recycle mylar balloons as gift sack/wrap!

When you have a celebration & it come to a close, or when you"ve had balloons around the house for a while & they have lost there "juice" the first thought is to pop & toss.
Well ive found a great way to reuse them.
To deflate the air simply make a small snip with a pair of sizzors and squish out all the air. Fold them up & place them with your gift wrapping goodies.

When you need a gift bag or sack for a gift basket, special gift, or an off shaped item thats hard to wrap regularly.
simply cut a slit in the top to of the balloon and split the seem big enough to insert your goodies inside, twist the top & secure with tape/ribbon. Its more sturdy then tissue paper & gives a nice sparkle & design. (Even more great when the balloons have a design or words on them)
You can gift as is, or place inside a gift bag.

You can also cut the entire balloon open if your looking to wrap and not bag.

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meatloaf with bacon

I going to base this on a 2lb loaf. You can add or subtract ingredients as needed, they dont have to be exact. There will als be variations listed.
Cup of milk
Half cup or more of breadcrumbs(you can also use 3-6 whole slices of white bread, allow them to soak in the milk you are using)
Few shakes of parm (grated) cheese
Parsley-optional
2 eggs ( about 1egg per 1-2pounds)
2 pounds meat (hamburg, ground turkey, meatloaf mix,ground chiken, whichever you prefer singlely or in combination)
1 package thin sliced bacon
1 small jar spaghetti sauce ( or ketchup)

Combine meat, milk, bread, eggs, cheese, parsley, and any other optional ingrediants such as sliced onions or garlic in a large bowl. (I leave the onion etc out of the recipee because i do not use it.)
Instead of shaped into the traditional loaf i like to spread my mixture to cover the bottom of a small casserole dish, such as an 8.5x11 or 9x13 cake/baking pan. You optionally my also shape into a loaf and put it onto a broiler rack (has a top layer with holes and a bottom layer to catch grease)
Either way you choose, spread either your sauce or ketchup onto the top of your meat mixture, making a thin even coat. (If using ketchup you may mix in some brown sugar and mustard about a tsp of each)
On top of the meat and ketchup you will layer your bacon in a single layer with sides touching. Depending on the size of the pan/loaf you may need to slice your bacon in half. Thin bacon is better as the thinner it is the better it cooks nd crisps. They bacon is a nice touch and adds more flavor/juice to the loaf.
Preheat oven to 350 and cook about an hour. If needbe at about 45mins slice threw the center to be sure the middle is getting cooked. May require a little more (or less) then an hour depending on the oven, and the thickness.

Best complimented with mashed or baked potatoes. Also works well with a pasta like baked mac n cheese. Leftovers make great sandwhiches or pizza toppings :) You could also sprinkle in a little mozerella or cheedar cheese for a bacon-cheeseburger twist. I also fry up the remaining bacon to use with blts the next day, or in my case bc"s because my kids dont like lettuce & tomatoe. Its a simple grill cheese with bacon inside.

Enjoy!

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