Meat & Taters...

Lew is definitely a "meat and potatoes" kind of guy.  Though he puts up with my "frilly" concoctions I like to try to bless him with the kind of meals that he truly enjoys!  Even though he's easy to please it's cute to see him get so excited over a meat and taters dish ;)

So, here is something I made this week for the first time and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. I don't have kiddos but I imagine that they would be quite fond of these little little meat muffins;)  They tasted so yummy and really weren't very hard to make.  I served it with brown sugar glazed carrots and mashed potatoes. 

Diner Meat Loaf Muffins

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 cup finely chopped onion

1/2 cup finely chopped carrot

1 teaspoon dried oregano

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup ketchup, divided

1 1/2 pounds ground beef, extra lean (raw)

1 cup finely crushed fat-free saltine crackers (about 20)

2 tablespoons prepared mustard

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 large eggs

Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.

Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion, chopped carrot, dried oregano, and minced garlic; sauté 2 minutes. Cool.

Combine onion mixture, 1/2 cup ketchup, and the remaining ingredients except cooking spray in a large bowl.

Spoon the meat mixture into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Top each with 2 teaspoons ketchup. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until a thermometer registers 160°. Let stand for 5 minutes. 

To make the brown sugar glazed carrots...

Boil about 2 cups of baby carrots in salted water for about 8-10 minutes (until tender-crisp).  Then drain and set aside.  In same pot add 1 tbs butter, 1 tbs brown sugar, and a dash of salt.  Stir until mixed in and butter is melted.  Add carrots and stir for two minutes until glazed.