Product review and meatloaf

One of the main reasons I got into the blogging business was for free stuff. I had visions of housewares vendors sending my knives, pots, pans and all sorts of graft (I'm still waiting All Clad and La Creuset, call me).

But a month and a half ago I received an email from Al at Country's Bob's All Purpose Sauce. He asked if I would be interested in reviewing their product for Zack Can Cook. Never one to turn down free sauce I agreed and cooked my first recipe last night: meatloaf.

Before I started cooking the first thing I did was just taste the sauce so I knew what to expect. It has a spicy smell to it and the taste was somewhere between ketchup and A-1 steak sauce. It was good, a little sweet, but nice.

As for the meatloaf, I have a pretty standard method for making mine and they have a recipe at Country Bob's. You can choose which one you like best. Here's what I did.

1 large onion diced
1 large green pepper diced
1 banana pepper diced (optional)
1 jalapeno diced (optional)
2 cloves of garlic diced
1-pound lean ground beef
1-pound ground pork
1/2 to 3/4 cup of Country Bob's
1 cup of breadcrumbs
2 eggs
salt and pepper

1 cup of Country Bob's for glaze

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Dice all the veggies and place cook in a sautee pan until just about brown, add the garlic and cook for another minute or two. Set aside to cool.

In large work bowl combine all the other ingredients, cooled veggies and half a cup of breadcrumbs and mix with your clean hands. Yeah, it's not pretty, but it's the only way to integrate all the ingredients. Depending on the consistency add extra breadcrumbs. Let sit for 10 to 15 minutes for all the flavors to combine.

Place the mixture in a roasting pan and form into loaf-like shape. Cook for 45 minutes and the pour some Country Bob's on top and cook for another 15 to 20 minutes.

The results are a nice, light meatloaf with some good flavor. I think the sauce gave it a sweet and almost smokey flavor. I basically used Country Bob's in place of ketchup, mustard and Worcestershire sauce that I would normally use in my mix.

I still have some Country Bob's next and will use it again. I'm just not sure which recipe I'm going to use.