HOT with a chance of meatballs

I promise I'll hush about the heat here before too long but geez it is almost unbearable. I think it's the heat + humidity that makes it so bad. Vegas may be just as bad but man, that desert makes for no humidity and good hair days so it doesn't feel nearly as bad...

Anyhow, off my tangent. It's 12:35 a.m. here and I'm doing laundry. Yes, laundry. I'm uploading about a million pictures of Grace's resells to my other blog (everything should be up in the next couple of days). I figure I might as well make good use of my time.

Here are two things you probably don't know about me:

1. I like doing laundry. Weird, I know. Folding - not so much. I can't stand to let it pile up and I have to do it a certain way (OCD ?) so I have to get to it before the sweet hubs gets to it first with his all-in-one method :) I even like ironing...

2. I don't like touching uncooked meat, poultry either. YUCK! Necessary evil. I realllllly don't like to touch ground beef. Makes me squirm thinking about it.

So.......what to do, what to do. We were having meatballs & mashed potatoes for dinner, inspired by THIS recipe. So....I enlisted the help of a certain little someone who loves to help me cook! HA! Perfect! For the record, no child labor here, I dug into that bowl right alongside her.

I let her crack the eggs - which she loves - and she asked me, "What kind of cupcakes are these?" Bless her heart. I guess we bake
A LOT around here! Bread crumbs in and we're ready to mix, mix, mix. First with a spoon, but not for long... When making meatballs you gotta dig right in! This was her first time to help with meat and I LOVE her expressions. Check out Miss Priss touching the meat...maybe she really is a mini me after all! Sticky, Squishy, Messy...but Oh, so much fun! Best of all was seeing the joy on her face as she tried this new experience. My dear Aunt Dima, who is in Heaven now, taught me how to make meatballs and lasagna (I must have not had my meat phobia back then because I begged her to let me make meatballs at least once a week...and she did). She would be so proud of the little pumpkin today! BAM!...while we were making meatballs, another {sneaky} little chef was banging pots and pans so loud he'd make Emeril proud! And one last thing...
If you have a thing about beef like I do, sorry for all the yucky uncooked ground beef close-ups! :)