Twice in One Day

I felt the urge to post again today.  I'm feeling pretty bummed about the MIA puppies.  Beagle mama took off into the cold wet woods again this afternoon and I sent Meg to follow her.  Husband came home about that time and went with her.  They came back empty handed again.  After this cold and rainy day, my only hope is that they made it to civilization and were adopted by a family.  Or adopted by a Coyote mama.  I doubt we will find them now.  So I'm bummed.  

On a happier note, our middle-ness cooked dinner tonight almost all by herself.  I used another Johnsonville free Italian sausage coupon courtesy of She Speaks.  We're not really big fans of spaghetti and meatballs but I really love meatballs.  I looked up a recipe on wwwJohnsonville.com and then improvised from there.  Yes I realized that mayonnaise is an odd substitute for egg but sometimes you have to work with what you've got.  My usual egg substitute is applesauce but that didn't go with meatballs.  In the end, the meal was spectacular, especially when you consider it was prepared primarily by a 9 year old.  The only thing she needed help with was browning the meatballs, and only then because the oil was popping up on her.  

Improvised Johnsonville Italian Meatballs

1 pkg. Johnsonville Mild Italian Sausage
1/3 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup mayonnaise (subbed for egg)

In a large bowl, combine the milk and bread crumbs.  Mix well and add mayo.  Add sausage and mix all together well (think meatloaf--use your hands).  Roll into balls.  Brown in a skillet doused with olive oil or any other kind of oil.  Warning--they will brown very quickly and may burn, I think because of the mayo--cook them over LOW heat. 

The Middle-ness served them covered in spaghetti sauce (the pureed veggie kind) and loaded onto hot dog buns for meatball subs.  Marvelous.  She impressed me.

Ugh, it's past my bedtime.  I'm still going to read the book I'm so engrossed in right now, America's Women (see left side).  I'm not a history buff, never have been, even though my husband is a history teacher.  I'm just not a fan.  Amazon recommended this book to me, I don't know why, but I used a gift certificate and bought it.  It's fascinating!  I'm even thinking about taking a woman's history class at the college just for fun.  Of course I learned about the Pilgrims, the Revolutionary War, etc., in school but never once was there a focus on the role of women during the different eras.  This book definitely puts an interesting spin on history.