"Look what I brought for you," quipped my vegetarian roommate as he pulled groceries out of the Trader Joe's bag. I took the black-plastic shrink-wrapped package and turned it over. On the label was a line drawing of a buffalo, done in red. 100% buffalo meat, read the package, one pound.

According to Joy, buffalo is higher in protein, lower in cholesterol and has about half the calories of beef. It is also supposed to be sweeter than beef and, because it is not marbled with fat, it cooks faster. Joy recommended not cooking it any longer than medium because it has a tendency to get tough and dry out.

As this was my first adventure with buffalo, and since it was ground anyway, I opted to throw together a simple loaf; a buffaloaf, as I am fond of calling it. Dropping the cube of meat into a large glass bowl, I added two eggs, about two cups of oats, 2 tbsps each of cayenne, mustard powder, pepper and garlic powder. On top of that, I added about 4 tbsps each of worcestershire and oyster sauce. Once all that was thoroughly incorporated (and I washed the mess off my hands), I covered the bowl loosely with a paper towel and popped it into the fridge.

Next, I washed and sliced five smallish russets and a medium-sized orange bell pepper. These went into a bowl with half of an onion, sliced and an anaheim chili, stem removed and sliced.

After about two hours, I pulled the buffaloaf out and arranged it into a nice block in an aluminium foil-lined baking pan. I layered the onions, potatoes and bell pepper slices around the outside and arranged a few onion slices and the chilies on top. The pan was then placed, uncovered, into a pre-heated 375° oven.

Because of Joy's warning, I was a bit apprehensive about over-cooking, but didn't want to undercook it either. It turned out that about 35 minutes cooked it quite nicely, although the potatoes were a touch under-done and a little crunchy. The buffaloaf itself was quite lovely. It was indeed much sweeter and more flavorful than beef. And the buffaloaf sandwiches on the following days have been very tasty; I've been doing them topped with a little gouda and some tomato in addition to the onion and bell pepper.

Next time, I will add raisins to the loaf itself. I also think pre-cooking the potatoes and adding them half-way through the baking would be a good idea. Also, because it has less fat, the buffalo doesn't produce nearly as much juice, so I was contemplating supplementing with a mushroom stock.

I just had Trader Joe's buffalo meat and my husband and I were on here trying to figure out if the meat is really buffalo. It does have a red buffalo on package and said high in protein and it did cook fast and almost dried out. It was so good. I made us all cheeseburgers and my kids loved them. I am going to try your meatloaf next. I grew up on meatloaf and love it but have never have it made out of buffalo. But to my knowledge they are real buffalo burgers in the freezer section at Trader Joe's.

I'm interested in finding the recipe for Trader Joe's Sun Dried Tomato and Pesto Torta. It's delicious and since we don't have Trader Joe's in Florida yet, I want to make it myself!!

TO GWEN:
Yes, the meat you got from Trader Joe's is in fact Buffalo Meat. I have been buying and eating buffalo meat for years now (was buying it online and having it shipped) and enjoy the taste and mainly the health benefits. Just watch your burgers... they really only need 3 minutes on each side-make them thick. they won't dry out.

PLEASE help me find a restaurant that serves buffalo meat in the greater Tampa Bay area for my 80 year old Mom. Thank you for your help.