My favorite meal is meatloaf because whenever my mother made meatloaf my father would pull out of a drawer a cardboard cut out of a duck's head and a pair of wings. To the delight of the hungry children - we were 4 - he would announce, "Children, your mother has made us mock duck. Mock duck has come to us" and grin at my mother. I thought that mock was a special type of duck that only my family knew about and that may be my mother caught in the ravine behind the house. It was sort of like Santa Claus, you just wanted to believe.

PS I never actually had real duck until I grew up. I'm not sure that this isn't better

Mock Duck

1 lb lean ground beef

1/2 lb ground pork sausage

1/2 lb mild ground chirozo sausage

2 eggs

1/2 clove of pressed garlic

1 small minced onion

1 tsp allspice

1 tsp salt or to taste

1 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp Worchestershire Sauce

1 cup of rolled oats, shredded medium fine in the food processor

1/4 cup coarsely ground hazel nuts or pecans

1 cup of milk or enough to hold the mixture together

4 strips of bacon (optional)

Mix everything together and form two loaves. Lay the strips of bacon on the loaves length ways. Bake at 350 for an hour and 15 minutes. Remove from oven and serve one loaf hot (don't forget the pretend head and wings made of cardboard). Save the other loaf for wonderful sandwiches.

Each loaf serves 4-6.

About the author:

Susan Love, a former teacher and fundraiser, wanted to create something that would help people reconnect. A family cookbook with pictures and stories seemed a good way to do this. She created a web site where family and friends can put together and publish a cookbook with recipes and pictures and stories. http://www.HeritageCookbook.com