Recipe Review: Meatloaf Muffins

I'm not big on meatloaf. The only one I ever really "liked" was the one my husbands grandmother would make when we would go to her place for dinner. Somehow she made it not only bearable but managed to make it yummy to me too, so all this time I've had hope that I would someday find a good meatloaf recipe.

You know how meatloaf can get dry and still somehow a little slimey? This recipe definitely doesn't do that. It's now on the list of recipes I'll make again (there aren't many on this list but it has been slowly growing lately). I'm not big on mustard either and there is mustard in this recipe. When I was mixing it all together the mustard really stood out as a strong smell to me and I didn't think I would like it because of that. Against my better judgment I went ahead and followed the recipe as written (a rarity for me for sure!) and was pleasantly surprised. It was easy to put together, nothing crazy in the ingredient list, and baked up delish! These are very point-friendly too.

Hard to get a good photo in a hurry, at night, with poor kitchen lighting. I really need to plan ahead and get a better lit photo one of these days.

Meatloaf Muffins
original recipe Shrinking on a Budget

Serves 6

Ingredients
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup grated carrot
1/2 teaspoon italian seasoning
2 garlic cloves, minced (or 1 teaspoon jarred garlic)
3/4 cup ketchup, divided
1 1/2 lbs extra lean ground beef
1 cup finely crushed saltine crackers (about 20)
3 tablespoons prepared mustard, divided
1 teaspoons brown sugar or Equal
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
2 large eggs, beaten
(2) sticks 2% String cheese
cooking spray

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°.  Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion, chopped carrot, dried italian seasoning, and minced garlic; sauté 2 minutes. Take off heat and cool for 5 minutes.

Thoroughly combine onion mixture, 1/2 cup of the ketchup, 2 tablespoons of the mustard, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper and eggs in a large bowl. After combining wet ingredients, add ground beef and cracker. Incorporate all well, but don't over mix.

Cut each string cheese stick into six equal pieces (total of 12). Combine 1/4 cup ketchup, 1 tablespoons mustard, and brown sugar. Spoon the meat mixture evenly into 12 (medium) muffin tin cups coated with cooking spray (or 6 of the very large muffin cups). "Squish" 1 string cheese piece in each meatloaf muffin so it is at least somewhat covered with meat. Top each evenly with ketchup mixture. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until a thermometer registers 160°. Let stand for 5 minutes.

wwp: 6