meatloaf minis

We are all about cheap meals in the Sandor house. I am not about to diss ground beef for that very reason. And I will certainly celebrate on-sale ground turkey! A few months ago we had lunch at a friend's house. She made meatloaf minis -- a meatloaf recipe baked in a muffin pan -- complete with broccoli and mashed taters. It was awesome. And who doesn't love some soul-food-esque cooking from time to time?

I went to Harp's to pick up a few extras for the week, and ground turkey was on sale, cheaper than ground beef. I never buy ground beef at Wal-Mart. (I probably shouldn't say never...) Or eggs. Harp's beef is processed in-house. It's not organic or grass-fed, but it has fewer additives. And the eggs at Harp's are free range and local. Score.

So I picked up the ground turkey and gave the meatloaf mini recipe a spin. Here it is:

Preheat oven at 350

1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of ketchup

Mix 'em. I only used 1/2 this, so you could go with a 1/4 cup of each. You'll "inject" the minis with this combo before they go in the oven. I suppose you can use your choice of BBQ sauce if you want, but this is cheaper, for sure.

1 1/2 lbs ground beef/turkey
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk (I am not really sure why the milk is used, but they turn out super-tasty, so your call!)
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger (THIS, my friends, is the key! I have some packaged, refrigerated ginger that I use in my stir fry and curry dishes that's PERFECT...or at least I thought so. The sweet/bbq flavor with the ginger is an amazing combo!)
3/4 cup saltines/breadcrumbs, whatever texture you prefer...corn flakes, oatmeal???

Mix up all the above ingredients. (I love to get my hands dirty when I make meatloaf :))
Form big meatball sized to-be mini loafs and plop them in a greased muffin pan.
Using a tablespoon, scoop up some of the brown sugar-ketchup mix and "inject" each mini loaf with about a teaspoon.
Bake at 350 for about a 1/2 hour.

I serve it with a bit of the brown sugar-ketchup combo on the side. With steamed broc and some mashed taters! Yum-o. As an aside: my favorite kind of mashed taters are new potatoes with the skins. They turn out super creamy.