Sweet & Spicy Mini Meatloaves

TGIF!!

Last night was crazy....my puppy niece got to go home after fighting a battle with Parvo (thank god!) and we had to take Paisley to the vet for a minor issue, too.  By the time we got home, I wanted to throw myself onto the couch and not do a thing but point Nick to the cereal box for dinner.....but, alas, I was a good wife and made him dinner.  A super easy, quick dinner that is so flavorful, your hubby will think it took all day to make!

My recipe for Sweet & Spicy Mini Meatloaves.  Now sure, there is the traditional "mom" recipe we all know and love, but sometimes a good tradition still needs a makeover.  Plus I have a ton of friends who just had babies so I am sure a quick meal is something they could use, too!

Here is what you will need....

1 lb of ground beef or turkey
1 large carrot (grated)
1 large onion (grated and squeeze all the water out)
2 pieces of bread (pulsed into bread crumbs)
1 egg
Cayenne pepper (as much or as little as you want)
Salt & Pepper
Ketchup
Peach Preserves

Preheat oven to 375.

The first thing I do is grate my carrots and onions.  Once you do the onions, you will see that you will need to squeeze the water out of them or they are a runny mess!  I like grating the veggies because it ensures a nice crunch, spread evenly into each mini meatloaf, not huge pieces.

Since I like to make my own bread crumbs, I pulse up two pieces of whatever I have on hand, so you can use whole wheat bread too!

Once everything is prepared, mix it all (first 7 ingredients listed) together in a bowl! We like spicy so I never measure the Cayenne but if I had to give ya'll a guesstimate I would say 2 Tablespoons.  Also, be generous with the S&P for flavor. 1 to 2 Tablespoons each.

Now the fun part, which your kiddos will love too!  Using cupcake pans!  Not only does this make clean up a breeze, it shortens the cooking time on meatloaf considerably!  Grease your cupcake pans with some non stick cooking spray and form a ball (about size of a plum) with the mixture and place in the pan.

Bake for 20 minutes!

Sidenote.....I whipped up some corn and noodles for the sides and I got this for free the other day so I used this with my noodles.......

DELISH!!!!!  MMMM MMMM Good ;)

Okay, focus, Brooke.......

While the meatloaves are cooking, let's make the topping.

I take equal parts ketchup and peach preserves (you can use apricot too) and mix them up.

Make it as sweet as you want as the sweet is going to help balance out the spicy meatloaves.  It is so good!!

Once the meatloaves come out of the oven, plop the sauce on top!  PS-Nick doesn't like the sauce as much as I do, but if your family does, then I would put the sauce on the meatloaves before cooking them so it turns into a nice glaze.  Otherwise, putting it on afterwards is just as good ;)

TA DA!!

Can you tell what theme is in my kitchen??

Let me know how they turn out and what is your easy go to weeknight meal?? Let me know in the comments below :)

Oh....have you entered the giveaway yet?? Make sure you do HERE!!

Have a great day!!