Hello Dear Reader,
It's the start of our half term break, which means a whole tonne of work to do. I feel like death warmed up, with what feels like a chest infection and I need an early night. I need my fitness to come back in my sleep as we're having the winter logs delivered tomorrow morning and I need to be 'on it'!
I arrived home earlier than DB, left him in Plymouth as I felt so dreadful. I wanted something really simple. Here's my very easy meatloaf.
1. Switch the slow cooker on high and put the lid on to heat up.
2. Combine : 500g minced beef, with one finely chopped and softly fried onion and three slices of bread which I turned into breadcrumbs in the food processor, along with two beaten eggs, squirt of brown sauce of Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, thyme and parsley.
3. Hand mould into a loaf shape and place in slow cooker on a piece of greaseproof paper.
4. Leave on high and cook for three hours.
I took the meat loaf out, grilled on high for ten minutes, removed it, sprinkled with grated mature cheddar and grilled it for another five minutes.
We had a slice each served with some salad.
Normally, I would cook that in the oven but I'm still resisting using it to keep my energy costs down.
Here's your turn, who else heats with wood? How do you get yours? We have a mixture of scavenged and bought. I have a shed full of free wood, some free wood to collect and a large quantity arriving tomorrow. Hopefully, that should see us for heating and laundry drying until Spring. Have you fired up your stoves yet? What about down under? Are you enjoying good weather for your spring?
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxxx
Boiler has been switched on, broken down, pump replaced (did it ourselves to save money), switched back on, major work done by engineers costing an arm and a leg, broke down again two days later, engineer returned and repaired it again today. I want to move to a warmer climate so I don't need any heating!!! That meatloaf looks wonderful. I'm using my mini oven rather than the big oven as it's so much cheaper. Get well soon and enjoy your break x
ReplyDeleteWe only use wood for heating the whole house,no central heating here. It also heats our water ALL FOR FREE.........our very best way of frugalness!
ReplyDeleteThat meatloaf looks soooo delicious! We shall have some of this over the winter, too. But, for now I`m still on Marrakech mode and like to stick to simpler meals I can add salads to.
ReplyDeleteWe don`t have a wood burner, but we try to keep away from the central heating button. So far so good, just learning to re-ajust to the good old British climate after our fabulous holiday, and layering up clothing shall be on the cards as its getting cooler. Haven`t been able to dig out warmer winter clobber yet, but must do so by next weekend so the summer stuff can be washed and dried, then packed up until next May.
Hope you feel better soon.
Used to have an open fire, dog basket which took logs up to 2' long. It was kept going for free, just the work involved in collecting driftwood from the shoreline and sawing into usable lengths. We now live in a smokeless zone, so not allowed an open fire. I really miss it, everything burnable went on it, not much to put in the wheelie bin.
ReplyDeleteWe are having a very warm spring in the early 30's but next week looks like it will get back to normal. No rain though & we need it. Will have to check the bore soon as we will need to water. The roses are looking a picture this year.
ReplyDeleteWe used to have a wood fire for winter heating, it was lovely & warmed the whole house, but the wood got too expensive so we now use gas.
I hope you feel better already, Froogs!
ReplyDeleteI made a meatloaf in the crockpot, using a recycled foil pie pan with holes poked in it as a sort of stage. Most of the fat dripped through, leaving a nicer loaf I think. But I wish I had thought of sticking it under the broiler to brown a bit - that's a great idea!
And yes, I burn wood for heat, with a small propane heat as a back-up. The wood is partly from my own property (I will make the effort to cut up even quite small thinned saplings and dry them for the following year - no point in wasting the fuel) and partly brought by a forester-friend I used to work with. He is "retired" now, which just means he spends every day working on his own woodlots!
Feel better :)
Have finally got my wood burner installed after many, many years of saving up for it. Woo-hoo!! Looking forward to a warm and toasty winter now.
ReplyDeleteWe've had a couple of fires in the sitting room in the cooler evenings, but not fired up the kitchen stove/central heating yet. We always try to get past Guy Fawkes night! Only a couple of weeks to go.
ReplyDeleteWe have reverse cycle air conditioning. Because we feel the heat our winter bill is always lower. It was sent this week for July to September and for the first time we are in credit. That is an excellent start for the hot weather because I am already feeling it.
ReplyDeleteFor those who would like to know we have ten solar panels which definitely do not provide enough to cover the electricity costs for four. However, we have been fairly diligent and according to the provider we use the same amount of electricity as a household of two.
I have only used wood once and it was to run an old fashioned oven. It was an experience that made me respect my elders even more.
It's starting to warn up down here. We actually had meatloaf ourselves this week, but I think I'll give it a go in the slow cooker next time too. It will keep the heat out of the kitchen. Petal gets our wood in winter from a farm where he loads his cattle. He has exclusive rights to all the wood we need
ReplyDeleteFroogs, I've been Crock Pot "baking" meatloaf for years. I use a glass loaf pan and it fits perfectly inside my large, oval (thank you Freecycle!) Crock pot. I set it on low and let it go all day while I am at work. Comes out so nice!
ReplyDeleteThat looks delicious! I'll have to try cooking a meatloaf in the Crock Pot. Hope you're feeling better soon.
ReplyDeleteI hope you begin to feel better. Wood heat is not our only heat source but is our main heat source during cool and cold temperatures. We live rural and the township will cut fallen trees and limbs along the roads and leave them there for anyone to pick up. Hubby keeps his chainsaw in the truck so he can cut it into manageable pieces and get it home. We have a lot of trees and usually lose big limbs and a tree or two during storms. There is a small lumber yard not too far away and we can take ends and scraps for no cost (though he has a not very nice dog) If we need extra wood hubby has a friend that will sell us logs, for cheap, and hubby cuts it to fit the stove. I love the wood stove. We keep a kettle on it for hot water and humidity, place the clothes racks in front of it, sometimes cook on it, warm our propped up toes, during power outages we camp out in the family room and stay toasty warm and just enjoy watching the fire. I would never have a home without a wood stove.
ReplyDeleteI love meatloaf! We don't have wood burning heat, but we also haven't had to turn on our heat yet either. Our day time temps have finally hit around 70, which is still quite pleasant for us.
ReplyDeleteToo warm now in Australia for our wood fire but we really appreciate it in winter. In Western Australia you get a permit from the council to collect fallen logs from the state forrest,involves 2 men, trailer,chainsaw and quite a few drinks to celebrate at end of day when the hard work is done! We had a bonfire outside last night and very relaxing but I think the cut off point for burning is end of October, very strict fines after that.
ReplyDeleteMeatloaf looks awesome.
We have had our wood burner alight on a couple of chilly evenings this season already and I love the way it is usually still radiating heat when we come down the next morning - that feels like a bonus! I have bags of offcuts in the workshop which the FH used to gather together when he was doing his woodwork, and we have scavenged pallets and scrap wood in there too. There won't be any more of that now that the FH has died, so when it is all gone I shall be relying on the lovely lad who delivers logs for me now and again. I have plenty already left from last winter which will see us through this winter but I may order some more in the spring to get it stacked up and dried ready for next winter. He delivers a very generous trailer load for £80, and it is all ready to just stack and store, and then burn - no chopping required. I shall still accept all free wood that I am given, but the table saw is too dangerous for me to operate, and it will be going as soon as I find it a new home, so I shall be limited as to what I can cut up. Fantastic meatloaf there - I shall have to try something like that out in our slow cooker.
ReplyDeleteYep, out wood burner has seen some action already this Autumn, although I hold off if it's warm enough that another layer of clothes will suffice.
ReplyDeleteOur wood all comes from our woodland (we own about 2.5 acres of woods on our 5 acre smallholding) or from scavenged pallets, and window frames etc that we ask for when we are out and about. Also any delivery truck that comes here if they have visible pallets in the back we always ask if they would like to leave them behind ... they usually say yes. :-)
Solid fuel Aga here which is now on until end of March ish - all cooking heating and hot water. Log burner in living room for additional cosiness when needed. :) Our wood is a mixture of bought already split hardwood from a local tree surgeon,any old broken up wooden furniture and pallets from work, still using sawn up window frames and old kitchen units and wood panelling that came out of house when we moved in over 20 years ago and a sawn up old wooden shed taken down a few years ago We save all our prunings that are over 2 cm in diameter for kindling and saw up and split our own logs from any branches we thin from the trees we have in the garden. Storing it all in a 6 bay wood shed is a work or art which I leave to the OH :)
ReplyDeleteOh so yum looking and easy to make meat loaf. Must give it a try. Thanks for your efforts in posting your recipes
ReplyDeleteAlexa blogging from Sydney, Australia
Alexa-asimplelife.com
I keep a stove top kettle on my woodburner, so we can make a hot drink without using electricity. Thankfully, we've had *masses* of free wood this year from a guy over the way who is doing up a couple of houses. Bringing it to us is quicker, and cheaper, than taking it to the tip!
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