Ooooooo! That looks good!!

     No matter how good it looks,...trust me,...the "Looks" cannot do it justice as to the way it tastes!! It was SO GOOD!! :-) What is it, you ask?! It's Cottage Pie! I saw it a while back when I was looking at a blog post on the recipe blog Framed.
    I told my girlfriend, who had already planned to make a meal for hubby and I yesterday, that I had a couple of recipes I was itching to try. One being this Cottage Pie. She said: "Let me make it!"...So I didn't fight with her!! LOL 
    I did make the deal with her though, that if she was making it, I would pay for the ingredients!...And she didn't fight with ME! LOL
    Cut to some butter, onions, carrots, tomato paste, ground beef, thyme, pepper, dark beer, flour, russet potato, and some peas later....and wallah!!

     It was absolutely delicious!!
    Now, my girlfriend and I being who we are, couldn't be satisfied to just do ONE recipe! I mean, if you're gonna be doing all that grocery shopping, setting aside the time, and heating up the stove anyway, you might as well make it worth your while!! Might as well make enough food to keep you out of the kitchen for a few days, right?! :-)
     And so....The Pioneer Woman Cooks! recipe for what she calls My Favorite Meatloaf  'to the rescue'!!

     This became recipe number two!!...Ingredients?...Whole milk, bread, ground beef {Yes! we're on a ground beef kick!! LOL}, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper, parsley, eggs, ketchup, brown sugar, dry mustard, Tabasco, and my beloved bacon!!!...Yes!! Yes I did say bacon! :-))

      Before you put this baby in the oven, you wrap it all up with bacon!...Now you know probably why it's the pioneer woman's favorite meatloaf recipe! ^_^ It's definitely got my vote now!!!
    My own favorite meatloaf recipe....before this one...involved crackers and slabs of cheese in the middle of the meatloaf. But now that I've tasted this one....HANDS DOWN, this is now my favorite!!
     And it's not only the bacon that did it for me...although frankly, it was a BIG part of it!...but it was the sauce you mix to put up on top!

      That's what took it over the top for me!!...And to tell you how good it is, my girlfriend doesn't like anything that even has the hint of pepper or hot spicy taste. She never uses black pepper even! But this recipe, that she just wanted to 'Taste"...she loves!! And it has black pepper AND Tabasco sauce in the sauce part!!...That's how good it is! :-)
     All in all, it was a good day to be in a kitchen!! ^_^ Even if I didn't get my Cheesecake out of the deal!

      I wouldn't of had room for it in my belly anyway, after I got through "Tasting" everything!! LOL And Jehovah God knows I didn't need it!! ^_^ I think her sweetness about all of this was enough anyway!
     She deserved a little present...so the next time we cook she can be comfortable. So, remember these?!

      They now belong to her!!

     She loves them. They were so comfortable that when she got ready to leave my house she almost forgot she was wearing them!! LOL They're good, but...Uh....they're not snow proof!! LOL (And yes...we do have tons of the white stuff outside! And a few storms due this week, carrying mostly rain.)...Moving on!
    Hubby wants me to thank all of you for your concerned comments yesterday, and to let you know 'he heard you'!! He's going to try to be a good boy...this time! {Going light on the Meatloaf and Cottage Pie even!! LOL}
    And just as an update....I'm still at it with the purple slouch hat! Here's where I am now...

     I probably could have been a lot further along, but I get bored with it so easily and have to put it down a lot. I don't know what that's all about!! I can crochet non-stop for hours, but the knitting....that's a 'horse of another color', as my granny used to say! ^_^ I'll keep at it though...I'm considering making the finished hat my Giveaway gift for March 1st! :-) {By the way, don't forget to follow this blog and make comments below, in order to be eligible for the always running Giveaways! You can see what the current Giveaway gift is by looking on the right hand side bar and clicking the link.}
     Lastly, a big Woot! Woot! to all of you, here on my blog and on Facebook, for all of your wonderful and supportive comments from yesterday's blog post. It's nice to know I can just 'say what I need to say' in blogland. :-) I already know that, unfortunately, my experiences aren't unique. And I'm also aware that they are things that can make some people who don't like to talk about such things in public, uncomfortable. But I am who I am, and I'm not one for hiding behind words that need to be said. I just try to do it with as much respect and dignity as I can. And I thank you all for understanding.
    Okay, off to do some finishing touches on some reading, some studying for my meeting tonight, some tweeting, some shop checking, and yes...some knitting! :-) What are you doing today?! And do you have plans for the upcoming weekend?!


History Told In A Story

A history of life
held in the mind and heart,
released for all to see
through storytelling's captured art.

Some things pulled from the past
will make you shake your head;
But revelations told
will bring new life from the dead.

Children Oooo! and Awww!
Adults think hard and deep.
Oh! The knowledge now performed,
and the lessons we will keep!