Notes/Recipe Updates

**Farm fresh eggs!  I finally tracked down a reliable source here, and was relieved to find that it's a handy location about 7 minutes from our house, and the price is HALF of what I'm currently paying for Horizon organic eggs at the grocery store.  After using my parents' fresh eggs all summer, I really grew to appreciate the differences compared to conventional grocery store eggs.  If we had the right land, I would definitely get my own chickens, but I doubt that our current neighbors (30 ft. away) would be thrilled.  Best of all, farm fresh eggs are actually superior nutritionally!  If you need further proof, just check out the rich orange yolk color compared with the otherwise pale conventional eggs:

**I finally tried Nicole's cutie meatloaf cupcake idea last week.  After all that work to surprise the kids, guess who liked the taste best?  You got it - me.  I really liked them.  Actually, I didn't follow that exact recipe, it was kind of a hodge podge of parts due to what I had in the kitchen:  I used the our favorite turkey burger recipe to make the meatloaf, mixed in the sauce from one of our meatloaf recipes, and topped the baked minis with some leftover golden mashed potatoes that I had made earlier in the week trying out my new potato ricer.  They were adorable - thanks so much, Nicole!  PS- If anyone would try these, definitely use foil cupcake liners instead of the paper variety...the silicone cups would be even better.

**Remember Alton Brown's Pancake Mix - a.k.a. "Yellow Pancakes"?  Often requested at our house, these pancakes are super fluffy and taste heavenly, but basically have zero wholesome nutritional value.  I was relieved to hear from my mom that she successfully replaced the white flour with whole wheat white flour with good results.  We tried it out for ourselves this weekend..."Yay! Yellow pancakes!!"  We've now made a permanent change on that recipe.  Try: King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour.