Mini Meatloaves

My mom made THE best meatloaf.  It was always my favorite Sunday Lunch.  A cast iron skillet was the only pan that she would consider using to bake it and the that made the outside of the meat form a lovely, little, crispness. She would mix tomato paste, vinegar and brown sugar together for the topping.  The filler was always crushed saltine crackers.  It was a real treat. Knowing that she was making this for lunch, made sitting through church service so difficult.
I have tried many times to copy that recipe and have never gotten it even close to my mother's recipe.  She just mixed it up and baked it.  I have never been able to perfect the tomato paste topping that she made so I gave up and started using ketchup. I switched to dry bread crumbs to cut down on the amount of salt. I have tried using day old bread soaked in milk but it makes the meatloaf too spongy for me. This a recipe that I have developed over the years. It is not my Mama's, but it is pretty darn good.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and liberally grease 12 cups in a large muffin tin.

1 pound of Ground Beef
1/2 cup of Ketchup
1/2 cup of Dry Bread Crumbs
1/2 of an Onion, minced
1/2 of a Bell Pepper, minced
2 Tablespoons of Prepared Horseradish
1 Egg
1 teaspoon of Salt
1/2 teaspoon of Ground Pepper
extra Ketchup for the tops

Mix together all of the ingredients, except for the extra Ketchup.  Divide the mixture into 8 equal parts, about 1/2 cup of beef mixture for each mini meatloaf. Roll the beef in a ball and place each ball into a muffin cup that has been greased.  Repeat until all 8 balls have been used.  Pour a 1/4 of water into each of the remaining greased cups. This keeps the empty cups from burning. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.  Carefully remove the pan from the oven and coat the top of each meatloaf with ketchup.  Return to the oven and bake 15 minutes at 400 degrees.  Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing and serving.

Enjoy!

Deloris

printable recipe: https://sites.google.com/site/basilandrosemarys/mini-meatloves