Meatloaf

I hadn't made meatloaf in more than a dozen years. I gave up red meat when I had chronic fatigue syndrome and it's only been in the last couple of years I've worked it back into my diet. But it has to be local meat, free range and preferably organic. That way we won't get any of the crap the commercial farmers are shooting into their animals. And we only eat it once a week.

So, Rob got a couple pounds of local organic beef at the tailgate market and I made meatloaf. I changed a couple things -- I added chipotle peppers and spiced it ip a bit.

My kids always loved my meatloaf, but when Rob came along, he was relctant to try it. I told him the same thing I told my kids: You have to at least taste it. If you don't like it, we'll talk about something else. He was shocked that it tasted good.

I never had the misfortune of eating Rob's mother's meatloaf, but the kids did, when Rob and I were on out honeymoon. Elsie asked if anyone wanted meatloaf for dinner, and both my boys jumped up and down with excitement.

Hers was dreadful. It had too many eggs, no spices and it was undercooked. Danny, not wanting to hurt her feelings, had seconds. Mike pretended to be sick.

And there was born a new rule in our household: Whenever Elsie came to visit, there would be no ground beef in the house. Ever. Period.