The Limit

I've finally reached my limit on being cooped up indoors with several feet of snow outside and several feet of dirty laundry inside. The nasty stomach bug is on the wane--what did we do wrong, God?--and I repeat to myself over and over how lucky I am NOT to be a single parent. What would I do if I had no one to help? I shudder to think.

And once this limit has been reached, I approach near insanity with rapid-fire thoughts about what to clean first, cook first, organize first, throw away first. Of course, because EVERYTHING MUST GET DONE NOW!

Whatever. Truth is, nothing will get done today except some snow shoveling, bathroom cleaning (we've reached critical proportions), and perhaps coffee / hot cocoa drinking at the local coffee shop. For if I create a swirling mass of intensity around myself for the next two days, I will continue screaming at my preschooler for no reason ("How much tape does one person need??!!!"), and telling my poor toddler with a chapped bottom to "Come on, stop whining."

Who is this person? A shadow of my former self. And I blame it all on Old Man Winter and his minions.

And now, as Jon Stewart would say, here is your TBurg Thompsons moment of zen...

Snow on twigs.

Snow leaves.

Ian on top of the world.

Will snarfing snow.

Our lovely abode.

The sun is back there, I swear!

Ian snarfing snow.

Um, maybe they were hungry?!

To Be a Child...

Ah, to be a toddler. The endless curiousity, boundless energy, passionate activity. Complete lack of self-consciousness. Not feeling the need to hold in your feelings. Hugging a lot. Snuggling. Playing...

"Say Freeeezzzzeeee!"

Taking a nap wherever you happen to be, even if it's in the middle of a frozen glacial lake face up on a plastic sled. Yes, that's Ian SLEEPING on the sled. Apparently Nina was pulling him along as Will and she tromped on the ice, chatting up several ice fishermen. Ian started whining, telling her he wanted to "go night night," so she told him he could just rest on the sled. And voila. Amazing.

But at first glance, he does kind of look dead... It was a brutal expedition.

In case you're wondering, this is what we do up here in the frigid north. Take our small children for long walks on frozen lakes when it's a balmy 20 degrees. Hey, the sun's shining, isn't it?

Come on spring, come on.......

Meet the Meat Muffins

What do you do if you want your toddler and preschooler to eat something?

Make it into the shape of a muffin! (Or a pie slice -- more on that in another post.)

Since I'm on a recipe roll, I thought I'd post my (in)famous Turkey Meatloaf Muffin recipe. Or, as we call them in our house, Meat Muffins. Frankly, the best part of this recipe is that I can tweak here and there for a different dish. And it's stupid easy and fast. Also, this recipe started as a bulk recipe for the scratch cafe I used to work at, using 10 lbs of ground turkey. Obviously, I've modified a bit -- but you can still make this into a loaf. It just takes longer to cook.

So without further ado, the recipe:

Turkey Meatloaf Muffins

1 lb ground turkey (80/20 -- pls, don't use the fat-free version. It's no good.)
1 small onion (or ~ 1/2 cup), very small dice
1 garlic clove, minced
1 egg
1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
~ 1 TB Worchestershire sauce
2 TB ketchup
2 tsp salt (I use Kosher salt)*
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 to 1 tsp poultry seasoning

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Saute the onion and garlic in a small amount of olive oil until they're soft and translucent. Cool slightly.
3. In a bowl, combine turkey, breadcrumbs, egg, ketchup, Worchestershire, salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Add onions and garlic, and mix until just combined (don't overmix).
4. Spray the bottoms of a 12 cup muffin pan with Pam spray (precautionary). Plop blobs of meatloaf into cups, trying to evenly distribute. Flatten tops slightly.
5. Cook muffins in oven for 25-30 mins, or until instant read thermometer reads 170 inside a muffin. (In my experience, 25 mins. really does it, since these are pretty small muffins. You'll only fill each cup halfway, if that.)
6. Cool slightly, then remove from cups and rest on paper-towel covered plate to soak up excess liquid (water, fat). Serve with more ketchup and enjoy.

In a hurry: Skip the sauteing and use onion and garlic powder instead. But easy on the garlic powder -- it's got a fake garlicky taste if you use too much. I'd use maybe 1-2 tsp onion powder, and no more than 1/2 tsp garlic powder.

Italian Meatballs: You can sub ground chicken if you want, but not necessary...

• Increase ketchup to 3 TB.
• Leave out the poultry seasoning. Instead, use Italian seasoning, or just dried basil and oregano (easy on the oregano), or basil and parsley.
• Add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese or Romano.
• Grate the onion using a box grater or food processor.
• Increase garlic up to 3 cloves.
• Form small meat balls with your hands (yes, your hands). Brown the meatballs in olive oil on all sides, then finish in the oven for ~ 20 mins. until done.
• Plop meatballs in your favorite pasta sauce and heat through.

* Ok, I'm admitting I have a salt thing. This amount is conservative, folks. I like well-seasoned food, and after working in a restaurant kitchen I like it even more. That said, I've found that the key to cooking ground meat concoctions (e.g. meatloaf, meatballs, hamburgers) is salt -- and sometimes a shockingly large amount of it. With raw meats, you COULD cook a small amount to test and then adjust. Or, you could just do like me, and err on the side of hypertension...