Bereft ... well ... sort of ...

I can't find the recipe I used to make the meat loaf that Peter loves.  It was soft and had bread, milk and egg in it ... but it was tomatoey sweet and spicy as well with a lovely glazey saucy topping.

I have hunted everywhere in my own cookbooks and have now gone on-line. There are lots of recipes but I can't be sure I have found the right one.

This is important because there is only one mini-loaf left in the freezer and when I ask Peter what he wants me to make, he says he likes everything but especially the meat loaf.

This is one  that kids would love. 

Do you have a favourite recipe that you always make ... or do you just play it by ear/eye/aroma  & taste buds, putting everything but the kitchen sink in?

Since starting this cooking for Peter, I am cooking smarter than I used to.  Some of my favourite tricks are ways to deal with fresh veggies.  I buy peas and green beans  in bulk at Costco, and blanch/freeze the ones I don't use immediately so that I can pull them out of the freezer on Saturday morning and quickly stir fry them with olive oil, butter, and garlic or shallots to add to the meals.  With asparagus, I keep it as dry and cold as possible in an open plastic bag and when I am ready to cook it,  I stir fry it quickly and dress it with grated orange peel or tarragon.  As soon as tomatoes no longer tempt me to eat them raw, I oven roast them with garlic, onion, and olive oil, then buzz them in the blender and freeze them for sauces.  I no longer have leftover veggies that rot in my fridge ... one of the dangers of living alone.

I am also losing weight.  I am not sure whether it is because I am always surrounded by food or whether it is because I feel no compunction to eat up the left overs, or because I don't cook Peter's carbohydrates till Saturday morning so I am tending to eat lots of veggies with a little protein rather than a lot of rice or potato or pasta with veggies and protein.  Maybe it has to do with when I eat ... earlier in the day.  I hope it is not because the food is terrible!

Our LONG lesson on Saturday afternoon was fun.  We had enchiladas, salad and wine and then went out snow shoeing.  Diane took us up hill  and down dale through the woods, and told us how to avoid problems with bears.  On one of the particularly steep places I kept slipping.  i finally got up with help.  Diane pulled me up by my ski pole and Pauline pushed on my fanny!  Afterwards we had cocoa with a ginger, lemon, oatmeal cake.  Then we began our lesson.  We were all so tired and full we decided against our original plan of having dinner in Wakefield.  Six hours with three great women.   Nice way to spend a Saturday afternoon.