Muffins, meatloaves and new chef, AKA my girl are a welcome sight in my kitchen. I enjoyed watching my daughter whip up dinner for Grill Man and I to share. As much as I love to cook, I so adore enjoying other people’s “labor of love meals”. If you enjoy cooking, I don’t need to explain what hard work goes into planning, shopping, executing a meal. Let alone the clean up after the meal.
Watching the meal planning exercise and execution with your adult child is educational. It is amusing to hear her make comments to me about the need to cook healthy. What? Me the Mom who has received more than my share of eye rolls, snarky comments and blank stares when I have made simple comments like:
-limit drinking soda’s or totally avoid
-stay away from junk food
-drink plenty of water
-limit fried foods
What is best way to add new healthy habits?
Learning to merge healthy habits into your diet and cooking is a process. My belief is that adding in healthy habits are sustainable if you adjust over time. A total change overnight is harder to keep going after the “new” wears off. Cooking healthy is vitally important to our overall health. Healthy food assists our bodies to work properly and in boosting our immune system.
My girl has introduced her own healthy suggestions into our home. We are never too old to learn, even from our children. I requested muffins, meat-loaves and new chef recipe to be used on my site and a healthy mix of vegetables for our meal. Quickly, my new chef stated that the menu would consist of ground turkey for the Muffins, Meatloaves and New Chef recipe.
Off she went to the grocery to buy items needed for dinner. Time for me to put my feet up, I could get use to this. Is it time for wine? I moved to the couch and my computer while I waited for my new chef to whip up a recipe.
My girl and I chatted about pans, ingredients and typical meatloaf recipes in general. The healthy addition to her meatloaf recipe was ground turkey. Prior to this, Muffins, Meatloaves and New Chef recipe, ground turkey was MIA from my kitchen. In our house, we love whole turkeys baked in the oven, grilled on the egg and in the slow cooker.
But, ground? This tiny piece of information would be on the “need to know status” for Grill Man. Certainly the meat-loaves cooked in a muffin pan would be delicious. This had been on my list to try for some time. My favorite part of a traditional meatloaf is the crispy end or edges where all the flavor concentrates. The black-ish part that appears too burnt to eat but is oh so delicious. The multiple muffin tins would allow for more crispy edges to share less crispy to negotiate over.
To use Ground Turkey or not in Muffin Meatloaves ?
My girl had experience cooking with ground turkey therefore I was not worried about the taste. Since Grill Man was traveling, she would have time to complete the dish before he discovered the ground turkey secret. How would he like the meatloaf? Would he notice the turkey before we shared the secret with him? Over time would he want to eat the meatloaf again after he found out it was turkey? Inquiring minds want to know.
Muffins Meatloaves and New Chef recipe is a hit. Grill Man and I loved the flavor of the meatloaf. Muffin tins provide more crispy bits of heavenly flavor to fight over. The turkey secret remained intact until I decided to share with Grill Man.
As with most “food dislikes” once the person learns of additional add of “item to avoid” they may or may not want to eat the item again. Over time, a person with “food dislikes” may change their opinion and learn to love an item once avoided. Then again, some times not. Food like and dislikes is a very personal choice.
Muffins Meatloaves and New Chef recipe is yummy with turkey. In lieu of turkey swap out your favorite ground meat. The spices may need to be adjusted accordingly. For a completely different type of meatloaf which includes meat, meat and more meat visit Meatloaf Trifecta Beef, Spicy Sausage and Bacon
Alexa Shout out to Peter Frampton for Wind of Change. I tried to search for the newest album Acoustic Classics but Alexa isn’t that hip yet. Grill Man has this album and loves it.
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 6-8 People | 30 Minutes |
| Cook Time |
| 30 Minutes |
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Many muffin meatloaves cooked with ground turkey to reduce fat and calories without sacrificing the flavor and enjoyment. Served with mashed potatoes and vegetable of your choice or salad.
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- 2 Tablespoon olive oil Extra Virgin
- 1 3/4 Cup Onion Chopped small
- 3/4 Cup Red Bell Pepper Chopped small
- 3/4 Cup Yellow Bell pepper Chopped small
- 1 Tablespoon garlic Chopped
- 1 Tablespoon Basil Dried
- 1 1/2 Teaspoon Paprika
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- 20 Turns Black Peppercorns Freshly ground
- 1 Tablespoon Worchestershire Sauce
- 2 Pounds Ground Turkey
- 1 1/2 Cup Italian Bread Crumbs
- 1/3 Cup Half & Half
- 1 Cup Ketchup
- 1 Tablespoon Worchestershire Sauce
- 1 Tablespoon Shiracha Chile Sauce or Hot Sauce
- In saute pan on medium low heat, add olive oil, bell peppers, onions and garlic. Stir as needed and cook until translucent. Remove from heat and set aside. Add paprika, basil, salt, pepper, Worcestershire and stir well.
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray muffin pan with Pam or equivalent,
- In large bowl, add turkey, eggs, bread crumb, cream and sauteed veggies. Mix ingredients together. Do not over mix. Add back to saute pan to make sure that the meat attaches to any remnants left in pan. Stir well.
- Wash hands. Take a muffin portion amount and shape into meat balls using both hands. Place each meatball into the muffin tin and continue until complete. Press meatball down with your hand in order for the meat to fill the muffin tin. This recipe easily makes 12 large muffin shaped meatloaves. If you have some meat left over, increase the size of the meatballs in the tin. Keep the size of all meat loaves similar so that the cook time is even.
- Before putting in oven. Evenly top each loaf with the sauce. Bake in oven on 450 degrees for 30 minutes or until it reaches an internal temperature of 165°F.
- Serve with this with piping hot mashed potatoes and another vegetable or salad. My new chef made a gravy but it is not necessary.
- Lagniappe: Slice the muffin meat loaves and serve piping hot on a sandwich dressed with mayo. It is delicious.
- Note: My daughter created this recipe for my site. I hope that you enjoy as much as we did in our home.
