A new look for my blog!

Hey all – I am so excited to share that I have updated my blog design and will moving to a slightly easier URL to remember:  www.MyOtherMoreExcitingSelf.com.  (No more super-duper long web URL – yay!)

My turkey recipes will be easier to find, and hopefully so will my agriculture/poultry-related blog posts along with my gardening posts, as well. I’m still doing some tweaking on the new design so bear with me.

And if you’ve subscribed by email to this blog, your email will transfer to the new site, as well. Fingers crossed this will be fairly seamless – as far as web migrations go! 😉

Looking forward to seeing you on the new site! Let me know what you think – I’d love your feedback.

Lara

 

Weekend Snaps | Kid Swap Edition

Another weekend is almost in the books and we spent ours swapping kids.

Come again?

It was fall break in school and Joe was fortunate to be asked by a good friend of his to accompany his family to Lake of the Woods, which is in the far northwest corner of Minnesota – a good six-hour drive from home and darn near into Canada. They left Thursday morning – winter gear, fishing poles, bikes, and video games packed. Joe was excited about his trip!

With Joe gone, Teacher Man and I swapped him out for a couple of days with our niece, Miss Morgan, who is all toddler and just about the cutest little bug-a-boo ever.

I’m sure this won’t come as a shock when I tell you I loaded up my iPhone with photos. 🙂

The first of several #selfies with auntie, of course!

Morgan loves my spice rack on the door of my pantry! I think she could organize and reorganize my spices all day long. 😉

 Another selfie – this time on Friday night while watching Dora the Explorer and having popcorn (Morgan’s first time trying it!) before bedtime. It’s been awhile since Teacher Man and I have watched Dora, but it all came back to us in a hurry!

Here, Morgan was enjoying a cookie and laughing at Earl the Pug, who tried to find the one spot in the porch where he wasn’t in the way of the toddler who doesn’t stop moving!

Another selfie, this one on Saturday morning.

 Another first for Morgan – Play-Doh!

Going for a walk on the path near our house.

We had Morgan Friday night for a sleepover and on Saturday afternoon, her mama (my sister), came over to stay until Sunday. It was a gorgeous fall day so we were outside for awhile, checking out the corn field next to our house.

Here’s Morgan with her “fur brother”, Avery.

I pulled off this mammoth sunflower, which had most of its seeds still intact. So cool!

Of course, quality sister time on a Saturday night means my Cranberry-Pomegranate Cosmopolitans!

Such fun we had with this smiley little girl!

After Morgan left, I was doing some fall garden clean-up and spotted this toad hanging out in my mums, so I took the photo to show Joe.

And late afternoon on Sunday, this guy came back home! Here he is with Lake of the Woods as his backdrop. We missed him, but it sounds like he had an awesome time and even enjoyed eating the fish that was caught. (I’d call that a win for my picky eater!)

Have a great start to your week!

Lara

Fall Colors.

We’re on our way to a hard freeze tonight in Minnesota. I covered a couple of tender plants I want to save, but otherwise the rest will be done. 

It’s been a glorious fall here, although many areas could use more rain. For now, though, I’m simply enjoying the colors of the season. 

Happy weekend, friends!

Lara          

Turkey Tuesday: Best Ever Turkey Meatloaf

Honest truth – I was thinking I wouldn’t have time to do a Turkey Tuesday post this week. I wasn’t prepared, I didn’t have a recipe in mind, I wasn’t even sure I had ingredients on hand.

In other words, welcome to Monday night at my house.

But then my blogger friend Katie over at Pinke Post happened to post a photo on her Facebook page of the bacon-wrapped meatloaf she was making, linking to a Pioneer Woman recipe. This got my wheels turning, and as I looked at that particular recipe, I decided I could do a bit of adapting with a turkey meatloaf recipe I’ve been wanting to try from Jennie-O Turkey Store. And praise be, I had all the ingredients in my kitchen!

Voila! The Best Ever Turkey Meatloaf was born.

I’m not sure if I was literally that hungry, or if the windy, cold weather today gave me a craving for comfort food, but this meatloaf was unbelievable. Tender, flavorful, wrapped in bacon … it’s just about the perfect meal on a cool, damp fall evening. I couldn’t wait until Teacher Man got home so I get his take – and as I suspected, he gave his hearty approval as well.

I actually don’t make meatloaf very often, which is weird since I am pretty much the queen of comfort food. I am about to change my tune, though, and put this into regular rotation this winter. It’s good stuff, I promise you.

Lara

Best Ever Turkey Meatloaf

• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic minced (original recipe calls for 3 cloves but mine were big so I went with 2)
• 1 (20-ounce) package JENNIE-O® Lean Ground Turkey
• ½ cup breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup fresh parsley, minced
• ½ cup ketchup
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• ¾ teaspoon salt, if desired
• 6-8 slices of bacon (I used Hormel Black Label Bacon because that’s what I had in my fridge; you could definitely switch it up with turkey bacon, too)

Sauce:

• 1-1/2 cup Ketchup
• 1/3 cup Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Dry Mustard
• Tabasco To Taste

Heat oven to 350ºF. Melt butter in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer mixture to a large bowl; cool 5 minutes.

Add ground turkey, breadcrumbs, egg, parsley, ¼ cup ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, pepper and salt, if desired to turkey mixture; mix well.

Form the mixture into a loaf shape on a broiler pan, which will allow any excess fat from the bacon to drain. (Genius tip I learned from The Pioneer Woman: line the bottom of the pan with foil to avoid a big mess!)

Make the sauce: add ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, and hot sauce in a mixing bowl. Stir together. Pour 1/3 of the mixture over the top of the bacon. Spread with a spoon.

Bake for 45 minutes, then pour another 1/3 of the sauce over the top. Bake for another 15 minutes or until the internal temperature of meatloaf is well-done, 165ºF as measured by a meat thermometer.

Slice and serve with remaining sauce, if desired.

Adapted from this Jennie-O Turkey Store Recipe

Sauce recipe (and bacon idea) adapted from this Pioneer Woman Recipe

I am part of Jennie-O’s Switch Circle of bloggers, but I do not get paid for my posts. I do receive some complimentary turkey products to try upon occasion. Opinions and topics are entirely my own.

Weekend Snaps | Summer in October?

I’d like one more Sunday tacked on to the weekend. (Pretty please?)

Fine. Be that way. 😉

I guess I’ll just share our weekend in a few snaps and stay in denial about that whole Monday thing coming soon.

Teacher Man decided to re-paint the ceiling in our kitchen / great room area, which meant that my entire collection of red and white enamelware came down off the tops of my kitchen cupboards and got a good scrubbing. These pieces came from antique stores around Minnesota or were gifts to me over the years – I love the history and also how they match my red kitchen cupboards.

While Teacher Man painted on Friday night, I, um, supervised. It’s what I do best. 😉

By far, Joe loves the cookies I bake best – better than any cake or crisp or pie. (How many times have I heard “I’m not really a cake guy, Mom”?!) Today I made my absolute favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe (you can find it here) from the New York Times. I dare you to find a better cookie recipe – these are seriously mouth-wateringly good. Joe had a friend over this afternoon, and even his friend made a point of telling me the cookies were awesome – as he and Joe were in the kitchen grabbing another handful.

This is what I do when I buy a new skirt and I want to show it to my sister – I try on the skirt at home and attempt to take a goofy selfie that includes the skirt. (In other news, Teacher Man and I went shopping together on Saturday and it was a success for all – we came home with new clothes and good deals for all three of us – plus we stopped for a celebratory Saturday #happyhour cocktail. #Winning) 

Temperatures reached the mid-80s today and it was glorious outside! Unfortunately what you don’t see in this photo is the swarm of Asian lady beetles which threatened to ruin the day – they were awful. But if you could ignore the zillions of beetles flying around, you could revel in the fall colors, brilliant blue sky, and one last summer hurrah. (Six years ago yesterday it was snowing, so truly, this is what being blessed is all about.)

I hope you have a great start to the week – see you back here soon!

Lara