Mini, but mighty meaty.
I must confess, I make meatloaf using muffin pans. Is that strange? Probably. See, sometimes it’s like Dinner Time Fight Club around here. Everybody, and I mean everybody wants the crunchy bits. How can I make everybody happy and support family harmony? Mini meatloaf. It’s the only why I know how to make sure everyone gets crunchy bits.
Mini meatloaf
The meaty mix.
1 pound lean ground beef
1 pound ground Italian sausage
1 pound ground turkey
1 can diced tomatoes
2 eggs
Diced onions (I use the dried onions and I use about a 1/3 of a cup)
Salt & pepper (a dash or two)
Cilantro (a dash)
Bread crumbs (1 cup to 2 cups:what ever it takes to firm the meat up so it’s not soupy.)
The sauce.
8 oz can of tomato sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
Some candied jalapeno relish would be fabulous in the sauce!
Cilantro
A squirt of ketchup (I know…so classy)
Directions.
oven temp 350
Get everything together.
Then put on plastic gloves (unless u like meaty fingers) *rinse the gloves if they have powder on them*
Mix all the meat ingredients together, leaving the bread crumbs as the last item. You may only need 1 cup of bread crumbs, if the meat mixture is not firm-ish then add more bread crumbs until it is. In a separate bowl mix tomato sauce, brown sugar and ketchup. This is your glaze.
If you prefer spicy to sweet the use salsa instead of brown sugar.
You need 2 (12 cup) muffin pans and an ice-cream scooper. Use the ice-cream scooper to place the meat in the muffin pan. 1 scoop should almost fill each opening, but don’t overflow it. Once you’ve placed the meat in the muffin pan cover each meaty cup with a teaspoon of the sauce. Bake for about 30 min. or until firm and crispy. I usually leave mine in about 45 min.
My picture (only one picture, shocking Huh?) was taken via my iPhone. I am linking up with 
Remember that we’re linking up our canning posts on Monday!
Allie and I will be hosting the canning link up, please feel free to link up any canning post you have written. New, old…no biggie.
Have a safe and enjoyable weekend!
- Posted in: baking ♦ blogging ♦ Cooking ♦ dinner ♦ Family ♦ food ♦ Frugal living ♦ grocery shopping ♦ homemaking ♦ Meal planning ♦ Meat ♦ savory ♦ Texas
- Tagged: baking, Bell pepper, Bread crumbs, Brown sugar, Chicken, cook, Cooking, dinner, Family, food, frugal living, Garlic, Home, homemade, Homemaking, iPhone, Meat, Recipe, Tablespoon, Texas, Tomato sauce
A Dash of Domestic 
what a clever idea! have a super weekend, I will be making preserved something … 🙂
I like this idea. My first thought was they might get greasy, but you use such lean meat I don’t see that happening. Oh Hayes Carll is coming out with a new album or just put one out. Carry on!
You’re right Greg. It would get greasy if the meats were not very lean. They make great meatloaf sandwiches. 😀
I’ll let my husband know about the release. He need more slightly inappropriate songs to sing. 🙂
What fantastic idea – reminds me of the Italian “polpette” my family used to make!
YUM!
Okay – I hate meatloaf. I mean HATE. IT. But my family enjoys it when my Mama makes it and I’m thinking that maybe, just maybe I could tolerate making it if it were in cute little muffin cups versus one huge BLOB of raw meat.
Don’t misunderstand… I’m not anti-hamburger – I love ground beef – use it all the time, but something about a huge BLOB of it, filled with onions (YUCK) and slathered in ketchup… well, it just grosses me out! Do 35 year old women say “grosses me out”? Should I have gotten over that phrase in, like, the 7th grade? LOL. Sorry Jamie – probably not a great comment, huh? Anyway, I’ve missed touching base with you lately – hope all is well – and thanks for the possible solution to my serious, and I mean ser.i.ous. hate of meatloaf. 🙂
Oh Rose! 😀 I’m so happy to hear from you. 🙂 Not everyone likes meatloaf, it is a fact! I like the small servings because they don’t get all mushy. 🙂
Great idea for meatloaf-love it!
Thank you! 😀