Crockpot Meatloaf and Pickled Pork

I've tried 2 new recipes in the slow cooker in the last week and will share them with you. The better of the 2 by a country mile was the meatloaf...at the start of cooking...

I adapted and doubled an old favourite recipe from my "Diabetes, Eat and Enjoy" cookbook...

500 minced meat, beef/pork or a combination of both
an egg
a cup of wholegrain breadcrumbs and or oat bran
1/2 cup milk
a finely chopped onion
chopped herbs and lots of pepper
I topped it with a sliced tomato and sprinkled it with paprika.

Shape into a loaf and place in slowcooker on a bed of chopped vegies, the ubiquitous celery stars again here
I cooked it on auto for about 5 hours and then added the baby potatoes...then I made the BBQ sauce..

In a small saucepan mix together the following, simmer for 5 minutes and then thicken with 1T cornflour mixed with 1T water. You can pour this over the meatloaf or serve it separately.

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup of tomato ketchup/sauce
1/4 cup Worcester sauce
2T vinegar
1t instant coffee
juice of a lemon

By doubling the recipe I was able to freeze half  as well as getting several meals out of the first half, it's lovely cold in a sandwich and very thrifty.

The slow cooker group had been raving about "pickled pork", a corned pork piece that they said was delicious. I bought a one kilo piece on Monday and cooked it yesterday for 8 hours with 1/4 cup of vinegar, 2t brown sugar and some chopped celery, onion and fennel. It was quite nice but the best part was the sauce I made by simply blending the vegies and meat juices, they were thick, creamy and so tasty.
We've also had Lentils and Sausages this week, a French inspired dish made with tasty Puy lentils and some browned sausages finished off in the lentils. It's very good and a dish we enjoyed first in Paris.

Coming home from appointments yesterday afternoon the windscreen wipers decided to go on strike. We went to an Auto retail shop to see if they could help but the young man there couldn't even find the fusebox! So we carefully made our way to the big local shopping centre hoping the rain would ease off. It got heavier. I called Gordie and he tried to guide me through finding the fusebox and then he had to drive over to see if he could could get them going again. No joy so eventually he drove my car home and I followed in his, my eye-sight would not win any medals these days! He plans to come over today to see about replacing the little wiper motor...what a blessing he is with his car know-how! He's saved us thousands of dollars over the years with repairs and the purchase of our current chariot.
Two hours after arriving home Mandy's daughter, T, came out of work at the same shopping centre, lost her brakes in the still-heavy rain and crashed into another car. She has a slight whiplash and a bruised knee but both cars were destroyed...how frightful for Mandy and Paul especially after losing Paul's parents last year.

Sending much love to my dear friend Amy and her family after the sudden passing of her father yesterday, such a sad time.

Hope all is well in your home and place,
Love from Sue
xx