Meatloaf Skillet

Typically when I make meatloaf I do baked potatoes as well, so everything is baked in the oven and it's not much work to get dinner on the table. This is what I do if we have leftovers:

Meatloaf Skillet
Coconut oil
Baked potatoes
Meatloaf
(it all varies on how much is left over)

Heat 3-6 TB coconut oil in a frying pan/skillet on Med-high heat, chop or dice the baked potato and add it to the oil. Let the potatoes get golden brown on one side before stirring them and adding cut up meatloaf. I throw in about 1 tsp. sea salt, but depending on how salty your meatloaf is, you might want to add more or less.
Stir every 3-5 minutes till the potatoes are crispy in parts and meatloaf is heated through.

Sugar Free Challenge

For the month of April we have decided to do a sugar-free challenge.
Ok... now, this is probably a different type of challenge than you are thinking. This is not in favor of artifical sweeteners. This is an anti- refined sweetener challenge. After reading Real Food: What to Eat and Why I can't look at food the same again. She talks about how Americans have so much sugar in our diets and the effects it has on our bodies, in the form of heart disease and cancers, just to name a couple.
So, when Cara at Health, Home and Happiness asked if I wanted to join her in a "sugar free challenge" I heartily agreed. We had been talking about the effects of sugars on our emotional/mental state and I am curious as to how I will feel at the end of a month without sugar.
I brought it up to the family and all agreed to do with, except for Naomi and Titus, who don't really have a choice. :-) The boys were hemming and hawing a bit and I told them that I want them to write their own blog post on the experience so then they all jumped aboard!
The hard part, may be Easter. :-)

A few months ago this would have been too overwhelming for me, but I've been slowing cutting out the sugars we eat, it's in alot of things though, even Corn Flakes have sugar in the ingredient list!

Are you up for the challenge? Please join us!! Please make up your own rules, would you like to cut back on sugar, cook with more honey or maple syrup, try a sugar free week? Do whatever works for your family and please don't overwhelm yourself. This will require alot of effort and self-control.
So, for our rules:
No refined sugars, including: White Sugar, Corn Syrup, High Fructose Corn Syrup and Agave Nectar.
I have let Grandma know and she was ok with it... we'll see how she feels as it gets closer to Easter. ;-)

This is going to take a bit more menu planning for me, I'm going to have to make the boys lunches for a whole month (and not be lazy and allow them to have school lunch *I know! cringe!*)- which means I have to be up on the bread making several times each week. And Naomi's birthday is in the middle of this, so I'm going to see what sort of desert I can come up with without using white sugar.

Please note: if you are planning on doing this, read the ingredient list on your grocery items- not the nutritional list. There are alot of foods that provide natural sugars and so that will be stated on the nutritional list, but is acceptable in this challenge because it is a natural sugar.

Basic Dinner Rolls

I have been learning so much about healthy eating lately and so I changed my roll recipe. Healthier than it was before, but still not as healthy as it could be... a little at a time though. :-)
These take about 1 to 1 1/2 hours total, from the start to taking the last batch out of the oven. It's really a fast roll recipe. You don't have to wait for them to rise. The smaller you make your rolls the faster they bake.

Basic Dinner Rolls
2 c. warm whole milk
2 TB yeast
2 TB honey
1 tsp. salt
1 egg
2 TB butter
2 c. whole wheat flour
2-3 c. white flour
Mix all together in a mixer with a dough hook, adding just enough flour so that the dough no longer sticks to the sides of bowl as it mixes. Let knead for 5 to 10 min. Roll out into desired shape.
Bake at 350˚ for about 20 minutes (for the large rolls like these, if you make them smaller, bake 10-15 minutes, depending on the size. The tops should be a light brown.


So this is what I do: separate into 2 blobs of dough. (I bet there's a more technical term for that...)


Roll out to about a 15" circle. (More or less.)






Cut into pie shape wedges with a pizza cutter.










Start rolling from the wide end of the wedge to make a crescent roll look.








Continue rolling.






Ah, all rolled up!









Place on baking pan.







Put the first batch in the oven, allow the next batch to rise.









Serve warm with butter.

YUM!!