Veggie-Loaded Meatloaf

Here is what we had for dinner last night.  Veggie-Loaded Meatloaf. It was a cool spring day and felt perfect for it. Plus, Mr. Hart had also come home the day before saying we should have a casserole or lasagna or something like that for dinner, but that takes planning. So this is what I planned for the next day.
Meatloaf makes me think of childhood dinners. I never liked meatloaf then. My memories of it consist of not quite done white rice mixed with maybe done meat and lots of ketchup on top. Because of those memories, I hadn't even considered making meatloaf in my adult life until this last year.  A lovely cook friend of mine had our family over for dinner and served us meatloaf.  At first thought I really couldn't believe she would serve that to guests! Turns out, after I explained to the girls what it was, it was really good! Thanks for the inspiration to find a meatloaf that our family loves and I am not embarrassed to serve.
 I usually skip the bread crumbs, which makes it a little crumbly, but also gluten free. It is also great because you can substitute veggies you have on hand and not stick to the exact recipe, which I never stick to.

Veggie-Loaded Meatloaf

1 and 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 egg
3 carrots, peeled and shredded
3 stalks celery with leaves, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 small red or green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 Roma tomato, chopped
¼ cup fresh parsley
1 cup soft bread crumbs
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper

Mix together the meat and egg. Add vegetables and mix well. Stir in bread crumbs, parsley, Parmesan cheese, and seasonings. Mix well

Pack mixture into a 9 by 5 by 3-inch loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 to 1 and1/4 hours. Cool slightly before slicing. Makes six to eight servings.

Coloring Lesson

I never realized that you could actually have lessons on how to color correctly, but that is exactly what our art curriculum starts with! It has mad a large improvement in their coloring abilities. Everyone's very proud of their improvement. Today we talked about coloring things realistically. Ava didn't quite catch that, but that girl LOVES to color. She usually does it neater than her work below, but must have been feeling rushed or something. "You can SHARPEN crayons!" was one of the highlights. Mass crayon sharpening coming during playtime soon!

Happy weekend!

The Help

We had a free movie rental from redbox on Valentine's day and had a hard time finding anything worth while to rent. ie There were no Barbie movies the girls hadn't seen. That meant trying to find an adult show. I'm not much into movies, but had heard The Help was good, although I wanted to read it first. And let me just say, of course it was good, it was a fully written, totally developed book first! I really cannot stop thinking about it. How that kind of injustice and pure meanness was so accepted. AND that it really wasn't that long ago. Really, my house looks just like those in the movie. It could have been in MY house! Which means to me, that these ideas are still prevelant. They surely get passed down. I'm just saying I don't want to be that kind of woman and I want to love people. People like me and people different than me. And I want to be brave enough to call out that ugliness, if I see it.  So, Ladies, we are also shaping our children's hearts, lets make sure they are loving ones!

BTW: I don't any of my readers who aren't loving...probably more than me! So maybe this can be just a suggestion to read or watch The Help :)