Marvelous Mini Meatloaves

Mike and I love meatloaf. Usually just plain old fashion meatloaf; it’s such a comfort food. Wouldn’t you agree? The other day I was paging through one of the many Kraft Food & Family magazines that we have accumulated and I saw a recipe for these marvelous mini meatloaves.  They looked like they would be a fun way to serve meatloaf.

These mini meatloaves are baked in a muffin tin and they had four different options on what seasonings to use. I had decided to make a couple of the options, that way the family would have a choice for their dinner. But when I went to look to see if I had all of the ingredients for the ones that I wanted to make I found that I was lacking some of the ingredients that were called for.

So I settled on the Italian option. I did adapt the recipe to my liking; one of the ingredients for the meatloaf was a box of Stove Top Stuffing mix. That just didn’t sound like that would be to my liking for this meatloaf so I ended up using Italian flavored breadcrumbs instead. Since the breadcrumbs didn’t expand as much as the stuffing would have my meatloaves were a little smaller than what was pictured in the magazine.

I am planning on making the other three options in the future so I will be using a little more ground beef the next time to make up for the stuffing. Once I make the other options I will be sure to share them with you. I think it would be fun to make the four different options all at one time, that way there would be something for everyone. I will share the flavors of the other options after I cook them, so you will have to wait and see.

Marvelous Mini Meatloaves (Adapted from the Kraft Food & Family magazine)
1 pound lean ground beef
1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 egg
1/4 cup spaghetti sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Toppings:
Spaghetti sauce (1 teaspoon per meatloaf)
1/2 cup of Mozzarella cheese
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix meat, bread crumbs, Italian seasoning, egg, 1/4 cups spaghetti sauce, salt, and pepper. Spray 9 medium muffin cups with cooking spray. Divide meat mixture into 9 even parts and press into muffin cups. Make an indentation in the center of each with a back of a spoon.
2. Top each mini meatloaf with a teaspoon of spaghetti sauce.
3. Bake 30 minutes or until meatloaves are cooked through. Top evenly with the Mozzarella cheese and continue baking until the cheese is melted about 2 or 3 minutes. Enjoy!