fineCooking Takes Meatloaf to a Whole New Level

Seriously... I mean... since I've been on and on lately about comfort food... naturally my heart skipped a beat when the latest issue of Fine Cooking graced my mailbox.

I love the section "8 Delicious Ways to Make the Best Meatloaf" with the very special fineCooking feature where you can make your own variation. In fact, last year I wrote about another one for Braised Short Ribs (see my penchant for comfort foods?) that my then three year old came up with. He loves cooking and playing on the computer... so what a great combination. Thanks fineCooking! (The link will take you to an interactive page where you get to choose your own ingredients.)

Before I share my creation, I found this healthier variation for meatloaf cupcakes that Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy blogger shared and fineCooking noted. You have to check it out. The photos are to die for.

Back to the magazine... The 8 options... and each one sounded awesome... Indian Spice Lamb; Sausague, Lemon & Parmesan; Blue Cheese & Bacon; Southwestern Spicy Pork & Bell Peppers; Double Mushroom & Sherry; Stout & Cheddar; Turkey, Bacon & Fennel; and Greek Olive, Red Wine & Feta. All of them are free form, five have tasty glazes and three are wrapped in bacon. It's hard to stop myself from drooling.

Because I can never just leave a good thing (or in this case 8 great things) alone, I came up with my own take on the mushroom one...

Mushroom Meatloaf with Honey Chipotle Glaze

I used a combination of fresh cremini and dried wild mushrooms. And because I often find sherry a little too overpowering, I did half sherry and half of the mushroom liquid from reconstituting the mushrooms. Instead of the ketchup glaze, I made my own honey & chipotle puree instead. The spiciness balanced the richness of all those mushrooms.

This seems like a perfect fit for Hearth & Soul, a lovely blog hop, moderated by a great bunch of ladies. Check it out and let me know what your favorite meatloaf is.... or if you're like my daughter and has it at the bottom of her fave things to eat... silly girl!... I bet they'd each make some great burgers.


Obviously I had to share with another great roundup - Magazine Mondays hosted by Ivonne of Cream Puffs In Venice .

Another Great fine Cooking Recipe - Braised Short Ribs

I've mentioned before how much I love fine Cooking Magazine. One of the best ever birthday presents from my daughters was a Fine Cooking subscription and I eagerly await my monthly present.

This month's issue was particularly awesome from the Mac 'n Cheese recipes I shared to another of my favorite things - braised short ribs. The four double page spread of glorious photos and brilliant tutorial had me drooling for them.
But British style beef short ribs are hard to find here in Halifax. They are actually about 3 inches long and cut individually rather than the short ribs I'm used to, which are about 1 inch thick and cut across several ribs. I love them in soups, especially Lentil Soup and Split Pea Soup. They take me back to my childhood every time I make them, but I digress.

With visions of braised short ribs dancing in my head, I headed down to the Halifax Farmer's Market and much to my delight Getaway Farm, who raise organic, grass fed Galloway cattle, had some gorgeous looking short ribs...plus a huge line waiting for steaks, and other wonderful meat choices.

By the time I got to the counter, all the thick, beautifully marbled beef ribs were in other people's bags. So sad, but I was determined and headed off to the market even earlier the following week to catch my elusive prize before anyone else did...early bird catches the worm, as the say, or in my case...the short ribs.

The woman just ahead of me was asking Chris (owner of Getaway Farm) what one does with them. I naturally had to pipe in about the fine Cooking article, and Chris pointed out the wall behind him. I had been too busy drooling over all his beef products to see that he had actually cut out the pages and taped them to the wall! He thought it a great article too.

Then, my daughter, Joanna was over with the little ones and I was telling her about what a fantastic issue, this month's fine Cooking Magazine was. She flipped through it and flipped out asking me to photocopy the article. I thought I'd check out fineCooking's website for it, that way she'd get the full color version. Naturally, Boaz, the three year old wanted to play on the computer when he saw me at it and so we found the Braised Beef Short Rib tutorial, and he created his own recipe. If a three year old can come up with a delicious fool-proof recipe, so can you.

I went with the Hunter's Style this time, but I think I'll have to invite Boaz back to choose the next version.