Since I’m on the subject of comfort food, there’s no better time to talk about meatloaf. It is such a versatile dish; you can easily prepare it every day for a year and not make it the same way twice.

No matter what extra ingredients I add to my meatloaf, I always top it with three or four slices of bacon. I love the flavor it gives to the finished dish… not to mention the taste of the crunchy bacon itself.

Another thing I usually do is add shredded cheese to my meatloaf. I mix up the recipe and split it into two portions. I pat half into my pan and cover generously with cheese. (The variety I use depends on the other ingredients in the loaf.) Finally, I cover the cheese with the remaining meat mixture and top with bacon, as mentioned above. Delicious!

I’ve always added ketchup or some other ‘saucy’ ingredient to my meatloaf, as well… something I learned from my Mom. This makes it very moist and gives it the best flavor. I’ve used BBQ sauce, chunky pasta sauce and even Alfredo sauce, in place of the ketchup. Again, I choose this ingredient to compliment the rest of the recipe.

What special ingredients do you add to your meatloaf? I’d love to expand my ‘meatloaf horizons’.

Photo by: su-lin