Meatloaf is something I remember as a child from old American TV programmes. I never had it myself until I was a grown up. One day I was wondering what to do with this pound of mince that was in my fridge, and I decided to make meatloaf with it. It was good, so I made it again.

I have tweaked the recipe a lot in the past few years, and now my meatloaf is pretty darned tasty. 
So here I am, sharing it with you. Meatloaf is really easy to make, and you only really need one big bowl and one loaf pan or whatever you call those things you make bread in.

So, first off, get a bowl.  A big enough bowl so that when you're stirring your ingredients together they don't all start falling out of the bowl, because that gets really annoying. 

Put 1lb of mince in the bowl. I always use organic lean steak mince. That's not me bragging or flashing the cash, I just think it tastes a lot better, and it's nicer for the cow if it had a good life. If you can only afford the cheap fatty stuff, no worries. With lots of flavoursome herbs and spices, your meatloaf will turn out grand.
 
Some recipes call for sausage meat, and if you want to add in some sausage meat, then please, feel free, you'll get no judgement from me. I have added sausage meat before, and it is good. Try about 50g of it.

I usually put in some bacon instead though, I find it much nicer. Just chop up a few rashers, or put in some pancetta bits. 

A small or medium egg is required to bind everything together. So crack one in there. 

Sprinkle in about two teaspoons of Rosemary, and a teaspoon of Sage. Rosemary is delicious with beef. If you don't have Rosemary or Sage just put in some mixed herbs, or whatever you fancy. 

Sprinkle in about a teaspoon of Paprika, and half a teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper. Grind in some salt and black pepper also, to your liking.

Plop in some tomato puree, maybe about a tablespoon or a little more.

You also need an onion and some garlic. One small onion should do, unless you really love onion, then put in a big one I suppose! Chop the onion up into tiny pieces and throw it in the bowl. Crush two or three garlic cloves and add them too.

You're supposed to put in breadcrumbs, about 100g. I never do, because I don't eat bread. But if you want breadcrumbs, you know what to do. They help to hold it together I think. My meatloaf falls apart a lot.

Now, the best bit. Cheese... I don't know how much cheese I put in, but I just grate in a load of Parmesan, or Cheddar if I have no Parmesan. Or both if I feel like grating two types of cheese...
So I'm going to guess 50g of cheese. You can add no cheese if you're not really into it, or more cheese if that doesn't seem like enough. 

That's pretty much it for the ingredients. You have them all in the bowl. Now mix them together. You can use a spoon, or your hands if you like squishing things up with your hands. I know some people are into that.

When it's all mixed together just grease your loaf tin with a bit of butter or olive oil, and put the mixture into it. Squash it down with your spoon. Some recipes say to sprinkle breadcrumbs on top too, so if you want to try that you can.

Pop your meatloaf into the oven at 180 C or maybe 170 for a fan assisted oven. Leave it there for about 45-50 minutes, until it has pulled away from the sides of the tin. 

This recipe feeds me and my partner and my daughter, but it would probably do four people. It's really nice served with a baked potato and some veg.

If you try this or any of my other recipes, let me know how they turn out.

I love this dinner. It is delicious, nutritious, and so so simple to make. It's also great when you're on a budget, as it doesn't cost much to make and it feeds about four people if you add rice. 

Today for dinner I am making a Butternut Squash stew sort of thing. I found a recipe for it ages ago somewhere on the internet, but I've probably added and taken away some ingredients since then. It's really easy to make, and you only need to use one pot, so that's a bonus.

It's very very tasty, and really healthy too, so if you're looking for something different to make with a butternut squash you should try it out. The amount I make fits a very big pot and would feed about eight people, maybe even more, so you should halve the ingredients, or even quarter them if you're only feeding a couple of people. Again, instead of a list I'm just highlighting the ingredients. Because I'm lazy like that. Make your own freaking list.

This is a great vegetarian recipe, but if you like to eat meat it's also delicious with diced chicken added. Also, it's even nicer the next day. Just so you know.

Peeling and chopping up a butternut squash takes ages, so it's probably best if you prepare that first. Just peel it and dice it up into chunks... don't forget to take out the seeds and all that. Then peel and slice two carrots. Finally peel and dice a sweet potato. Set them aside.

Next chop up an onion. Any way you like, diced, sliced, whatever, you're only eating it. No need to get anal.
Cook it in the pot on a low heat in a bit of olive oil. Crush or chop 6/7 cloves of garlic and add them in there too. Cook for about ten minutes, but stir it a couple of times during, obviously...


When your onion is nicely softened, throw in your butternut squash, sweet potato and carrot, and stir for a few minutes, then bung in two tins of chopped tomatoes, with the juice and all that. Use one of your empty tomato tins to measure out two tins of water, and pour that in. Doesn't matter if the water is hot or cold, I use hot just because it's quicker to simmer then. If you want a bit of extra flavour you can crumble in a vegetable stock cube. I always do, I think it's nicer.


Next get two tins of beans. Kidney beans, chick peas, mixed beans, whatever you're into. Or you can mix and match. Drain them, rinse them and put them in the pot too. 

If you haven't bothered stirring it yet, do so now. It should be simmering.
Throw in two tablespoons of sugar, two tablespoons of lemon juice, and two teaspoons of ground coriander. Also if you want to add salt, which is a good idea because salt is tasty, add about a teaspoon. Or more if you think it needs it, some people like salt more than others. Also add about a teaspoon of cayenne pepper - or more - to your taste. This is the kind of spicy bit. 


Cover it and leave it to simmer for about an hour, or until everything is nice and edible. 


You can eat this on its own if you want, but its really nice with mashed potato and it is also very tasty with rice or pasta. 




 

I was reading one of my brothers fitness magazines last week, because I enjoy fitness and healthy food just as much as I enjoy pie and chips. Inside its pages I came across a recipe for a salad with Feta cheese in it... I freakin' love cheese, and Feta is one of my favourites. It tastes so good. 
So when I see any cheese in any recipe I stop and take note.

I made this salad the next day, from what I could remember of the recipe. It tasted very nice, and I presume it was good for me. Except for the bacon. What I've done, instead of listing the ingredients, is just highlighted them. If you need them in a list you should just write them down yourself.

Get some green beans, like a big handful of them, and a carrot. Slice the carrot up, and throw it, along with the the green beans into a pot of simmering water for 2-3 minutes, then drain them and put them in a bowl.  

Get a tin of mixed beans, or kidney beans, or any of those nice beans that mexicans eat. I used a mixed bean salad from tescos, it did the job just fine. Make sure they're cooked though, I think all the tinned ones are but I'm no expert. Drain and rinse them, and put them in the bowl also.

Chop up a red onion, lob that in the bowl too. And don't forget the Feta cheese! About half a block will do, like 100g maybe, but it depends on your own taste really.

Anyway, all that stuff is in your bowl, so mix it up with a nice big spoon.
Then drizzle a bit of olive oil over it, and squirt on a bit of lemon juice, I just used juice out of a bottle because I had no fresh lemons. You can give it another stir now if you like. There you go. Now eat up, yum yum.   

This wasn't in the recipe, but I fried up some pancetta and put that in the bowl too. I put bacon in most things that I make. I should stop, I know, but I can't.

I don't have any serving suggestions for this salad. I just ate it out of the bowl I made it in.