Healthy Cooking Video: Muffin Tin Meatloaves

I did a Facebook LIVE video of my Muffin Tin Meatloaves right before my kids and I went out the door on a road trip to visit cousins, and I thought, “no one will watch this” – ha! It had the most shares and watches of any LIVE video yet! I think that means we all need simpler solutions to mealtime. Would that be true for you?

With my recipes, I love to give optional ways to use it, how to freeze it, what to serve it with…as well as ideas to swap certain ingredients that you might not like. I want to provide you with healthy solutions that work for YOU, not someone else’s family. So just know that these little meatloaves are versatile!

They are so easy to whip together because they use salsa as the flavor and liquid – instead of chopping onion, garlic, and bell pepper, we get all of those items right in the jar. “Salsa simplifies!” – just keep that in mind next time you need an easy flavor solution. Also, I use quick-cooking oats as the binder instead of bread crumbs or cracker crumbs. Quick oats doing an AMAZING job in meatloaf, and they are high in soluble fiber and MUCH better for us. And, in case you were wondering, they have the same nutritional profile as whole oats…..they have just been chopped finer.

Here are a couple of ways this recipe can be scaled for you:

– make the heat more intense by using medium or hot salsa instead of mild
– make the ground beef stretch further by using 1/4 cup more quick oats (add 1/4 extra of the salsa liquid if you do this); this will help save money by stretching those protein portions!
– leave the cheese off if you need to be completely dairy-free
– use gluten-free oats (oats are naturally gluten-free, but this will ensure they were not processed in an area that had a gluten-containing ingredient next to it)
– double the recipe for a large family or crowd

And my favorite thing to do with these: FREEZE THEM! Preparation is power, so I like to encourage prepping a protein for the week. It makes last-minute healthy eating so much easier to accomplish. To freeze, let the mini meatloaves cool to room temperature (so you don’t end up with a bunch of ice crystals in the bag), then place them in a single layer in a freezer zip-top bag. Zip it, and label it with a black sharpie. Use within 3 months!

You can find the full recipe here.

Please, let me know your thoughts! Do you enjoy healthy cooking videos – or would you rather just have the recipe?

Make it a great Monday friend!