Meatloaf Muffins

Some days, it seems that no matter what I prepare for dinner, somebody's going to gripe about it. I've been tempted to set up an official Mom's Complaint Box outside the kitchen, covertly mounted on top of a paper shredder.

Pleasing five palates is difficult at best and downright frustrating more often than not. Nolan will only eat potatoes in french-fry form, while Jackson prefers either tater tots or mashed. My youngest, Aaron, will eat anything that doesn't move -- so it's a good thing our parakeet, Birdie, is light on his feet.

Everyone in our house likes burgers, so I thought meatloaf might make a good all-purpose meal experiment. It's a classic comfort food with seemingly infinite variations, and parents can covertly tuck veggies out of sight from the pickiest of eaters. So when I stumbled across a handful of recipes for meatloaf made in a muffin tin instead of a loaf pan and noted that the cooking time was half that of regular meatloaf, I knew I'd struck meal-planning gold.

I've had a hard time finding something not to love about this method; not only do they cook in about 25 minutes, but the "muffins" are easily frozen and reheated, too, so you can bake a big batch and have leftovers ready for another day.

They were a hit with the whole family, with one hitch I hadn't anticipated.

"Hey! Mom's baking muffins!" Jackson called to his brothers when he saw me putting the tin into the oven. Boy, were they disappointed to learn that we weren't having banana chocolate chip breakfast muffins for dinner. I really need to set up that complaint box for next time.

To make your own meatloaf muffins, prepare your favorite meatloaf recipe, preheating the oven to the required temperature. Spray a muffin tin with nonstick spray, and fill each tin with a dollop of meatloaf mix. Bake 20-25 minutes, using a meat thermometer to ensure the meat is fully cooked.

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