One of my favorite cooking tips comes from Rachael Ray of 30-Minute Meals on Food Network. She calls them meatloaf muffins. I call them mini-meatloafs.
So, here's the tip:
Use your ice cream scooper to shape your meatloaf. For real! Use your favorite recipe, scoop into muffin (cupcake) pans, bake for 20 minutes at 450 degrees F. So easy, so yummy, so cute!
Another tip:
Finely shred vegetables and mix into the meatloaf mix. Carrots, broccoli, peppers, zucchini, all work.
Here is my base recipe (I usually double it):
2 lbs. ground sirloin
1 medium onion, cut into chunks
2 carrots, cut into chunks
1 green or red pepper, cut into chunks
1 egg, beaten
1 cup plain bread crumbs
1 1/2 cup spaghetti or barbecue sauce
salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 450F.
Put ground sirloin into a big bowl. Finely chop vegetables in food processor and add to meat bowl. Add egg, bread crumbs, sauce, salt, and pepper. Mix it altogether with your hands. (Or, in my case, make the kids mix it with their hands.) Wash up and spray two muffin pans with Pam. Use an ice-cream scooper to fill each tin with meat mixture. Should be nicely rounded when you drop it in.
I like to then top each mini-meatloaf with an extra spoonful of sauce.
Bake for 20 minutes. To double check, just cut one open and make sure there is no pink.
If you like cheesy meatloaf, top each meatloaf with cheese in the last 5 minutes of cooking.
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6 comments:
I like Rachael Ray, too. My kids have even been known to play Rachael Ray/Cooking Show. :-) I'm enjoying your blog and loved the wrapping paper story. It's so true that our children can inspire the most intense of emotions, for good or for ill ....
Oh, we love Rachael Ray. Watched her today.
Even the 4 yr old loves her. : )
She is adorable, isn't she? I'd love to have her over for a backyard barbecue.
I love visiting your blog too Karen. In fact, you had me weeping with your story of how you came to be open to children.
PS The mini-meatloafs make great giant meatballs for spaghetti!!!
Cay, our little one (3yo) loves Rachael, too. And of course she knows Alton Brown by name too! We love him as well.
Maureen, you're too kind. If you're like me, you just weep a lot during the Christmas season anyway. :-)
Karen
Alton Brown is awesome! Good Eats is like a science lesson. And I love his gadgets. Did you see the cake decorating episod where he uses wooden pickets and a band saw to level the cake?
Oh gosh, I don't need Christmas to cry. I do it all the time. I don't know if it's momitus or middle age :-).
Yes, I saw that cake episode! He's a riot. We had a chance to see him nearby, but someone was sick that day. :-(
Well, I cry throughout the year as well. I guess I could blame momitus (love that) or middle age, or just hypersensitive tear ducts that are easily touched these days ....
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