Fruit Salsa with Cinnamin Chip

Oooooh this is a good one people! While I was in Indiana visiting my aunt, uncle, and cousins this summer we had this amazing fruit salsa and cinnamin chips. It was so incredibly good! When my family came for 4th of July we decided we would try and make it all. Boy I'm glad we did! It was GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD! Ya'll have to try this one. YUMMO.

Fruit Salsa:

Really you can take any fruit you want. We used strawberries, rasberries, kiwi, and peaches. I took some of the strawberries and put them in my ultimate chopper (kinda like a mini food processor) and chopped them till they became liquidfied. This was the start of the base for the salsa. Then my wonderful sister chopped some strawberries, rasberries, kiwi, and peaches into bite size tiny little pieces. Stir it all together. We added some splenda and light brown sugar. It was incredible!

Cinnamin Chips:

We bought some flour tortillas, cut them into 6 pieces. Lay them out over your cookie sheet. Put cinnamin and sugar into a shaker. I would use 3 part sugar to 1 part cinnamin. Melt some butter and then baste, heavily, each piece. Shake on, heavily, the cinnamin and sugar. Bake for 6-8 minutes. Take out of oven and then flip chips over with a fork. Baste the 2nd side with butter and shake on cinnamin and sugar again. Bake for another 6-8 minutes. Let cool on a plate.

This is a picture of my family enjoying our fruit salsa and playing chicken foot.

4th Of July Weekend

Well we had my wonderful family at our place for 4th of July. And if my family knows how to do something...it's EAT GOOD FOOD! :-) I have no particular great recipe in this post, but the meal was so yummy and "pretty" I just had to post a picture. It was great! Great food, great conversation, great memories! LOVE YOU FAMILY! (missed you bobby!)

Steak: We generally always use the same marinade for our steaks. This particular steak is a ribeye...which is what I usually buy as they are nice and tender. We marinade them in Worcestershire Sauce, Cavender's, Salt, Pepper, and minced garlic (or garlic powder). I have no measurements we just eyeball it. Rub the steaks with all these ingrediants and let sit in marinade for atleast 4 hours for best results. Grill and ENJOY! (We've tried other marinades, but always go back to this one)

Grilled Veggies: We just chopped up some of our favorite veggies, coated them in olive oil, salt, and pepper and threw them on the grill in a grill pan. Delish!

Sweet Potatoe Hash: I love this one. It's a great alternative to mashed potatoes. Much healthier. You just cut your sweet potatoes into bite size pieces. Chop 1 onion into the same size pieces. Heat your skillet, add olive oil. Throw in potatoes and onion. Add a dash of salt and pepper. Here's the twist...add cinnamin and sugar! I'm telling ya it's wonderful! We always have a cinn/sugar shaker so I just shake it over the mixture and pop a lid on the pan; stirring occasionally until potatoes are soft.

Grilled Pineapple: Just threw some pineapple on skewers and grilled. Makes them nice and sweet.

Melt In Your Mouth Meatloaf

This is a recipe I got from good ole Paula Deen. I just adore Paula and love her recipes. For Christmas my Mom gave me a cookbook called "The Lady & Sons; Savannah Country Cookbook." It's got just a TON of delicious Paula recipes. I love it. I had seen Paula make this meatloaf on her show back when we had cable. And it's in this wonderful cookbook. (I usually cut this recipe in half when making it for Brian, Olivia, and I.

Cheeseburger Meatloaf

2 lbs ground beef (I, of course use the lean stuff)

2 tsp House Seasoning (Paula's "house seasoning" is made up of 1 cup salt, 1/4 cup black pepper, and 1/4 cup garlic powder. Mix well and store in shaker. OR you just just throw in a dash of salt, pepper, and garlic powder which is what I do. :-) )

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped

1 cup grated Chedcar cheese

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1 cup sour cream

1 cup crushed crackers (I use wheat or multigrain)

1 tsp Lawry's Seasoned Salt (off brand is fine)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix all ingredients except bread slices well. Shape into loaf. Place loaf in meatloaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Let set 5 minutes before slicing.

It's soooooo yummy. This is a great recipe to take to people who are in need of a meal. So yummy. Makes GREAT leftovers too. Enjoy.