Meatloaf Muffins

One of my favorite comfort foods is meatloaf and mashed potatoes.  Several meatloaf recipes have made it to this blog and all of them have been good in their own way, but now this one is my favorite.  There is really no special ingredients that are added, but I  think that sauteing the peppers, onion , and garlic makes a big difference in the flavor.  This was not my bright idea although I would love to take credit.  Emeril Lagasse’s recipe for meatloaf kept coming up at the top of my Best Meatloaf search and while his recipe is much more complicated than this simple one he did saute the vegetables first.  So I thought I would give it a try and guess what it works great!  The idea for these Meatloaf Muffins came from Better Homes and Garden’s Make and Take magazine.  I think it is a great idea if you have small children or you do want to take this to a pot luck dinner.  But, I found them to be more time consuming than just the standard free formed meatloaf cooked on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Although the muffins might take a shorter time to cook I found that placing them in the muffin pans took longer to prepare.     This recipe made it to my table three times last month and even the leftovers are grand!

For the mashed potatoes to save time you could use the frozen or the ones that you find in the dairy section of the grocery.  Me I prefer to make mine from scratch!  So you enjoy this comfort food while we are having this run of cold temperatures.  By the way all is well on the home front and school is going great.  We are wrapping up our quick bread unit in the next few weeks and I am looking forward to testing these cheese biscuits tomorrow.  Would you like to be the lucky person that gets to be the taste tester for 24 different biscuits?  It could be very interesting.

Meatloaf Muffins combined from several recipes

Yield:  10-12 servings

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 green pepper ,chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1/2 cup  bread crumbs ( I made mine from a few slices of bread in the food processor)
• 2 pounds  lean ground beef
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 teaspoon chile powder
• 24 oz. mashed potatoes
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Saute onion, pepper, and garlic in  a small amount of olive oil.  Cook 2 -3 minutes  until vegetables are soft.  Set aside to cool.
3. In a large bowl mix ground meat with cooled vegetables, eggs, bread crumbs, salt, and pepper, 3 tablespoons ketchup, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce.
4. Lightly press about a 1/3 cup of the meat mixture into each of twelve 2 1/2 in. muffin cups.
5. Mix together 1/2 cup ketchup and teaspoon chili powder.
6. Top each with about 1 tablespoon of the ketchup mixture.
7.  Place muffin pan on a large baking sheet.  Be prepared for the juices to over flow!
8. Bake for about 40 minutes or until internal temperature register 160 degrees.
9. Meanwhile prepare potatoes.
10. Top each meatloaf with about 1/4 cup mashed potatoes.  Sprinkle with cheddar cheese.
11. Return to the oven for about 5 minutes to melt cheese.
12. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon.

*I do prefer cooking the meatloaf in one loaf free formed like this.  It cooked for about 45 minutes.

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