Unappetizing Name, Delicious Outcome

It only took me six years to make Nick's favorite dish: meatloaf.  As gross as it sounds, I got over my fear of the loaf of meat and made the Cooks Illustrated version tonight.  It was a fairly straightforward recipe, though we added our own twist by buying whole cuts of beef and pork.  Nick loves to use the meat grinder we got for our wedding:

The mixture was, as I understand it, a fairly straightforward combination: beef, pork, beaten eggs, thyme, salt and pepper, sauteed onions and garlic, oatmeal, milk, Worcestershire sauce, and parsley.

 The glaze recipe was a mixture of ketchup, brown sugar, and apple cider vinegar.  Very authentic according to my mother, whose recipe comes from my grandmother.

I chose not to wrap the meatloaf in bacon, partially because we ran out of the good nitrate-free stuff from Costco, and because I made some delicious mashed potatoes (with butter and half and half) to eat along with it (comfort food, yes, healthy, no).
I put a second coat of glaze on the meatloaf after 45 minutes of baking.  The remaining 15 minutes of cooking and 20 minutes of resting seemed like an eternity to my salivating husband.

 I treated the meatloaf as a more of a free form meatball, and was able to enjoy it.  I even enjoyed making it, though I have to admit I had Nick form it into the loaf shape...some things are better left done to the person requesting the meal :)