I tried it...and now I like it.

For those of you who don't have three-year-olds, the post title is from a Nickelodeon TV show Yo Gabba Gabba (the toddler sensation that's sweeping the nation!).  You've seen the costumes on your local Halloween trick-or-treaters and despite the lameness, it's a pretty fun show.  (You should try it...and then you'll like it.  See what I did there?)

Anyway, we're always struggling to get kids to eat stuff around here because I am being cosmically schooled for being such a picky toad way back when.  So, I decided to make something I call Muffin Tin Meatloaf.

You are my inspiration...Meat-Loaf.

The link didn't go back to a recipe or anything so this is what I did:
Spray 12 well muffin tin well.  Take two pounds of ground beef seasoned how you like it, fill the tin up to the brim. Bake at 375' for 20-ish minutes.  (The link says 15 will do but I found that my oven made it closer to 25 minutes.)  I was worried that they would be difficult to extract from the tins but they popped right out (see below).

Shhhh.  They are resting.

I reconstituted Sunday's mashed potatoes by adding pats of butter, microwaving and stirring and then repeating until I was happy.  These I scooped onto the top of the finished 'muffins'.

It tasted prettier than it looked.

What I liked:
Doing it this way saved me a lot of time--25 minutes of cooking time versus 60 minutes. Doing it in the tins made for a crunchier meatloaf which I liked quite well.  Also, it wasn't swimming in juices at the end of the cook time like a loaf does. Serving was easy--individual muffins on each plate, topped with gravy.  'Voila!' as a lushy Julia Child might say.  If I were really fabulous, I would have piped the potatoes on with a frosting bag but these were red mashed potatoes and that seemed like it would be trying too hard. 

What I didn't like:
I still have picky kids who made faces.  News at eleven.