Meat Loaf Muffins

Who doesn’t love a good meat loaf? These single-serving wonders from The I Love Trader Joe’s College Cookbook (Ulysses Press, 2011), by Andrea Lynn, use peppers, onions, and garlic-cheese croutons for an infusion of extra flavor. Plus, the smaller serving size means a greatly reduced cooking time – the whole dish comes together in under an hour.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Trader Joe’s Cheese and Garlic Croutons
3/4 pound Trader Joe’s Butcher Shop Ground Beef 96/4
1 cup frozen Trader Joe’s Fire Roasted Bell Pepper and Onions, thawed
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 large egg
2 tablespoons ketchup
1/2 Trader Joe’s Hot and Sweet Mustard

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 8 muffin cups with cooking spray.

2. Seal the croutons into a plastic bag and pound into crumbs. In a large bowl, mix the crumbs, ground beef, pepper and onions, salt, pepper, egg, and ketchup.

3. Pack the meat mixture into as many prepared muffin cups as possible until almost full but not overflowing. Pour water into any empty cups to prevent scorching. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and glaze each meat loaf with the mustard.

4. Return the pan to the oven and cook for an additional 15 minutes. Cut into one meat loaf to make sure it’s no longer pink. Cool for a few minutes.

Makes 8 muffins

Excerpted from The I Love Trader Joe’s College Cookbook © 2011. Reprinted with permission of Ulysses Press.

We’re big fans of meatloaf. That’s why the Grandparents.com Recipe section includes multiple varieties, including The World’s Moistest Meatloaf.