Last year my cousin, Eric, started up his own barbeque sauce company called Flatlander (you know, because we live in Kansas–the flattest place on Earth!), and I am in love with his products.  There are three: Original Barbeque Sauce, Spicy Barbeque Sauce, and Doo-Dah Rub.  (Doo-Dah is Wichita’s nickname in case you were wondering about that one).  They are all fantastic but I can’t get enough of the spicy sauce.  I went through an entire bottle yesterday!  Sometimes I will just take slices of cheddar cheese and pour some of that sauce on top for a snack, and once I even poured some directly into my mouth.  I’ve never been a huge barbeque sauce lover, but I do love this sauce!

The original sauce is sweet & perfect.  The spicy is mild enough that even people who don’t like heat would enjoy it, but I really like the zip it has compared to the original.  The rub is a blend of spices & sugar and tastes incredible on chicken.  OK, it tastes incredible on everything–it’s very versatile.  I even put it on my green beans once!

My favorite thing to make with the sauce is Smoky Barbecue Chicken Pizza, but it is good on anything.  My most recent creation is this meatloaf, which I named after the company since I used two of Eric’s products in it.  It is a fun twist on traditional meatloaf, with bacon, cheddar and onions in the loaf and barbecue sauce, more cheddar & bacon, and french-fried onions on top.  Paula Deen, eat your heart out!

Flatlander Meatloaf
Printable Recipe

4 slices bread
2 lb lean ground beef
1 ½ cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled, divided
1 small onion, chopped
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 T Doo-Dah rub*
½ t salt
¼ t pepper
½ c barbecue sauce (I used Flatlander’s spicy)
1/3 c French fried onions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Tear the bread slices into small pieces and process in a food processor or blender until fine crumbs.  In a large bowl, mix the bread crumbs with the ground beef, 1 cup of the cheddar cheese, 3 slices of the crumbled bacon, onion, tomato sauce, egg, Doo-Dah rub*, salt & pepper.  Pat it into a loaf pan and spread the barbecue sauce on top.  Bake for 1 ½ hours (or until a meat thermometer reads 160° F), then remove to drain off the fat & juices, then put more sauce if desired & sprinkle remaining ½ cup cheese, 3 slices crumbled bacon & French fried onions.  Bake until cheese is melted, about five more minutes.  Remove and let sit 10 minutes before slicing. 

*If you would like to make this without the Doo-Dah rub, you could try omitting it completely, replacing it with a mixture of 1 T brown sugar, 1 t paprika, 1 t chili powder and 1 t garlic powder, replacing it with your own meat rub, or replacing the tomato sauce with barbecue sauce.

Recipe source: Recipe Rhapsody

If you would like to win a bottle of all three products as pictured above, simply leave a comment below telling me what’s your favorite thing to make (or eat) with barbecue sauce. To gain an extra entry, subscribe by email (box in upper right corner of my blog) or RSS and let me know you did (or already do) in a second comment. Winner will be chosen using a random number generator and will be announced Tuesday, April 20, 2010. Deadline to enter is Monday, April 19, 2010 at midnight.  Sorry, time’s up! Winner below.

Congratulations to Suzie, commenter number 19, who loves bacon-wrapped barbecue shrimp! The sauce is on its way–go wild!