Tonight I needed a quick and easy protein packed meal that could easily double as lunches or grab and go food throughout the week, so I turned to my favorite (and almost always the same) GF mini meatloaves.
Growing up I really disliked meatloaf, and it’s only been in the past couple of years that I threw the recipes out the window and just started throwing things together, and one route eventually stuck ( no pun intended). I like to make these in muffin tins because they are easy to grab and go as needed. I am so over my quick and easy snacks being tantalizing to my taste buds-I know what I need and when I need it-so I just grab and off I go.
The recipe (if you can call it that-remember I threw ’em out the window and began tossing things in a bowl?) is as follows:
1# ground beef
1/2 # ground pork
1 small to medium onion
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp parsley
sea salt
pepper
2 garlic cloves
2 eggs
**optional: feta or cheddar cheese
First what I do is take the meat out of the fridge and let it sit for an hour or so at room temperature so my hands don’t ache when I take of my rings and mix this all with my own paddles. Then I set the oven to preheat at 450.
I dice up the onion and add it to my cast iron skillet (with left over bacon grease), saute until getting softish, then add in the thyme, parsley, sea salt and pepper. Right before I take it out I add in two cloves of minced garlic, then remove from heat and set aside. The cast iron skillet keeps it warm until I need it.
In a bowl I mix the two packages of meat together, add the two eggs and the onion mixture.
I oil or butter up my muffin tins, and do one of two things:
If I’m baking these with cheese, I fill the tins about half full, then poke a hole with my finger and plop in a cube of cheese or some feta, then fill the tin and move on to the next.
If I’m NOT using cheese, I just fill the tins, add water to any that are empty and pop it in the oven.
Sometimes it makes 18 small mini loaves, which are perfect for lunches, and at other times I’ll add more to each one and only do a dozen. Depends upon the week ahead.
Is there a meal you like now that your mother could never get you to eat growing up? Share it with us below!
