Moonlighting with Meatloaf

Meatloaf. It's not a favorite dish of mine, but inspiration comes in many forms. Meatloaf, in fact, was voted the 7th favorite dish in the United States in 2007, according to Good Housekeeping. It also has international appeal: Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Macedonia, the Philippines, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and the Greater Middle East. They all have regional variations. Some are stuffed with egg or sausage. One is even steamed in banana leaves, then fried and served for breakfast. Meatloaf! A worthy adversary, this often dry dish, moistened with packaged, powdered gravy and served with instant mashed potatoes, could be transformed into something delicious.

My first thought was chipotle meatloaf, but other ingredients for this Tex-Mex amalgamation just didn't come together in my mind. And, a quick Google query produced pages of recipes for just such a combination. The LunaCafe, a food blog with recipes from Susan Bradley, provides excellent tips for no-fail meatloaf along with stunning images of her recipes. Check out her chipotle meatloaf below. For the 411, go to http://thelunacafe.com/smokey-chipotle-meatloaf/.

I prefer turkey meatloaf. So I began to think about what I like with turkey. Hmmm? Gravy! Keep thinking Honey! Then I remembered a turkey burger I had once. It was smothered in chutney, a delightful condiment that's not part of my culinary repertoire. A little more research revealed that chutney is fabulous for cooling down curry. Could I curry my meatloaf? Why yes! What if I glazed it with chutney. Perfect. I was out of the gates, but too afraid to Google this one. So I reasearched chutney instead and developed a blend of dried fruits with onion, cider vinegar, brown sugar and a selection of spices I won't divulge.

Now, back to the loaf. It goes without saying that egg and bread crumbs would bind and provide texture. And, what about rice. Yes. Jasmine would be nice. Now for the flavor. Curry, of course, salt, garlic and maybe cilantro or a pinch of fresh parsley. Then, my secret ingredient: milk. But not cow's milk. That's been done. No, coconut milk. The only thing left to do was Google my brainchild to test for originality. Holding my breath I queried Google for "turkey chutney meatloaf" and there it was. Oh boy! But the recipes weren't anything like mine! One even called for a slathering of yellow mustard. Ick!

All that was left to do was the shopping. I couldn't wait, so I settled into my favorite armchair, smart phone in hand, and added the necessary ingredients to my online shopping list. Yup, I rarely visit the grocery store. I let Safeway's personal shoppers do the work for me. It's the working mother's salvation and perhaps the greatest suggestion my wonderful husband has ever made. I save gasoline and precious time with family. Speaking of family, my 7-year-old, Zoe, is begging me to play Clue. How can I resist?

Before I leave my Scarlet Kitchen and become Miss Scarlet in the study with the candlestick, I want to know what makes up your favorite meatloaf? Please comment or leave your recipe. I'll cook up my favorite and blog about it of course. Stay tuned also for my first test kitchen blog where I'll write about the success or failure of my turkey chutney meatloaf.

Yours truly,

The Domestic Foodie

The Kitchen Calls; I Can't Resist

I'm a marketing coordinator without a marketing degree, struggling to craft another master plan of ordinary strategies to sell fall protection to the worker at height. Blaaaah!

Why do I have this job? Because I was in the right place at the right time; an overqualified administrative assistant who wrote a pitch that sold myself as the relief for an overloaded sales manager without the time or desire to dream up marketing schemes. A well-crafted email touting my skills garnered me a pay raise and a new title.

It was exciting at first. I hastily bought Marketing for Dummies (out of my own pocket). When it arrived on my doorstep a few days later, I settled into bed and pored over its pages with an uncapped yellow highlighter, poised to unlock the secrets of the marketing professional. After several nights, I emerged from my bedroom with bleary eyes and a dried out pen. I had highlighted everything and understood nothing. Dare I admit that?

In the months and years that have followed I've learned enough marketing jargon to be dangerous. ROI. B2B. These are acronyms I know, not from the collegiate classroom, but from Google queries. I can tell you what they stand for but not what they really mean. (This, however, doesn’t stop me from throwing them around in staff meetings occasionally.)

In two years, I've compiled a series of marketing plans and pieces, calling upon my background as a degreed journalist and freelance writer again and again. My project management skills have certainly helped too and got me through a website launch and too many trade shows to count. I also thank God again and again for a brilliant pair of graphic artists who breathe life into my ad copy with stellar design skills.

Despite my perceived lack of qualifications, I have a fledgling career and a boss who seems to be pleased with my output. Yet I find myself wanting more, as cliché as it sounds. I have long ago abandoned marketing handbooks for cookbooks and culinary texts, my favorite evening reading material. I do love a good novel, but with two daughters and a husband, it's much easier to devour a recipe than a chapter of fiction.

My cooking prowess has been cultivated by my voracious appetite for recipes. Not new to the kitchen, I picked up my first cookbook a decade ago. It was a wedding gift, and as a new bride, I felt compelled to learn to cook. I can't claim the title of Chef, but I am classically trained by the Rombauers and Beckers (Joy of Cooking) and a healthy dose of the Food Network. In ten years, I've graduated from stocks and mother sauces to the craft of recipe writing.

Now at 33, I'm embarking on a quest to write a cookbook, one humble recipe at a time. Some will fail and some may even win over my meat-and-potatoes husband. So, I invite you to join me in my Scarlet Kitchen for a culinary experiment. Am I destined for grandeur? Probably not. But hopefully I'll gain some faithful readers along the way and compile a set of recipes to pass along to my daughters.

Yours truly,

The Domestic Foodie