom, I would use these colors.

My meatloaf was a success!

So I decided to experiment with meatloaf this week. I had made meatloaf balls before, which I normally use in other things; but I had never made an actually loaf before. I consulted the girls on The Nest, to find out their meatloaf recipes, and combined some of their ideas to create my own. It turned out fabulous! Jeff loved it. I served it with rosemary red potatoes and steamed asparagus. I'm hungry again just thinking about it. Here is the recipe I finally created via everyone elses.

Loaf:

1lb 80/20 ground beef

3/4 lb of ground turkey

2/3 cup milk

about 1 cup crushed corn flakes

1 egg

1 tbsp hot sauce

1 tbsp crushed garlic

1 tbsp bbq sauce

salt/pepper/thyme

Sauce:

3/4 cup ketchup

1 big squirt of dijon mustard

3 tbsp brown sugar

Combine loaf ingredients in a mixing bowl, mix well. Form into a loaf and stick in a rectangular baking dish (got to use my LaCreusant dish for the first time!). Bake in over at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Then take out, spread sauce evenly over loaf. Turn oven up to 400 degrees and bake another 25 minutes.

I got my lamp!

So I finally got my arch lamp for my dining room! It isn't the exact one I was going to buy, but it was about $200.00 less money and looks just as good. Jeff found it at Ikea the other day, and I had passed over it online figuring it was too small to go over our table. We did replace the shade it came with though, because it was too large and not our style. Here is the lamp over our table and a close up of the shade.

This Week: In My Kitchen....

This is the menu for this week, thus far.

Tonight: Slow cooker spaghetti with sausage, mushrooms, italian squash, broccoli, and kale. This will be served over whole wheat pasta.

Wednesday: Meat loaf (which I may cook ahead tonight), steamed asparagus, and roasted cheesey potatoes.

Thursday: Hot dogs, compliments of our George Forman Grill. Baked beans, roasted broccoli, and possibly pasta salad.

Friday- Fish tacos/fish sticks. I have fish, and I have taco makings. Don't know if I will combine them yet.

Saturday- Slow cooker bbq chicken sliders, with steamed asparagus.

Valentines Day Weekend

Valentines day has not been an eventful holiday for Jeff and I for a number of years. I don't really like candy, and it's overrated and crowded as far as I am concerned. BUT, the subject of stopping to recognize your signifigent other and your relationship was brought up to me last week and it did make me think: "I wish Jeff would do something nice for me, even if it isn't on Valentines Day. Just something out of the blue."
I brought this to his attention last week, and he did end up doing something really sweet. I woke up Sunday morning to find flowers all over the apartment. He left roses everywhere, and another arrangement of wild flowers on our vanity. He said it's so "there are flowers everywhere I go in the apartment." It was very thoughtful of him. He even made sure to buy matching vases in assorted sizes. It made me giggle.
Other than this, we went to lunch on Saturday and he took me shopping. I am in desperate need of concentrating on my wardrobe again. He has more clothes than I do! I have been putting all my money into decorating, and not into clothes. I ended up with four shirts, a pair of gold ballet flats, and a pea soup colored pea coat that I am in LOVE with! I almost bought it about 3 months ago, but they didn't have my size. The only one they had was too big and not worth $60.00 to be too big. I found it on clearance for $15.00 in my size! It doesn't seem cold enough to wear it anymore, but who cares!?

Revamped my fabric panels

So last thursday night, Jeff had to work late so I was all by myself. After a failed attempt to try Thai food and a bad redbox rental choice, there was only one thing left to do: find something to paint. I have ruled out the lamp shades, because I see those not turning out as I plan. Since I found a painting I liked better than the fabric panels for above the bed, I decided to try and paint on the fabric panels. I had rehung them on another wall, so I figured I didn't have anything to lose.
I was trying to figure out some way to tie in the contemperary nature print of our bedspred with the city theme I seem to have going on throughout the entire apartment. I decided painting a central park-ish scene would do well with that. This is the result:


I was very pleased with how they turned out. I did not end up using the dark brown one, as I wouldn't have been able to carry the black paint over to it. So this concludes my fabric panel dilemma.