2 Recipes, Crafts, and Kids in the Kitchen!

2 easy meals - one of them naturally gluten free and one used gluten free bread crumbs to make it GF, so you can just use real bread crumbs if gluten doesn't make you feel CRUMMY!  Ha!  Get it?  :)

Meatloaf- Kids Loved It!: (I made the meatloaf prior to dinner and stuck it in the fridge til I was ready to cook it - you could do this in the morning before leaving for work)

Ingredients:  1 lb ground beef, 1/2 cup GF bread crumbs, 2 T dried minced onions, 1 T dijon mustard, 1 T worcestershire sauce, 1 large egg, 1/2 dried basil, 1/2 t salt, 1/4 t pepper

Glaze: 1 8 oz can tomato sauce, 1 T brown sugar, 1 T worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease meatloaf (loaf) pan.  Using hands combine all ingredients except glaze in bowl.  Combine all glaze ingredients and add half of mixture to meatloaf and mix in.  Press meatloaf mix in pan.  Add other half of glaze to top of meatloaf.  Bake 45 minutes to an hour.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Ham

Ingredients:  1 4 lb bone in ham, 1/4 C dijon mustard, 1/4 C maple syrup, 8 garlic cloves.

Preheat oven to 350.  Lightly score surface of ham using a sharp knife and place on rack in a baking pan.  Whisk mustard into maple syrup until blended.  Brush ham with mixture.  Press garlic cloves into top and side of ham.  Bake 60 minutes or until meat thermometer reads 140 when inserted into center of ham without touching bone.  Remove and let stand covered with foil 30 minutes.  Slice thinly. 

This is such an easy recipe.  I made it with steamed green beans.  I melted butter (microwave - fast!) and mixed it with chopped garlic and poured that over the green beans.  I also baked sweet potatoes.  Literally poke holes in potatoes and stick them in the oven.  They come out so amazing.  And salad - mixed greens, toasted pine nuts, sliced strawberries, and a little balsamic vinagrette.  YUM.

So . . . do you have this steamer?  We steam all of our veggies and it is so easy.  I am including a picture and if you don't already have one I highly recommend it!  Just stick it in a pot.  It will almost reach the bottom, and fill the gap between the pot and the steamer with water.  Put the veggies in the steamer, and cover the pot.  Boil the water and veggies will be steamed within 10 minutes.  Piece of cake!  Here is the pic:

Craft Time!
OK so enough about cooking.  I made a couple of things this week that I was excited about . . . so I had to show you the pics.  :)  You can find all of the instructions for these on pinterest, but if you'd like instructions let me know!  Here are the pics!

Valentines Time!
I did this little baking project with my 5 and 2 year old yesterday and they could both do it.  Fantastic!  I don't know about you but it is hard to find ways for my 2 year old to help in the kitchen.  There are onlyt 3 ingredients needed . . . square pretzels (made some for myeslf with delicious gluten free pretzels), hersheys hugs, and valentines m&ms.  Place hugs on pretzels, place on baking sheet, and bake at 200 for 3 - 4 minutes.  Then add m&m.  The 2 year old could unwrap hugs, place on pretzels, and place m&ms on top.  If you need an activity today on this chilly day - there you go!  The m&ms are probably at a discount today!  I got this idea off pinterest (of course), and here are pics of my kids making them: