Category: Savor Each Second

Don’t you just love fall?  I always think that summer is my favorite season and then comes fall!  I love the cooler weather and an excuse to break out my comfy sweatpants or wrap up in a blanket.  I also love my crockpot in the fall.  Things get pretty crazy around my house when school starts and I usually feel like I have been hit by a bus by the time I mosey on into the house.  I love cooking and it seems to make me feel good when I can set a hot plate in front of my man after a long day.  After dealing with 26 second graders all day, I do not always have the energy to slave over a hot stove when I get home.  This is why I love my crockpot!  Throw everything in and forget about it until it is time to eat…I think so!

I have been in the mood for trying some new recipes lately.  Usually I have good luck browsing Pinterest and adapting recipes the way I think would be good.  Last week, I tried a butternut squash soup that sounded amazing!  Then after it was finished,  it was what my fellow pinners and I would consider a Pinterest Fail.  Luckily the crockpot meatloaf I made turned out even better than I ever imagined!  If you are looking for a mouthwatering meatloaf, you better check this one out!  It was juicy and full of flavor!  I am excited for leftovers!

Loaf Ingredients:

2 eggs
2/3 c milk
1/4 c ketchup
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
2/3 c breadcrumbs
1/4 c brown sugar
2 tablespoons parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried majoram
salt & pepper
2 stalks celery, diced
1 large onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced

Sauce Ingredients:
1 c ketchup
1/2 c brown sugar
1/3 c Worcester Sauce
1/8 c red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

Whisk together eggs, milk, and Dijon mustard. Add breadcrumbs and let sit while you mix up the meat mixture. In a large bowl, combine onion, garlic, celery, parsley, thyme, majoram, salt & pepper to taste. Add the ground pork and ground beef and mix thoroughly with hands. After meat mixture is combined, add the egg mixture and finish mixing.

Place meat mixture in a large crockpot in a loaf shape. In a small bowl, whisk together ketchup, brown sugar, Worcester Sauce, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, and cayenne pepper. Pour sauce over loaf and cook on low for at least 6 hours.

 

 

 

 

 

I decided that it was time to get busy on my blog.  Now that conferences and grade cards are over, I will hopefully have the time/energy to get back in the studio and get to crafting and blogging!  I was making a list of blog posts that I just need to sit down and type up.  I realized that I have not done a post on my trip to the Dominican Republic!  We went for my 30th birthday and it was AMAZING!  I wish we were there right now!

Alex’s cousin Mike and his wife Stephane came with us on vacation and we had so much fun!  It was the first time they had left their little girl for such a long time.  I had a hard time missing my pups, so I sort of knew what they were going through.  We stayed pretty busy doing excursions, eating, and had our fair share of adult beverages!  We decided that this would have to become a tradition because we had such a great time!

I wish we would have gotten pictures of the very first night we got there.  It looked as if it were going to rain at any moment and we didn’t want to get our cameras wet and ruined the first night of vacation, so we left them in the rooms.  Our phones didn’t even have service, so there was no reason to risk getting them wet.  So we headed out to the beach after a delicious dinner and walked the beach.  It was beautiful, the weather was amazing and we couldn’t believe we were in the Caribbean!  We stumbled upon the most amazing beach party.  There was a DJ and these light-up cubes for seating on the sandy beach.   They were serving luscious frozen drinks in coconuts and pineapples.

Mike got the party going by convincing the rest of us that we needed to start the party.  We were just glad to be off that plane and on the beach so we said, “What the hell!” and started to dance the night away!  And soon enough…more and more people started filling in the empty spots on the beach dance floor and we were all having the best time!  It was so much fun just letting loose with Alex that night.  It is a memory that I will never forget!  Can I please tell you what a workout that was?  It did not take too long before your calves were burning!  We danced the night away!  The party ended with a pretty intense game of limbo!  Check out the slideshow for more pictures from our trip!

I did manage to grab a ziplock full of shells and sand for a project when I got home!  I was not sure what exactly I was going to do with it, but I figured it out!  I kept seeing pins for vases with layers of sand that I thought would be fun to make.  Every time you go to a beach, collect some sand and you can layer it!  I guess that gives us an excuse to go somewhere tropical again!  I kept my eyes peeled for the perfect vase, but when I was at Goodwill, I found the PERFECT glass jug.  It only cost me $1.49!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I keep seeing all of these cute anchor charts on Pinterest and I tend to over look them because I never have chart paper for them.  I was starring at my math bulletin the other day and was debating on what I could do to it to make it more interactive in my classroom.  As I was browsing Pinterest, it hit me!  Why do I need chart paper when I have gigantic rolls at my disposal right there at school!  I decided to place an extra sheet on top of my bulletin that I could write on with marker and leave up during that unit!  Then when it is time to start a new unit, I can rip it off and put up a new one!

This actually turned out better than I thought it was going to.  About 5 minutes after we did this anchor chart, I moved to the front of the room and was working on some guided problems together.  I remember one of my sweet little girls shouting out, “Ms. Nuckles!  That is STANDARD form!”  It was such an ah-ha moment!  We had a lot of fun and the kids seem to be using it to help them while answering questions that I ask them throughout the lesson.  We have a couple more days of place value, but I am excited to start planning my next one!

 

 

 

I had a pretty productive Sunday.  Got some housework done and lounged around with Alex for awhile.  It was a pretty relaxing day. Alex was glued to the tube watching  and it gave me a chance to get some stuff done.  I have been thinking a lot about my blog and how much I miss getting blog posts in.  I feel like I am constantly doing cooking new recipes and doing projects that I plan on blogging on, but I have been so exhausted by the time I get home. I have a hard time getting motivated to work on my blog.  So tonight I made wings and came straight upstairs after dinner to get my post done!  Here I am!

When Alex and I first started dating, we spent many nights at Buffalo Wild Wings because we both love chicken wings!  Alex makes some killer wings on our Traeger Grill.  If you have a Traeger and you haven’t ever smoked wings on it, do yourself a favor and try out this recipe.  I think we have been to Buffalo Wild Wings less then 3 times since we started smoking our own wings at home.  The ones we make are so much better, and even better FOR you as they are not fried in grease.  Alex had me pick up some wings for dinner tonight.  Since he was enjoying his Sunday football, I decided to take a stab at them and make my man some delicious wings!  They were so easy and they were even Alex-approved!

Ingredients:

Chicken Wings

McCormick Grill Mates Pork Rub

Olive Oil

Frank’s Red Hot Wings Sauce

Salt & Pepper

Directions: