Meatloaf Cupcakes

For April Fool's my cooking club had a get together and I decided it would be fun to make one of those April Fool's Desserts (google it). I went with the whole mashed potato cupcake thing. It was great.

However, one of my friends (Hi Jess!) was really disappointed when the she found out the mashed potatoes were chocolate cupcakes & frosting, she actually WANTED the mashed potatoes instead. So as a treat, when I knew she was coming over for dinner, I decided to make mashed potatoes for real. I wanted to keep with the cupcake theme though, so I decided I would do meat cupcakes instead with mashed potato icing. So cute! It might sound gross, but it's actually quite delicious.

There are a bazillion meatloaf recipes out there and anyone will do. I'm a no-thrills kind of meatloaf gal. I don't like bbq sauce or brown sugar or too much of anything else. I like a little bit of seasoning and some veggies. I also want the meatloaf as healthy as possible. That's why I'm really happy with this recipe. I did a 50/50 combination of ground turkey and extra lean ground beef. 

I also put in shredded carrots, diced onions, and diced celery. Normally it would be a pain in the rear end to dice, chop, and shred all those veggies and try to get them small enough to mix into the meat mixture. But with the help of Darrenkamp's and my small food processor it was very easy.

Ingredients:
1/2 lb lean ground beef
1/2 lb ground turkey
1/2 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup onion, diced
1/2 cup celery, diced
1/3 cup skim milk
3/4 cup italian-style breadcrumbs
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan
2 eggs
salt & pepper
Box of instant mashed potatoes and all the ingredients that goes with it or homemade mashed potatoes.


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare the instant mashed potatoes, directed by the box. (See end note on why to do the mashed potatoes first).
Next, start to prepare the meatloaf.
In a small bowl mix in the breadcrumbs and milk.
Saute the veggies until soft. (You can use oil, but I chose to just use fat free olive oil spray).
Transfer into a food processor once the veggies have cooled and mince on a low setting until the veggies are very tiny.
Mix the meat, eggs, breadcrumbs/milk, parmesan, parsley, salt & pepper together in a large bowl. Use your hands or a spoon, make sure it's mixed well.
Place meat mixture into muffin pan. (I use the bendable, non-stick muffin pans and the meatloaf pops out easily at the end.) You should fill up each muffin cup about most of the way.
Bake in oven for about 20 to 25 minutes.
Makes about 12.
For the mashed potato topping you will use about 4 oz. of instant mashed potatoes. Follow directions on box.
(for pink icing mix in beet juice!)
Use a star tip and pipe the frosting or use a plastic bag and cut a whole in it. [You might want to do the mashed potatoes first, then do the meatloaf because it's hard to pipe the mashed potatoes when they are still really really hot.]

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