Mini Meatloafs

When I had my baby 4 months ago (holy moly, has it really been that long?), I was given some freezer meals from friends at my church. One of the meals was these little meatloafs and twice baked potatoes. I have never made meatloaf before but when we ate these for dinner they were so good. I decided to try making them myself and we loved them again. They are super simple and fast and yummy.

Meatloaf Muffins with Barbecue Sauce
Adapted from Rachel Ray

• 1 2/3 to 1 3/4 pounds ground sirloin
• 1 medium onion, cut into chunks
• 2 ribs celery from the heart of the stalk, cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 large egg plus a splash of milk, beaten
• 1 cup plain bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoons grill seasoning (recommended: Montreal Steak Seasoning by McCormick)
• 1 cup smoky barbecue sauce
• 1/2 cup tomato salsa
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• Vegetable oil or extra-virgin olive oil
• Micro-way-cool Bacon and Green Beans, recipe follows
• Smashed potatoes and cream cheese, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Put ground beef into a big bowl. Put onion and celery into a food processor. Cut the bell pepper in half, rip out the seeds and throw them into your garbage bowl. Cut the pepper into a few pieces and add to the food processor. Pulse the processor blades to finely chop the vegetables into very small pieces then add them to the meat bowl. Add egg, beaten with milk, bread crumbs and grill seasoning to the bowl. Next, mix together the smoky barbecue sauce, the salsa and the Worcestershire sauce. Pour half the sauce mixture into the bowl with the meatloaf mix. Mix the meatloaf together with your hands. Wash up. Brush a 12-muffin tin (1/2-cup each) with vegetable oil or extra-virgin olive oil. Use an ice cream scoop to help you fill meat into a each tin. Top each meat loaf with a spoonful of extra sauce. Bake about 20 minutes. Cut open 1 muffin to test that the middle is cooked through. While meatloaf muffins bake, make green beans in the microwave. Serve meatloaf with Smashed Potatoes and Cream Cheese on the side, too.

Okay, I kind of just used this recipe as a guide and didn't follow it exactly. I left out onions and green peppers since we don't like them and added carrot. I also used ground turkey. These also freeze well.