Life's Abundance Looks Like Brand "X" ~ The Meatloaf Story

Dr. Jane Bicks, DVM, is the nationally known holistic veterinarian who formulates pet products for Life's Abundance.  Dr. Jane tells “The Meatloaf Story.” You're probably wondering why the product formulator for Life's Abundance pet products is talking about meatloaf. Read on and you'll find out . . . . 

The Story

Betty and Bill are two singles who’ve each been asked to bring a meatloaf to their social group’s get-together on Saturday. Bill has never made a meatloaf, but he knows Betty makes a good one, so he asks her for her recipe. Betty is happy to share her recipe and sends this to Bill.

Ingredients:

    2 pounds ground beef
    1/2 cup bread crumbs
    1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
    2 eggs, beaten
    1/4 cup finely chopped onion
    2 tablespoons finely chopped green bell pepper
    1 teaspoon salt
    1/4 teaspoon ground thyme
    1/4 teaspoon ground marjoram
    1/4 cup ketchup
    2 tablespoons light corn syrup

Directions:

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Combine ground beef, cracker crumbs, tomato sauce, eggs, onion, bell pepper, salt, thyme, and marjoram in a large bowl and mix well. Shape beef mixture into a loaf. Place loaf in a 9×13 inch baking dish. Cover with foil and bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour. Meanwhile, mix ketchup and corn syrup in a small bowl to make a glaze.
3. Remove baking dish from the oven and remove foil. Brush glaze onto the loaf. Return baking dish to the oven uncovered, and continue baking until loaf is no longer pink in the center, 15 to 20 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).

Friday night, Bill suddenly remembers the meatloaf he’s supposed to make. He wants to play golf on Saturday, so he decides he better make his meatloaf tonight. Fortunately for Bill, he had picked up some ground beef when he was at the store last week because it was on sale. As far as he can tell, it’s still good ~ that gray color doesn’t really matter, does it?

Bill begins to go through the ingredient list. He’s got the beef, and the bread crumbs are easy. He doesn’t know why he was saving all those bread heels in his fridge. He just didn’t like throwing out things he had paid for, and now he can use them. The fact that they are stale and hard as rocks just makes them easier to turn into crumbs.

He has to dig around but finally finds an old can of tomato sauce. The “best by” date is two years past, but it’s in a can! It can’t go bad, right?

Darn! He’s out of eggs ~ but then he remembers. He’s got some leftover powdered egg from that hiking trip he went on last summer ~ that’ll do.

Hmm, 1/4 cup finely chopped onion ~ no fresh onion, but luckily, his mom bought him a spice rack when he went off to college (ten years ago) and he remembers a bottle labeled “Onion Powder.” It looks like about a ¼ cup.

Then 2 tablespoons of finely chopped green bell pepper—no bell pepper either. But not to fear! Bill is the luckiest man alive. It just so happens that he ordered pizza last night, or was it the night before? It had bell peppers on it and he has half a pizza left in the fridge. He manages to pick off just enough bell pepper for this recipe.

Salt is not a problem ~ but where’s that teaspoon measure? Oh well, a few dashes ought to do.

He’s got the 1/4 teaspoon ground thyme and 1/4 teaspoon ground marjoram covered ~ thanks, Mom! In go a few dashes of each.

Ketchup he has. Bill loves ketchup. Can’t have too much ketchup!

And finally corn syrup. He doesn’t quite have two tablespoons left ~ but corn oil is about the same thing, right?

Bill mixes all the ingredients together, including the ketchup, which he likes a lot, and the corn syrup/oil. He puts it in the pan and then into the oven, which he forgot to preheat. No biggie! Just turn it up a little extra.

Then Bill goes to watch the ball game. It’s a sleeper; and sleep he does ~ until he smells something burning. Bill runs to the kitchen and grabs the meatloaf from the oven. Had he remembered to cover it as the instructions said, it might not have been so black on top. Well, the glaze will cover it! Oops! The ingredients for the glaze are in the meatloaf ~ but not to worry; Bill has plenty of ketchup and corn oil.

He makes more glaze and then puts the meatloaf in the refrigerator to keep until tomorrow.

Saturday morning, Betty gets up early and goes to the butcher. She picks the choicest cuts of sirloin and has the butcher trim it and turn it into ground beef. On the way home she stops by the bakery for fresh bread crumbs and the grocery store because she’s out of corn syrup and needs a fresh onion.

When Betty gets home, she goes through her normal Saturday routine until about three hours before the get-together. She makes her own tomato sauce from the tomatoes she picked this afternoon from her vegetable garden. Then she turns on the oven to precisely 350° to preheat and gathers her ingredients. The bell pepper, thyme, and marjoram also come from her garden. The eggs she bought this morning from her neighbor who keeps a few laying hens. She combines the ingredients according to the instructions, places the loaf in the pan, covers with foil, places it in the oven, and sets the timer. Then she makes the glaze and goes to put on her makeup.

One hour later she puts on the glaze, returns the meatloaf to the oven, uncovered, and sets the timer for another 20 minutes. She goes and gets dressed. When the timer goes off, she checks the meatloaf with her instant-read thermometer ~ it reads 167 degrees. Done! She’s off to the party.

Bill’s golf game lasts longer than he expected, so he’s running late. He gets home, jumps in the shower, throws on some clean clothes, and rushes out the door. Five minutes later he’s back ~ he forgot his meatloaf. He knows he can’t take a cold meatloaf, but he doesn’t want to be too late either. He quickly puts the meatloaf in the oven and turns it up as high as it will go, all the way on broil, and sets the timer for ten minutes. As soon as the timer goes off, he grabs the meatloaf and heads out the door.

Now imagine that you are at this gathering of friends, and you have the choice of the two meatloaves. Both were made from the same recipe. If the ingredients were labeled (as on a bag of cat or dog food), the ingredient lists would be identical. Even considering the corn oil substitute in Bill’s meatloaf, the FDA allows a “temporary” substitution (up to six months) without changing a label.

So which meatloaf would you choose? Which meatloaf represents “quality”? Which one represents “freshness”? Would you know the difference between the two if all you had to go on were the ingredients listed on labels?

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Raven is an engaging entrepreneur who encourages others to celebrate pets as part of the family, as well as keep them happy, healthy, and spoiled with her online specialty pet boutique (http://www.TheGiftedPet.com), and premium pet food business (http://www.PremiumPetFoodStore.com)

For more information, please visit her Facebook page to PM her (https://www.facebook.com/TheGiftedPet), or email her at Raven@TheGiftedPet.com