"meatloaf" news and stories

Meatloaf is one of those blue-plate specials that is still on my list as a comforting, satisfying meal that's perfect for winter weeknights. I like to shake up the flavor by adding new ingredients, or even stuffing it with something surprising, like gooey mozzarella and fresh baby spinach.

This recipe is updated with tasty, lean protein sources, including ground turkey, egg whites, skim milk and part-skim mozzarella. I've also substituted old-fashioned oats for the usual breadcrumbs, sneaking in better carbohydrates where no one will notice.

Each Thursday, we round up a selection of scrumptious links from our friends over at YumSugar. Here's what they've got cooking this week:

• Yes, you can! -- ditch the supermarket and make these 10 food items, that is.
• In these lean times try easy on the pocketbook and easily jazzed up red beans and rice.
• This plastic will fit nicely next to your ATM card.
• Say hello to the banana's big brother.
• With only two pans and some cans of soup, you too can make a panini.
• Do you know what this squashing machine is?
• Chili purists, turn away -- delicious meatless chili in a slow cooker.

Photo: Dewet/flickr

In this weekly series, home cook Bruce Watson works his way through a decades-old family cookbook, adapting the best recipes exclusively for Slashfood.

Going through my old family cookbook, I came across my Aunt Renie's recipe for blue cheese meatloaf. Like many of Renie's recipes, this one has a long pedigree and an old school gourmet touch. However, the original had a heavy touch of sage, which made the loaf fairly bland.

Experimenting with various sauces in my kitchen, I found that the meatloaf tasted amazing when served with a hearty dollop of barbecue sauce. My modified version, featured below, integrates the barbecue sauce into the meatloaf, along with a huge amount of blue cheese. This, combined with a shorter cooking time, yields a finished product that narrows the distance between meatloaf and paté. With that in mind, you might consider serving this dish with sliced pickles, mustard or other paté accompaniments!

Get the recipe for barbecue blue cheese meatloaf after the jump!

One of my favorite dishes as a child was meatloaf. I loved its rich meaty taste and cake-like consistency, and of course its combination with hot tomato sauce. Today however, I'm more interested in exploring the many different versions of the typical meatloaf, such as Stefánia Szelet, a Hungarian meatloaf baked with three hard boiled eggs in the middle.

Meatloaf dates back to Antiquity when Romans would make minced meat loaves. In fact, the Italian meatball is made in a strikingly similar way. The meatloaf that most Americans grow up eating is made from a mixture of ground pork and cornmeal. It has been part of American cuisine since colonial times and was brought over by Dutch and German settlers. Today, you can find meatloaves made with turkey meat instead of pork and beef. You can even make a vegetarian meatloaf.

Below are 8 different variations of meatloaf:

1. South African Curried Lamb Meatloaf - This is probably one of the best meatloaves I have ever made!
2. Italian-American Meatloaf
3. Bobby Flay's Roasted Vegetable Meatloaf with Balsamic Glaze
4. Sausage and Bell Pepper Meatloaf
5. Veggie Meatloaf with Checca Sauce
6. Buffalo Meatloaf with Spinach and Roasted Baby Potatoes
7. Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf
8. Emeril's Tex-Mex Meatloaf

How do you like to cook your meatloaf?

When a friend of mine recently asked me to help throw her a baby shower, I had many questionable suggestions-- like making it race-car rather than baby themed (accepted) to making a baby-shaped red-velvet cake with gooey red filling, except the diaper part, which would have brown icing filling (rejected).

But one of the things she was most excited about was my suggestion that I make a meatcake. That is, a cake made of meat, an idea I had found (like so many nutty ideas) on the interwebs. I took the concept, but created my own recipes--two, since a non-red-meat eater needed turkey. It may sound peculiar but the result was delicious and even rather spectacular. If you want to try it yourself....