Mini Meatloafs or Meatballs

One of the things I haven't been willing to give up for the sake of a healthy diet is comfort food. I still want to eat mac n' cheese and brownies and basically any and all kinds of fried goodness. While it would be wonderful to do that everyday, I have to rein it in and look at the bigger picture. Those thing are fine for an occasional meal, but for your run of the mill dinner a few healthy substitutions can take the classics you love right into health-ville with just a few changes. Enter meatloaf...I didn't serve it with the mac n' cheese I would have loved, but the baked maple cinnamon sweet potato fries and roasted asparagus weren't anything to complain about. I'll post those recipes soon!

So here we go with the meatloaf recipe. This makes a lot...like twelve mini loafs. It is usually enough for two dinners and a lunch or two, which I like but you could cut the recipe in half if it just seems like an overwhelming amount for you. This week I got a little more creative with my meal planning and knocked out two dinners with this one batch by baking up half the recipe as mini meatloafs and half as meatballs for my favorite zucchini noodle pasta instead of using ground beef.

Also, I really like these meatloafs kind of spicy. I'll give you two variations on the recipe in case you aren't a fan of "hot". The way I like them tends to be too spicy for my kids. The second variation uses more spices I would consider to be "Italian" flavors, but you can mix and match any spices your like. You really can't mess it up. My husband likes these REALLY spicy so he dips them in Siracha. It's good, but just a warning...if you do that, a little goes a long way.

This recipe couldn't be easier. I prefer to use a stand mixer, but if you don't have one you can just mix well with your hands. So, in the bowl of the stand mixer add...everything. I told you it was easy.

Once you have it all in there, turn on the mixer on but go slow. The bowl will be pretty full and you don't want to send raw turkey flying everywhere. Yuck, lesson learned.

Next line a baking sheet with foil to keep clean up easy. To make mini meatloafs roll the mixture into 12 baseball sized loaves. To make a meat loaf dinner and a meatball dinner, roll the mixture into six baseball sized loaves and use the remaining mixture to make 16 meatballs, approximately the size of a golf ball. You can put them pretty much side by side. These are just very spread out since I was only making six of them. I was able to fit all 16 meatballs on one baking sheet.

Now pop those guys in the oven and bake at 375. It takes 40 minutes for the meatloafs and 30 minutes to bake the meatballs. I baked them at the same time by just waiting 10 minutes to put in the meatballs. They are come out nice and brown. Yum!

Meatloaf

Meatballs

 

I really wish I had thought to take a picture of the plates when we had the meatloaf. The kids were screaming. You know, like they wanted to be fed or something and I forgot. Anyway, here are the meatballs in the zucchini noodle pasta before I stirred it up.

Preheat oven to 375

Cook time Meatloaf: 40min 

Cook time Meatballs: 30min

 Spicy Meatloafs:

2 lbs ground lean turkey

3 egg whites or 2 whole eggs (I prefer egg whites only)

1 cup quick oats

1 medium zucchini, grated

1 tsp sea salt (Optional)

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp dry thyme

1.5 tbsp dry mustard

2 tbsp ground black pepper

2 tsp dry chipotle pepper or chili powder

2 tbsp garlic powder

1 small onion, about a cup

1 6oz can 100% natural tomato paste

Italian Meatloafs:

2 lbs ground lean turkey

3 egg whites or 2 whole eggs (I prefer egg whites only)

1 cup quick oats

1 medium zucchini, grated

1 tsp sea salt (Optional)

1/2 tsp cumin

1.5 tbsp dry mustard

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp dry parsley

1 tbsp dry oregano

1 tbsp dry basil

2 tbsp garlic powder

1 small onion, about a cup

1 6oz can 100% natural tomato paste