Thanks for the memories

How many of you like to scrapbook?  When I was younger my mom was really into scrapbooking for a few years.  She still has all of the stuff, but with the move to digital cameras we stopped printing as many pictures and it became too much of a hassle to print the pictures and take the time to put them together in a scrapbook.  I'm always telling myself I should print out more pictures.  In fact, I have a ton of empty picture frames in my house that are practically begging me to put something in them.

Recently, the awesome people over at MyMemories contacted me and asked me to review their MyMemories Suite product.  I received a free copy of their software in exchange for my honest review, plus a copy to giveaway to one of my fabulous blog readers, plus a code to share with everyone for $10 off the MyMemories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon to use in the My Memories store.

Are you getting excited yet?

So, what did I think of the software?  I think it's very, very user friendly, and it's pretty easy to customize the layouts to whatever you need or want.  I love that there is the ability to create calendars, and you can easily add text and embellishments to any layout.  I've been playing around with it for a couple days, and I've been having a lot of fun doing a ton of crazy stuff.  The only thing that I don't really love about the software is that they included kits are somewhat limited, and the ones that are really cute you'd have to buy.  But hey, there is a code for $10 off in the store, so you can get at least a couple of kits with that!

Want to see a couple things that I made?  Of course you do.

This is the first thing I made.  It took me like 5 minutes, and it's now my desktop background.  Adorable (and not just because of the people in it)!

I think this could be a really cute Christmas card.

Here is the discount code: STMMMS56384.  Please copy and paste that so you don't accidentally mistype!  I want to make sure you get the discount!

And now, here is what you've been waiting for.  How to enter the giveaway.  I think I'll turn this into another "Get to Know Me" giveaway since it's been a while since I've had a question and answer post, AND I am impatient and accidentally deleted all my old posts so all of the getting to know me posts are gone.  Sad day.  Anyway, this how you can enter the giveaway.

Mandatory:
1. Follow my blog
2. Go to the MyMemories website and tell me in a comment what scrapbook kit is your favorite.
3. Ask me a question.  I'll answer anything you ask me, promise.
Extra entries:
1. Blog about this giveaway.
2. Follow me on twitter (@justagirl623)
3. Tweet about my giveaway, and make sure you mention me.  You can do this once a day.
4. Send people to my blog, make sure they comment on this entry and tell me who sent them.

Make sure you make each entry a separate comment.

Thanks for playing along, y'all.  I'll be back in a couple days with my take on a couple pinterest recipes, plus my adventures in southern cooking.  It's been a fun couple of weeks in my kitchen!

Love you, mean it.

~Just A Girl~

Meatloaf Stuffed Bell Peppers

So growing up, meatloaf was one of my favorite meals.  For me, it didn't get much better than a nice slice of meatloaf with a little bit of ketchup on top, and a heaping spoonful of mashed potatoes with corn (mixed together, of course).  I didn't think there was a way to top traditional meatloaf, so I didn't even try.

Then I met Mr. Geek Squad.  Apparently, traditional meatloaf in his family is stuffed in bell peppers.  I'll be honest, I was pretty skeptical.  But I thought I'd humor him and give it a try, because I'm an awesome girlfriend like that.  I was expecting a big pile of meat on top of mushy bell pepper.  Suffice it to say, my hopes were not too high.

Well ladies and gentlemen, I am telling you right now I was wrong.  I discovered a way to top traditional meatloaf, and I am here to share the secret with you.  Are you excited?

Good.  Let's get started.

Ingredients:

1 lb hamburger

1 egg

2/3 c. oatmeal (approx.)

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/4 small onion, chopped (approx)

Mustard (to taste)

Ketchup (to taste)

Salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste

3 bell peppers (medium sized)

**If you have your own favorite meatloaf recipe, feel free to use that.  You won't hurt my feelings, promise**

Mix hamburger with egg, oatmeal, garlic, onion, ketchup, mustard, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and whatever the heck else you feel like adding into your meatloaf.  Usually I add a little Worcestershire sauce, but Mr. Geek Squad didn't have any and you know what?  I didn't miss it.  Basically, you cannot mess up meatloaf.  Add whatever sounds good to you.  But when you mix it, you must mix it with your hands.  That is mandatory, okay?

Now, it is time to deal with the peppers.  First, group them together so they look all cute and take a picture for your blog.  Oh wait, not everyone plays with their food before they eat it?  Silly me.

Cut those bell peppers in half lengthwise.  Place them in baking dish that you've sprayed with some non stick cooking spray.  My peppers were a little squished in there, but I deal with limited resources at Mr. Geek Squad's house, and being squished in the dish did not affect the flavor at all. 

Split up the meatloaf between the 6 pepper halves.  Make sure the little pepper boats are full, but not TOO full.  If they are too full, the peppers will be less crisp.  I made that mistake the first time I made them.  Bake them in a 350* oven for 30-35 min.  

That's what they look like when they are done.  Delicious, right? Make sure you cut into the middle of the biggest one to ensure the meat is fully cooked.  This isn't steak tartare, okay?

Serve with mashed potatoes and corn.  It's basically mandatory that you eat meatloaf with mashed potatoes and corn.  I'm pretty sure it's a law actually.  Look it up if you don't believe me. 

I hope you all have enjoyed this edition of cooking with Just A Girl.  Please let me know if you try this recipe and what you think of it.  I think it's a nice twist on meatloaf AND stuffed peppers, and honestly I like this a lot better than the traditional stuffed peppers.  Just sayin'.

~Just A Girl~

Fresh Start

Well hello my lovely bloggers.  Long time, no see.  I am doing a major overhaul of my blog (as you can probably see).  This was motivated by me accidentally deleting all my old posts.  My internet was going slow and I was getting impatient and I somehow deleted all posts.  Fail.  That's what I get for not backing them up somewhere, or something like that.

Anyway, I decided I would turn my impatient screw-up into something positive.  I'm going to completely revamp and update my blog.  And I swear to you that I will be writing MUCH more often.  In fact my boyfriend, Mr. Geek Squad (who, btdubs, runs his own blog) has been bugging encouraging me to blog more.  We were making this super awesome delicious home-made pizza for dinner the other day and he was like "WE SHOULD BE TAKING PICTURES FOR YOUR BLOG!"

But we got distracted and ate it again.  Sorry, I'll take pictures next time.  Promise.

So, stay tuned.  It's probably going to take a couple weeks, but things are going to start looking different around Just A Girl headquarters.  Same girl though, so don't worry things aren't changing TOO much.

Love you, mean it.

~Just A Girl~