Recipe: Freezable Mini Meatloaves (using ground turkey and oats, muffin tin)

FREEZABLE MINI MEATLOAVES



"Batch cooking is one of those amazing life-saving tricks that you try once and then never look back. I can't say that my freezer is always full of homemade goodness, but when I know we've got a crazy week coming up I like to spend some time on a Sunday whipping up a double batch of something that will ease the dinner-time pain. Like these little babies. These mini meatloaves have all the yummy appeal of a traditional meatloaf but on a kid-friendly scale. And I like that you only have to pull out as many as you need on any given night." - Ceri Marsh

1 Tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup finely chopped onion (about 1/2 medium onion)
1/3 cup finely chopped celery
1/3 cup finely diced carrot
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 1/2 lb ground turkey
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg, whisked
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp ketchup, divided use
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Warm the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, carrot and fennel seeds and allow them to just start to soften, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool.

In a large mixing bowl, place the turkey, oats, Parmesan cheese, whisked egg, 1/4 cup ketchup and the sauteed vegetables and mix to combine well. You can use a wooden spoon but the best tools for this job are your hands. Remember to take your rings off! Really squish the mixture together - each bite should have a morsel of each ingredient. Okay, now wash your hands really well.

Using a 1/3 cup measure, scoop up the mixture and put it in a 6-cup muffin tin. In a small bowl, combine the 2 Tbsp of ketchup with the Worcestershire sauce. Use a spoon to smear a bit of this glaze overtop the mini meatloaves.

Bake for 40 minutes. The internal temperature of the meatloaves should be between 160 and 165 degrees F.

FREEZING:
Get the cooked meatloaves right into the freezer - bacteria flourish between 40 and 140 degrees F. Once the loaves have firmed up, put them into freezer bags. The faster you freeze food, the smaller the ice crystals will be, which means less damage to your lovingly prepared meals.

To reheat, either thaw the meatloaves in the refrigerator overnight and then warm them up in a 375 degree F oven for 10 minutes, or bake them from frozen at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes.

Makes 6 mini loaves
Used by permission to Recipelink.com from Random House
Adapted from source: How to Feed a Family: The Sweet Potato Chronicles Cookbook by Laura Keogh and Ceri Marsh