Please come to the rescue of the clueless cook (meatloaf)
 

OK, so I want to attempt meatloaf again but I'm afraid of throwing away another pound of ground beef plus ingredients like I did the last time.

My question is this - do I cook the ground beef first? I think I did the last time but I can't remember. I'm hoping so, cause I want to drain off the fat before I put them in the muffin tins. The reason for this is because I was searching online, and someone said their mini muffins can come out looking like this:

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That is exactly what mine looked like the last time and they looked so gross with all the excess liquid running out that I threw the whole thing away - figured I did something horribly wrong. So that's why I got the mini-muffin tins this time - to keep it contained. BUT I also read that they can be really greasy if the extra fat doesn't have anywhere to drain off. That's why I'm hoping if I cook it first I can drain off the excess fat??

My last question - how long do you cook the mini muffins for? Is it less time than one big loaf? 30 mins??

I found this recipe on here somewhere, here are the ingredients.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1 large egg
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground sage
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup barbecue sauce (wf)

No, you don't cook the hound beef first.
That's not only fat, it's juice from the meat. It's delicious! And a little fat will keep you full and satisfied!
Clearly you need a pan under to catch the drips!

I've never cooked meatloaf in a muffin pan, but in an 8x8 cassarole dish. Do not pre-cook the grd beef. Mix all your seasonings, egg, IP friendly catsup or WF BBQ sauce, onions, etc, and pat into a loaf in the pan. Sometimes I leave a bit of space around the edges of the 'loaf' for the juices to collect, and then pour them off when the meatloaf is done. Depending on how much meat you start out with, bake for approx. 30 minutes. Check for doneness by cutting into the middle of it a bit. If the juice runs clear, it is done. If you're using 1.5 - 2 lbs of meat, use a larger dish (9x13).

Hope this helps! Good luck :D

I used a different (simpler) recipie when I made these but the procces would be the same. The recipe that I started with was for mini meatloaf useing a small aluminum pan but I did mine in a muffin pan because I wanted to make a big batch to cook ahead. Once you have placed your meat in the pan use the end of a wooden spoon to punch holes into the loaf from top to bottom. bake at 350 for 15 min pour of any juices, bake for another 15 min check for donenes. then pour your bbq sauce over topand into holes. increace oven to 400 and bake for another 5-10 min. To prevent a mess in your oven place your muffin tin on a cookie sheet. I wieghed out my "muffins" before baking so that they were even and made 12 so that each serving was 2 muffins. So the extra work was worth it because I now had six meals. I places the rest in a ziplock in the fridge to use through out the week. (works well crumbles into your stirfry veggis)

THANK YOU LADIES!!!!! Now I get it, DUH!! I will be making these tonight and hope to God they are nummy!! Great ideas here I never would have known about, I hate the thought of them being all greasy, so I'll def drain halfway though. EXCELLENT, THANKS!!!! :hug:

About the muffin pan, Alton Brown actually has a baked meatball recipe which calls for the use of a muffin pan.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/a...ipe/index.html

I have been wanting to try it (without the bread crumbs), but I have not got around to making it yet.

I have only made these once so far but I wanted to warn you that draining the muffin tins is a bit tricky and MESSY. It would probably easier in the small loaf pan that was in my original recipe. I know you said you are new to cooking so this one might be easier for you as it has fewer ingredients.

5 oz lean ground beef, seasoning of choice( salt, peper, garlic/ onion powder), WF BBQ sauce. I tweaked it a bit (I think the recipie was for the older proticol that gave you less protein for dinner). I got 2 lb ground turkey and 1 lb gound turkey sausage and mixed them together (this way I only needed salt and pepper) weighed out 4 oz balls and placed in muffin pan. I didn't think about it till much later but I forgot to check the lable of my sausage for sugar, so it may not have been IP friendly. But it was delicous.
Good Luck, and let us know if it turns out.

Hey ladies - so I made this last night and while the flavor was quite nice they were SO DRY. Any ideas? I would like to make them again but hoping they could be a bit more moist. I did the recipe I listed, 15 at 350, drained off liquid; another 15 at 350, then added the BBQ sauce on top and did another 10 at 400. Perhaps since I was only doing muffins the time was too long? I noticed on another recipe using muffin tins the cook time was only 25 minutes.

What do you guys think? As well I didn't put the WF BBQ sauce in the mix - only on top for the last 10 minutes - maybe next time I should add it in the mix for more moisture?

The Alton Brown recipe using the muffin tin is 20 minutes at 400 degrees. One of the reviewers said to take the meat out of the tins right away so that they don't keep cooking -- otherwise they will dry out.

Good points - thanks!!

I cook my meatloaf on a cookie sheet sprayed with oil. I also cook my meatballs this way. It gives the fat and juices a place to go. Just don't overcook! If yours is dry, try adding an extra egg or a bit of beef broth to make it more moist.

Would a couple of egg whites work or do you need the whole egg?

I made turkey meatloaf muffins last night and they turned out well. I used the big muffin tins, initially baked them for 25 mins, tested the internal temp for doneness (165 deg for ground turkey) and added an additional 9 mins. I then let them sit in their juice for about 5 mins before moving them to a cooling rack. They were dense but moist. What may have made a difference were the ingredients I'd added...diced red pepper, celery, spinach, dehyd onion, egg white for binder...don't know but they were good. I did not use a bbq sauce, instead I made Liz's mushroom/garlic puree and had it on the side along with some roasted "mashed" cauliflower....woozer, yummy combo.

I'm not an "exact" cook at all so if you are one, you may want to ignore my methods. I'm also one who often eats more than my two cups of veggies, but I've done worse crimes in my life, so <shrug>. The scale moves in the right direction when I'm workin it, and I'm not plowing thru the sugar and carbs, so that's what matters to me.

Finding very lean 97/3 ground beef helps with this, also onions hold lots of water so if you use dehydrated ones they will actually absorb a little extra moisture instead of releasing it. When you make a recipe that isn't carb restricted typically you would add some time of bread or grain lots of times I've used oatmeal to absorb the extra moisture and help things stick or perhaps some kind of bran would do it maybe a little oatbran not sure what the carb/fiber count would be on that.

I've done that in the past - but on Phase 1 of IP we can't have oatmeal either :)