Meatloaf : Singing or Eating?

Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday on September 27, 1947), better known by his stage name Meat Loaf is an American rock musician and actor.

My favourite Meatloaf song is "Anything for Love" - And I would do anything for love, I'd run right into hell and back, I would do anything for love, I'll never lie to you and that's a fact. I Would do anything for love, Anything you've been dreaming of, But I just wont do that..."

As a an 80's child - I like my Rock stars to have lots of make -up, long unkempt hair and sing heart wrenching love ballads.  I don't like love songs which are soft and weepy (yawn) - like Celine Dion, Justin Bieber or Mylie Cyrus -  I'm a Guns and Roses, Bon Jovi and of course Meatloaf kinda girl.

So, you ask, why do I think you are interested my music choice? Well it ties into what I made for dinner last night meatloaf (with a small m). Maybe I'm crazy, But it's crazy and it's true - I would do anything for love, even make meatloaf!

Just like an 80's rock star, it's not pretty to look at, but it tastes great!

Rock Star Meatloaf with Ginger Tomato Sauce

500g Minced Beef
1 Onion Grated
1 teaspoon Thyme
1 teaspoon Dried chili
4 Cloves of Garlic Crushed
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Egg
10 Mushrooms Sliced

Pre-heat your oven to 200ºC
In a bowl mix all the ingredients well together, except the mushrooms.
Layer the bottom of a loaf tin with the sliced mushrooms.
Top the mushrooms with the mince mixture.
Cover the tin with foil.
Bake in the oven for 60 minutes.
Place the tomato sauce in the loaf tin and bake for another 30 minutes uncovered.

Tomato Sauce

4 Fresh Tomatoes peeled and roughly chopped
1 piece of Ginger the size of your thumb, peeled and shredded
1 Green Chili Chopped
6 Sun dried tomatoes
30ml Rice Vinegar
15ml Sugar

Mix this together in a baking dish with a lid.

Bake covered, separately, in the oven for 60 minutes with the meatloaf.
Pour over the meatloaf and bake for another 30 minutes uncovered.
Serve hot.

Happy ever After Health Bread

Once upon a time in the land of the Table Mountain, there lived a fair maiden. This maiden was very happy, she spent her carefree days being doted on by her loving parents. Her Mother and Father provided all her needs, never requesting her to cook or clean.

The maiden would buy magazines that told her about fashion and beauty and when she read a book it would always be a love story. She paid no attention to recipes, unless she was glancing at a diet, for which she had no use.

One day, quite unexpectedly, the fair maiden met a prince from the Northern City of Gold. He was dashing and handsome and after a short courtship the prince and the maiden were married at ceremony surrounded by friends and loved ones.

The maiden moved into the prince's palace and enjoyed having her own home. She set to work on being a good wife. It took many moons before the maiden finally got the hang of buying stores for the larder and planning meals to cook for the prince and the rest of the court.

It was during this time that the maiden changed. Food, recipes, cooking and baking began to become increasingly more important in her life. She no longer bought glossy magazines featuring the latest fashions, but scoured the shops from many lands, for books and magazines on food, recipes and exotic ingredients.

She spent hours and hours on the Internet drooling over pictures of more food, printing 1000's of recipes - all of which she planned to make "one day", even though this would mean she would have to live to be 167 years old to complete such a task.

The maiden grew older and wiser - yet still she continues her passion for food and recipes. She has made friends with like minded maidens, princesses (and a few princes), who are equally passionate about food and cooking, they call themselves foodies and bloggers.

One recipe the maiden kept in her treasure chest (as part of her trousseau) is Pam's Health Bread. She no longer remembers who Pam is, but is still grateful to her for this recipe.  It is a wonderfully versatile recipe and can be adapted to what can be found in the pantry (which was very handy before the maiden knew how to food shop).

Pam's Health Bread

4 Cups Nutty Wheat Flour
1 Cup Bran
10ml Salt
50ml Dark Molasses
1 Sachet Instant Dried Yeast
60ml Chopped Walnuts Nuts (optional and exchangeable to whatever nuts you might have)
60ml Seed Mix (sunflower, pumpkin, linseed, sesame)
2-3 Cups of Warm Water

Pre-heat the oven to 180C
 Mix all the dry ingredients together.
Then add enough warm water to make a soft dough.
Place the dough in a bread pan and allow to rest in a warm place for 30 - 45 minutes.
Bake in the oven for 40 minutes until golden brown.

Chicken Biryani Made Easy

I stand by the belief that home made food is better than take outs or ready made meals. It not only makes economical sense but you know exactly what is going into your meals and there are no hidden fats, sodium or preservatives. It's highly unlikely the average home has bottles of calcium propionate, sodium nitrate ,or  methylchloroisothiazolinone sitting in their pantry.

 With that said, even Father Christmas has elves help him make the presents for Christmas and I have no problem buying pre-made ingredients to help produce a great meal without added fuss. They are also great for those of us that are learning new cuisines, like curry.

There are days when I will use fresh spices, dry fry them and grind them up to make my own spice mix, but there are some great ready made spice mixtures, which I have found that can create lovely meals, with minimum fuss.

One such product I have recently discovered is from a company in India, sold in most local supermarkets called Curry Tree. They have no preservatives, no hydrogenated vegetable fat, are 100% natural and are gluten free. They have easy to follow recipes on the box and need no exotic or expensive ingredients to create authentic dishes packed with flavour.

Yesterday I bought the Curry Tree Chicken Biryani. While the recipe provided was simple to follow, I have changed it slightly and I was very impressed with the result. Once again, I did the "all in one pot cooking" in the oven - less fuss and less washing up!

Chicken Biryani with Curry Tree Spices
Adapted from the recipe supplied by Curry Tree

1 Packet Curry Tree Chicken Biryani
8 Chicken Thighs
300ml Plain Yoghurt
300ml Water
300g Plain White Rice
2 Teaspoons Crushed dried Chilli (optional if you like it hotter)
1 Pinch Saffron (optional)
Chopped fresh Coriander (optional for garnish)

Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC
In a pot which can go on the stove and oven, brown the chicken until golden (don't add extra oil).
Mix the yoghurt,1 teaspoon of the chilli and the Curry Tree spice in a bowl.

Pour the yoghurt mix into the chicken and combine.
Pour over the rice and then the water and sprinkle the saffron and other teaspoon of chilli on top.
DO NOT STIR.
Allow the mix to come back to heat - slow bubble.
Place a layer of foil over the top of the pot and then place the lid on to make it completely sealed.
Place in the oven for 60-80 minutes.
Remove from the oven and serve sprinkled with some chopped fresh coriander.

Banana Cake with Lime Frosting

Bananas in pyjamas
Are coming down the stairs
Bananas in pyjamas
Are coming down in pairs
Bananas in pyjamas
Are chasing teddy bears
'Cause on Tuesdays
They all try to
Catch them unawares

Do you remember this song? I used to sing it with my niece when she was little. This same niece got married this weekend, oh how time flies when you getting old!

I don't know how many of you experience this, but bananas in our house seem to turn from perfectly ripe, to beautifully sweet but bruised and black when you turn your back. I often get stuck with the odd one or two bananas that no one will eat, but are perfect for smoothies and baking.

I often make banana bread, which is always well received, but yesterday I decided to try something a little different - banana cake with lime icing. What a wonderful find, it is very moist and the lime icing really is "the icing on the cake"!
It is very easy to make and perfect for a quick cake using those last over ripe bananas - especially when they are really well past their eating prime.

Banana Cake with Lime Icing
 You can double this recipe and make a layer cake with a lime butter frosting.

125g Butter (Soft)
125g Castor Sugar
2 Eggs
2 Bananas Mashed (Medium)
2.5ml Vanilla Seeds (or 5ml Vanilla Essence)
5ml Orange Blossom Water (optional)
2.5ml Bi-carbonate of Soda
30ml Milk
500ml Self Raising Flour

Pre-heat the oven to 180C
Grease a 20cm x 10cm deep round cake tin.

Cream the butter and the sugar together.
Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition.
Add the bananas, the vanilla and the orange blossom water.
Dissolve the bi-carbonate in the milk.
Add the bi-carbonate to the mixture.
Sift in the flour and fold in to combine.

Bake for 35-45 minutes until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean.
Leave the cake for 5 minutes in the tin and then remove and allow to cool on a cooling rack.

Lemon Icing
150ml Icing Sugar
Juice of one Lime

Sift the icing sugar, add the lime juice and stir until smooth.
Pour over the cake, once the cake is cooled and allow to dry.
Serve

Apple and Date Delight

 This weeks Lavender and Lime challenge is Something Sweet with Baked Apples.

I decided to keep it really simple, as the apples at this time of the year are delicious and don't need much fiddling with to enjoy their wonderful flavour.

Baked Apple with Dates and Nuts

1 large Granny Smith Apple per serving

4 Fresh Dates, pitted (per serving)
1 teaspoon Coconut oil (in solid form)
2 teaspoons Chopped Nuts

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC
Core the apple ¾ of the way through. This ensures that the mixture does not all drop out the bottom when baking.
Score the apple around the circumference, so it does not burst while baking.
Mix the remainder of the ingredients together and stuff the apple.
Bake for 20-30 minutes and serve hot.
Pour the baking juices over the apple before serving.