How to make Homemade MeatLoaf !

Wondering how to make Meat Loaf ? Well, wait no more ! Ship Shape Mama can tell you how !
So lets start what will you need to make you fantastic meal for yourself or family. Personally, my family loves it. I love to see my son eat mommy's cooking and hear him say yum yum yum lol


Ingredients :

* 1 pound of ground beef
* 1/4 of a medium size onion cut into mince style pieces
* 1/4 of a medium size fresh minced garlic (or 1/2 tablespoon garlic)
* 1/2 cup of saltine crackers or animal crackers ( smashed into small crumbs )
* 1 large egg
* 1/2 of a medium size green pepper cut into small even pieces
* 2 teaspoons of Lawry's all season salt
* 1 cup of pure tomato sauce
* 1/2 cup of mixed vegetables ( type of vegetables are optional )
* 1/4 cup of ketchup
* 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
* 1 can of non-stick spray
* 1 large mixing bowl
* 1 square like baking pan



Okay people ! So lets start by  grabbing our large mixing bowl and adding in our fully thawed out ground beef. Than we are going to set this to the side so we can grab our onion, garlic and green pepper to cut into small even pieces. Once you have diced your vegetables into even pieces, you can go ahead and add this to the bowl of ground beef.


Than your going to add you seasons like your ground pepper and your all purpose Lawry's season salt. Once you have accomplished this. Your going to grab your crackers and put then into a separate bowl or into a napkin folded and start smashing them into pieces with a cup. For example laying your crackers flat and start smashing.


Next, once your complete with this process, your going to throw your crackers into the bowl. After this, crack open you egg and add this to your mixture.


Next your going to add your tomato sauce and 1/8 cup of ketchup. Your going to use the rest of your ketchup later on. By this time, all your ingredients should be added into one large bowl. Your going to next wash your hands and use which ever hand preferred and start hand mixing your mixture of meat very well in your bowl. You want to make sure that everything is mixed properly.


Your going to next set your oven on 400 degrees Fahrenheit, while your oven is per-heating. Your going to grab your square baking like pan and spray it lightly with your non-stick spray. Once you've done that, your next step is adding in your meat loaf mix into the baking pan.


Then, with you hand, your going to even out the meat through out the whole pan.


By this time your oven should have pre-heated, so your going to throw in you meat loaf into the oven for about 30-35 minutes.


After 30-35 minutes have past, your going to check on your meat loaf. It should look pretty close to looking well done. Your going to poke the center with a tooth pick or knife and check the center for pinkness. You should see just a little, like if you only need about 15-20 minutes more.

You can also drain your meat loaf of any excess oil if you used a high in fat ground beef mix, you can take the pan out and slightly drain into a cup or your sink.


So next ! Your going to next going to add the rest of you ketchup on the surface to your meat loaf. You can squirt a design of your own, I usually do an zig-zag line. After this step.


Your going to allow your meat loaf to cook for another additional 15-20 minutes more until its well done to your liking.


By this time, your meat loaf should be ready for consumption !


Dig in, eat up ! And thanks for cooking with Ship Shape Mama !



Bon Appetite !



Thanks for Reading !

How to make homemade Mexican Rice !

Many people give great compliments on how good my Mexican pink rice is. So I decided to let out my cooking secrete and tell people how I make my yummy rice. So lets start what you will need to make this delicious recipe in just 30 minutes !



Ingredients

* 1cup of uncooked rice
* 2 cups of water
* 1 can of tomato sauce ( 1 cup)
* 2 teaspoons of chicken bouillon
* 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil 
* 1 cooking soup pot with lid
* 1 wooden utensil
* 1 teaspoons of freeze dried mince onions ( fresh onion is optional )
* 1 teaspoon of freeze dried mince garlic ( fresh mince garlic optional )



Okay ! ... So lets start by bringing our pot to the stove and adding our vegetable oil in. Turn the stove on and set to medium heat so the oil can heat. Once the oil has heated, add your 1 cup of uncooked rice. Grab your wooden spoon and mix generously into the heated oil. We want the rice to cook a little bit until you see about 10 percent of the rice golden brown.

Once you established that the rice is fried just a little. Your going to add 2 cups of clean fresh water to the pot, mix well. Now, while the water is heating. Pop open your can of tomato sauce and poor into a separate bowl.

Next, your going to add your mince onion,garlic and your chicken bourbon. .... So Why? are we doing this instead of throwing all the ingredients in to the cooking pot. Well, we want to make sure that the chicken bourbon has correctly broken down and dissolved because if we through it in the cooking pot. This might cause someone to over mixing the rice, while trying to see if the chicken bourbon dissolved correctly.

Over  mixing rice can cause soggy rice ! Eww ! No bueno !

Once you made sure your tomato sauce has mixed well with the other added ingredients. Your going to next add your sauce to the pot. By then, your water should have heated but not boiled to the point you see bubbles rising. Your going to mix your sauce clock wise or counter clock-wise about 4 times so your sauce has mixed well with the water and rice.

Next your going to cover your pot with your pots lid and let heat for about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes has past your going to stir once more about 4 times again like you did before. Once you've done that, your going to keep the lid on the pot for 20 minutes on medium heat. If your stove has a dial that reaches 6, leave it on 3 or between 2-3. Over heated the pot can cause over cooking of the rice and the water evaporating to quickly before the rice gets a chance to soften.

After 20 minutes has past, check on your rice by softly tapping the surface with your wood spoon to see if it has soften. If you feel your rice needs to be a little softer, keep your lid on so the rice can steam. Be sure to check the side of the pot where the rice is on the edge, so you can see if you havent burned the rice.

If your rice just needs a little for softening but does not need more time on the stove. One trick is to crank up the stoves heat and let the steam rise with the lid on for a couple of seconds. Once steam has appeared. turn off the stove and remove the pot of rice from the stove to the side and let the steam sit inside the closed pot for 10 minutes. This can reassure than your rice has not burned and it can soften your rice perfectly.

Next, your rice should be perfect and ready to eat !

Dig in !

Thanks for reading !

Holy Moly ! Thats a Great Price for All Natural Baby Food !

Do you Have a Baby ? ... Do you want nothing for the best for him or her when it comes to Nutrition ?


Well if you noticed that baby food that is, all natural or in other words organic. It can be pretty pricey and when your baby gets a healthy apatite, that can also get pricey.

Some of the best baby foods on the stores shelf is Gerber, Beech Nut and Organics. But just for each of them a single 2 pack can cost a $1.50 and that's expensive compare to the leading store brands that offer the same amount for only a $1 a pack...but Wait no longer ! There is a better price out there that is much better in price and nutrition.

Most baby foods that are packed in plastic containers are high in sugar because it helps preserve the food much longer, giving it a longer shelf life. And anything in a can has high in sodium which is not good at all for a baby .

So to get the best food, that is closer to its natural state is organic food. But that's the most expensive of all and its usually Beech Nut that is nutritious.

At your local Big Lots store, there is Now Baby Food...and not only that. It is Beech Nut ! Usually one single jar is a dollar ! But at Big Lots you can receive 1 jar for 30 cents ! Holy Moly !...so for less than a $1..you can receive 3 jars for only 90 cents.

If you need diapers, wipes that are name brand and cheap in price...look no further ! Big Lots is the store that caries Pampers and Huggies.

And No !.. People!.. there is no catch and it is not going bad either. Sometimes stores like Target and Walmart get over stocked and have to sell there products at smaller local stores like Big lots. So go ahead and Google your local store and take a look see. Your baby will thank you for the great nutrition and your pocket wont burn a whole in your pants !



Thanks for Reading ! Muah ! ;)

How to make homemade Pinto Beans in 1 day !

 Okay, let me tell you how to make home made Pinto Beans. This process is usually takes two days but I can show you how to make it in 3 hours ! ... And No ! these are not magical beans ! lol

So lets start by listing what you will need, for starters you will need patience lol

Ingredients:

2 cups of dried pinto beans
1 large bowl
1 measuring cup
2 teaspoons of Kosher salt (adding more salt later is optional once cooked)
1/2-1 tablespoon of dried mince garlic
1 tablespoon of dried mince onion
1 large sauce pot with pot lid
1 good sturdy bean smasher and a medium/large wooden spoon
1 cup of milk (maybe optional)



Lets start ! Open your bag of pinto beans and measure 2 cups of beans to pour into a bowl. After your going to add 2-3 cups of cold water into your bowl so you can soak and rinse your beans for 4 minutes. While doing this, boil 7-8 cups of water in your large sauce pot on medium to high temperature.

When your your done rinsing your beans, drain your beans of any excess water. Next, check on your pot of boiling water, it is important to make sure that the water is boiling to the point you can see bubbles rising. Once you have checked and made certain your water is boiling, you can add your pinto beans.

Boil your beans for approximately 5 minutes ! No more than that. After 5 minutes has past, remove your pot from heat and cover your pot with a secure lid.

Now here comes the waiting game, you have to let your beans sit with a cover pot of course for 1 hour to soak.

After 1 hour has past, your beans should look a little soften and enlarged but yet still firm. Your going to drain your beans again and pour again into your bowl you had prior.

Next your going to measure 7-8 cups of water and to bring to boil in your large sauce pot. We have to make sure once again that our water is boiling like before. While your water in boiling, quickly rinse your beans again in 2 cups of room temperature water. Do not let your beans soak in cool water, we want this done quickly.

Now check your boiling water, once you have made sure its boiling. Add your pinto beans and stir gently with you wooden spoon or utensil. Cover your boiling beans with your pot lid and let your beans simmer on medium temperature for 1 1/2 - 2 hours. You may have to stir 3-4 times while your beans are cooking so they do not get stuck to each other or stuck on the pot.

So after a long wait ! lol your beans should look nicely plumped and soft. Now, here comes a little elbow grease. Your going to get your bean smasher, set your pot on low tempt and start smashing. You may develop your own smashing routine and that's perfectly fine ! Kudos ;-)

When your beans are almost smashed completely, you can add your freeze dried mince garlic and onions. Than your salt, if your beans look a little dry or too thick. This is when you add your cup of milk. This is how you get creamy smashed pinto beans.

Once you've added your ingredients, continue smashing until its the way you prefer your beans to be.  Creamy or thick, its your beans and its optional. Continue to heat on low temperature for 5-10 mins and presto ! Your long mission of cooking home made pinto beans is complete! If you feel your beans need more salt, go ahead and add more to your liking. ;-)


Great Job ! And Cool Beans ! lol

Thanks for reading !

Wow ! Thats a Bargain on 2 pairs of Shoes !

Wow ! I got one heck of a bargain at PayLess shoe store !

Now every couple weeks Payless has a fantastic shoe sale. They usually have a BOGO sale, which is buy one and get the other half off of equal or lesser value. Well, my son has been growing pretty fast and it was time to buy the little man some new shoes as well myself.  Just two days prior of the shoe sale, I went shopping around to compare prices of children apparel. And I found these cute Sponge Bob shoes that light up when you walk and these pair of shoes where the ones with the straps, not the one with long shoe laces that cause some kids to trip over. But unfortunately at that time the cute pair of shoes where a whopping $ 22.99! ..I don't know how other parents shop but that was way to much for a two year old pair of shoes. And the shoes I had my eye on were the same exact price as well. I definitely left the store disappointed on the prices because I always thought Payless had affordable shoes, but I was soon to be mistaken.


The day I heard about the shoe sale was on a weekend, the moment I heard. I got myself and my son showered and ready in the morning to finally get his shoes. At the time, I was just thinking I would only buy him shoes but when I arrived at the store and went searching for his shoes and the shoes I had in mind for myself. I was stunned to find that they went on sale for a dramatic price of 7$ for my sons shoes and 8$ for mine. Wow !


I could not believe my eyes, I had to buy them with the great sale going on. So of course my son being the cheaper pair, his shoes was slashed in half by 50% ! His $22.99 shoes came out to $3.50 OMG ! Of course I paid full price fore my shoes but lets not forget. My shoes where the same price and brought down to $8.


So to make a long story short,  I received two pairs of shoes priced at 45 dollars in total several days prior for 12 $...sorry to repeat but Wow ! I saved 33 dollars, that is amazing !

I recommend anyone to take a drive down to Payless to check out their fantastic deals.

Thanks for reading !

How to make homemade Hamburger helper !

How to make home made Hamburger Helper ShipShapeMama style! lol

Now, I'm the type of person that I believe you don't have to make food from out of a box, food is much nutritious when you cook all your ingredients fresh !

Now lets start what ingredients you will need!

* 1 whole garlic clove or 1 tablespoon freeze dried minced garlic
* 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
* 2 teaspoons of Lawry's all purpose season
* 1 cup of mix vegetables/ variety is optional (can veg. optional)
* 4 medium potatoes or 3 large
* 1/4 of a onion or 2 tablespoon of freeze dried mince onion
* 2 pounds of ground beef
* 1 Large soup pot / wooden spoon

                        est cook time : 40min-1 hour cook time !


Now for the cooking part, lets start by finding a suitable pot to cook in. I prefer a large sauce like pan because its perfect to fry and steam potatoes. Lets preheat our sauce pan on medium, what is medium? Turn your dial on your stove to the center. If you dial is like mine, it goes to 6. So I would set it to 3 for medium. Wait until your pan gets warm enough before adding in your ground beef. You don't want to add your meat to a cold pan. why? Well, a cooking pan must be evenly heated to evenly cook food inside of it. If your pan is unevenly heated, some bits and pieces of food like potatoes will not cook properly.

Okay ! ..When your pot is nice and warm, add your meat. While your meat is slowly cooking, this is a opportunity to skin your potatoes and dice them up into even pieces. This is important because if you have bits of potato bigger than others, your food will not cook evenly. You can end up with over cooked bits of potato with under cook ones. I would suggest to cut your potato in half and than cut the half's into half's again, you should end up with four pieces from one potato. From there you can cut your four piece pretty easily and evenly. Now make sure you check on your meat while slicing and dicing.

Be sure not to cook your meat all the way through, we only wanted cooked half way. Meaning, you should still see pink or redness in your meat.The time your done cutting your potatoes, your meat should be cooked half way. So, this is the time to add you diced potatoes. Be sure to mix your meat and papas well in your pot once you added them. Cover you pot with your lid so it can steam for a few minutes.

While your meat and potatoes are steaming, this is the time to dice up your fresh onion and garlic clove. Be sure again that they are cut evenly ! But if your deciding to use freeze dried garlic and onions, this is fine and good because you know already they are cut evenly.

After your done cutting up your onion and garlic, check on your meat. You should still see pink and remember your heat temperature should still be set to medium.

You next step after checking you meat will be to add your Lawry's all purpose season, black pepper(amount optional), mince onion and garlic. Be certain that once you have added your seasons, to stir your mixture properly. Never cut into the meat with your cooking utensil, be sure to gently start by swiping your cooking tool by sliding it through the walls of your pot and work your way to the center. You don't want to mash up your potatoes because you will end up with soggy mashed up food in fatty oil. Eww ! lol Be gentle with your food !

Now for the important part, once you mixed your mixture well. Cover it again with your lid to the pot and let steam for 6 more minutes. Its important to have the lid closed properly for this process.

After 6 minutes have past, check on your mixture. Your potatoes should be cooked half way through, which means the outside potato bits maybe a little soft but still slightly firm in the center. When you have made sure you are on track cooking, this is the best time to add your frozen/can mix vegetables in your mixture.

If you are wondering why we add our vegetables last..its because they cook very fast and sometimes your store bought vegetables might of been cooked before but just not all the way through.

Once you have added your last ingredient, be sure to mix your mixture well.. but remember ! Gentling mix, so your potatoes do not fall apart. Cover your pot once again and let steam for another 10 minutes. You can slightly turn up the heat at this point but this is optional. Some stoves get hotter than others and gas stoves cook faster than electric stoves. I'm working with a electric stove.

After you 10 minutes have past, your food should be ready ! Be sure to check that your potatoes are cooked all the way through, if not..steam for another 5 minutes. Once your food has finished cooking, this is the most important part in my opinion to reduce the fat.

Be sure to drain your food from excess oil from the pot, do it while your food is still warm and not cooled. When oil cools, it sticks to your food and maybe hard to remove. You can drain the fat from your meat by keeping the lid on the pot and carry your pot to the sink and slowly tip your pot to drain the fat. I keep the lid on while doing this so my food does not spill out into the sink. lol

Once you have done this, you are ready to eat !

Now you may ask your self, what can I eat with this? Well, I enjoy eating 2 tbsp of light sour cream with mine with 2-3 small corn tortillas.  Yummy !



Bonn Appetite !
Thanks for reading !

New ! Printable Coupons !

 New Printable Coupons !

Help Support Ship Shape Mama !

Thank you for Coupon.com for accepting my application to join our new partnership!

 Look up on your left top hand comer and you will see a coupon tab next to the home tab and see instant coupon savings !

Groceries!

Baby food !

Medicine !

and More !.......


Thank you for your support ;-)

Planning a Last Minute Birthday party without burning a hole in Your Pocket ! ;)

So today is my son's birthday, he has turned 2 years old. Wow! time has past ! I had some high and lows with in the coming weeks before my son's birthday weekend. Money was tight but I had to do something for my baby, hes not turn this age ever again and I knew that I could manage to to plan something on short notice. My sisters good friend shared with me about two weeks prior with the thought of maybe Chuck E Cheese was a good spot to celebrate. But I will honestly admit that the few Chuck E Cheese's I have been to has been a horrible in my experiences, torn down looking business with messes in countless areas inside.

But! I found one that was the opposite of all my experiences, in the city of La Mirada. It was about a 40 min drive and traffic sucked but it was well worth the experience. I booked a reservation in advance. It was optional, I could of grabbed a free table but I was coming on a Friday and that would mean I would have to come hours in advance to hold down a table. That was way to much for me, especially with the birthday boy with me waiting for everyone's arrival. And I had a long day at school earlier that day...lol

So reserved 4 kids and 4 adults ...the package consisted..


STAR Package $12.99 Per Child

• 2 hours of reserved table space
• Ticket Blaster experience for the Birthday child
• Medallion for the Birthday child
• Inflatable crown with 8 tokens for the Birthday child
• Chuck E. Air-walker 3ft balloon for the Birthday child
• Star recognition in our Birthday show
• 20 tokens per child
• Soft drinks with free refills per child
• 2 Slices of one-topping pizza per child
• Festive tablecloth and plate-ware
• Party host/hostess
• Email invitations powered by Evite

And to top off all that, I got a limited time offer by receiving a Bonus 100 tokens for booking the party on a Friday and I also had a birthday coupon for 20 free tokens. Let me just say 4o tokens can cost 15-20 dollars and tokens go fast. lol And ...lol I had a party hostess specificly for my part. She was awesome, she threw in 4 extra cups to my package and a scoop of ice cream with 2 lit candles on top ;-)

Now I thought when I would receive pizza slices per child...it was specifically for kids, but nope ! I received my eight slices in a whole large pizza and my drinks+ bonus drinks where unlimited refill. Yay !

So again, my party package came with a crown, medallion, tokens, plus 120 free tokens(40+dollar value) a child life size chuck-e balloon and ice cream..etc

All this came to 55 dollars with tax... I cant believe I reserved 8 seats, got large pizza, 8 cups of soda and all the tokens I received for free with coupons that you can receive online or in your local newspaper. lol


The birthday cake was added at the end ! Thanks to my sister Angie, for buying my sons birthday cake. Thanks sis ! ;-) It was a lil korny , but hey we had fun! Oh, dont let me forget that our 2 hour reservation at our seats were free for the rest of the night. So my 2 hour stay got pushed to me staying 3 hrs...lol Another bonus lol

And to add, the tokens spent on games won my son 2 toys! My son was running around like a wild child, with sugar from his cake in his system lol He had a blast !



thanx for reading ! ;)

How to make a scrabbled egg sandwich !

Hey everyone, so I thought it would be a good idea to put up a cook menu. Nothing big just something I might start small cooking ideas for easy recipes to do at home.. So here goes....

Simple Egg Sandwich

2-3 medium egg
1/2 teaspoon of mince onion
1/4 teaspoon of freeze dried mince garlic(optional)
pinch of black pepper
1/3 cup of milk
1/2 teaspoon of dried or fresh parsley(optional)
shredded cheddar cheese or 1-2 slices
2 bread slices

Now when I making eggs, I like to add milk to my scrabble egg mixture. About three shakes of the mince onion bottle. That's about half a tablespoon. I like allot of black pepper so add as much as you desired. Now, with freeze dried garlic and parsley. It might sound a little too much but you can easily go to your local 99 cent store or BigLots store and find name brand seasons that have the cost marked down by half. If your familiar with some season like I am, you know Weber and McCormick are kinda pricey for such a small bottle of season that weighs very little..lol;-)

Now add all these things together in a mix, heat your medium size pan on medium heat or set your dial to the center. Make sure you heat your pan before adding your scrabble egg, I usually use Pam non-stick spray but every now and than I will put half a teaspoon of real un-salted butter. Melt the butter in the pan, throw in your egg mix. Before you start to scrabble your egg, wait until the egg heats to the point you can see slight bubbles rising from the center. Start scrabble by sliding your cooking utensiel along the edge of your pan and than work your way towards the center. When the the egg is about 4 minute in cooking time, I like to add some cheese. I continue to scrabble the cheese in to assure it is well mixed with the eggs. Continue to cook for about 5 minutes and your set to go..

While your eggs are cooling, that's when I toast my bread. Fresh bread is also optional, I usually choose a low calorie bread like Wonder bread. Now, sometimes I add a little mayo on my bread but I learned to eat my sandwich without it because I weigh out the thought that I will add ketchup. I also weigh out, that I will add another slice cheese to my sandwich...

When its all put together, it should look a little like this..



thanks for reading ... ;-)

Coming Soon !

Coming soon! Some of my homemade recipes that help me keep in shape. Recipes that you can easily make your self at home. ;-)

Its been awhile..But Im back ! ;-)

Its been almost three weeks since my last post but several things have come in my way. I first got sick , had flu like symptoms for over a week. I had stopped all of my yoga exercise routine and my nutrition suffered because I really cant eat when Im sick. I did not go out to adventure all grocery and pharmacy stores for deals. So I did not do my extreme couponing trip, like I usually do every week or two. It was for sure a long two and half weeks for me. I also had concern that I wouldn't be well enough to drive because I had to get my niece a birthday gift. I had gray clouds ;-( lol A friend of mine that I called for help, did me the favor of taking me to my doctors appointment and even took me to Target for my first outing in days lol I had to know what deals where out lol. Thanks again buddy ;-)

But now I'm slowly getting better, not as fast as I anticipated but I guess we experience a long flu sometime or another. lol So has soon has I had enough energy to go out shopping again, I did. ;-) I went to two local target stores and I walked through the isle for sales. I kept mental memory for the things I personally know I would purchase if I came back. So out the two stores, I chose my finale store. And had a very successful extreme shopping trip. First let me share the following steps I have taken to have a successful trip. Of course, checking the stores deals outside. Checking for online Target coupons and checking for any deals that may not be advertised in store but online. I than checked for manufacture coupons online and matched them to my Target ones. This is what you call stacking coupons, using manufacture and in-store coupons on one item. Double the savings lol Target fortunately had clothing coupons for men,woman and children this week.

For only 80 dollars ;-) I got two pairs of juniors denim jeans, three children clothing items,2 pack of caprise juice,office supplies,2 Gatorade's, 2 teddy graham boxes,two digiorno pizzas with bread sticks in each box, 2 TV dinners,4 puree baby food packs, gift bag, half gallon of milk, 4 red plums, 1 bottle of ketchup, children's white board and marker/eraser dollar section pack lol and for the grand finally ! A purse for 7 dollars priced originally for 30 dollars a week and a half ago at Target. Hurray ;-)



This week I was on a 100 dollar budget for my outing. So with 20 dollars left I treated my friend to Souplantaion with of course a buy one get one free breakfast meal and drinks included coupon. My friend and I plus my son ate for only 15 dollars at a buffet and originally without a coupon it would of cost 30 dollars plus tax. And with 5 dollars remaining...a number one at McDonald's was purchased lol nam nam yum lol Hurray what a successful trip in deed ;-)

Thanks for reading ;-)