Phew.

Have been so busy studying for months now I haven't had time to do this blog (and barely to cook either).

Am currently in the panic last week before end of semester exams for the first year of my part-time MSc.  However, have been working so hard I have to break it up a bit.

At the weekend I cooked pork curry in which I put butternut squash.  That was good.  Yesterday, beef skirt casserole with onions,tomatoes, frozen peppers and dumplings.

I also made a fruitcake with wensleydale cheese in it (recipe from a magazine)- had to try it coz it looked interesting but I think it would have been better without the cheese. It went a bit hard.  It also has stem ginger which is nice and next time I'll just substitute the cheese for some more of that.

Weather today cooler and damper- we had some real rain last night for the first time in months. 
Our new bed came today and George and I took the old mattress to the dump.

Two good recipes

Sausage meatballs with a sweet and tangy gravy.

I made meatballs with the sausage meat and fried them until browned.
I fried onion and celery.  Then I added a little flour (stir and cook one minute) the stock and (here's the clever part) some sieved apricot jam which I had melted in orange juice (this for the christmas cake) and seasoning.

Then I put the meatballs in and cooked all for 40 mins.  Served with mashed potato but would also go with rice.

Meatloaf
1 onion
1 carrot (chpped finely)
1 clove garlic
500g minced beef
packet of sage and onion stuffing made up according to instructions
2 tbs of mushroom ketchup (but could use Worcestershire sauce)
2 tbs of tomato ketchup
1 or 2 eggs (I used one but I think it might have benefitted from two)

Fry onion and carrot for 5 mins, add garlic chopped and fry for 1 min more.  Put in a large bowl.
Add all other ingrediants.  i didn't quite use all the stuffing as it looked as if it was going to dominate the minced beef, but you would probably get away with it, this recipe is flexible)
Mix until well blended.
Pack into a greased and lined (with greaseproof or baking parchment) 2Ib loaf tin. Cover top with greased foil.
Roast in over for about 45 mins or until a meat thermometer is on 170F when stuck into the middle.

This was very good. Can be served with gravy like a roast or possibly with fresh tomato sauce and some nice bread.  If you had a crowd to feed and not a big budget I would recommend this.
The kids and the husband all liked it.