Zucchini Meatloaf Minis

It's late summer and either your garden is overflowing with zucchini, or your friends and family's gardens are overflowing with zucchini and they're begging you to take some off their hands, or they're sneaking some into your car, or they're leaving some at your front door, etc, etc.  Right?  So here's a great recipe that will help you use up some of that bounty.  These mini zucchini meatloaves are so moist and tasty, and because they're so small, the oven won't be on long enough to heat up the house.  I like to make a double batch so we have leftovers in the fridge to snack on.  We pop them in the microwave for about a minute and that's that.  Great for the kid's lunch box too.   

You can mix the ingredients by hand, but I like to mix them in my stand mixer using the dough hook attachment.  It mixes everything together so quickly and evenly.

This recipe makes 10 mini meatloaves - I made a double batch so that's why you see all 12 indentations filled.  If I had made a single batch, I would have left the two cups in the center empty.  By the way, these commercial quality USA Pans are totally awesome.

Are you a fan of ketchup or bbq sauce on your meatloaf?  We are.  I usually make a ketchup/brown sugar topping, but I had a jar of this country ketchup in the pantry.  It's very sweet and tangy, almost bbq-y, it was excellent all by itself.

Fun for any age.

Items used to make this recipe:

(affiliate links)

• stand mixer https://amzn.to/3g69Uxw

• professional muffin pan https://amzn.to/3re3ymi

• baker’s joy https://amzn.to/3IP7jUW

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ZUCCHINI MEATLOAF MINIS

makes 10 mini meatloaves

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef

• 1 cup grated zucchini

• 2 tablespoons grated onion

• 3/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs

• 1/4 cup ketchup

• 1 egg

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

• 1/2 cup ketchup or barbecue sauce (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F and spray a 12-cup muffin pan with non-stick baking spray.

2. Combine the beef, zucchini, onion, bread crumbs, ketchup, egg, salt, and pepper (I like to do this in the stand mixer fitted with a dough hook).

3. Divide meat mixture evenly among 10 muffin cups and top each with about a tablespoon of barbecue sauce (or your favorite ketchup/brown sugar meatloaf topping).

4. Bake for about 25 minutes.

5. Rest for 5 minutes before removing from pan.

Notes

• Depending on the fat content of the beef used, you may need to blot fat to drain from mini meatloaves after removing them from the pan.

• Also, if your shredded zucchini is very wet, you may want to squeeze some of the moisture out of it before adding to the meat mixture. I used medium sized zucchinis and didn't feel the need to squeeze any moisture out of them.

Polish Wonder Pot

Have you seen the "one pot" pasta meals that have been making the rounds online?  You know, the ones where you throw a bunch of ingredients, including uncooked pasta, in a big pot and before you know it, dinner is ready.  This is a simple version that uses smoky kielbasa sausage and takes only about 30 minutes to make.  Here's how it's done.

Start by sauteing a pound of kielbasa in a dry skillet over medium heat until brown on both sides. The kielbasa will render its own fat so no need to add any oil to the pan.

When the kielbasa is brown, remove it from the pan and set aside until later.

In the same pan, saute the sliced onions in the rendered kielbasa fat.

Stir the onions occasionally until they turn translucent and begin to caramelize.

Return the kielbasa to the pan.

Add 1 1/2 cups of your favorite tomato sauce (try my delicious san marzano tomato sauce recipe).

Stir in 4 cups of water. Raise heat and bring mixture to a boil.

Add 1 pound of dry fettuccini. Be sure to use fettuccine - other pasta would require a different amount of water and I haven't had time to experiment.

Press the fettuccine into the liquid and move it around a little to prevent the pasta from sticking together. Lower the heat back to medium.

Stir frequently until the liquid is absorbed and the pasta is cooked "al dente". This should take 10-15 minutes.

Turn off the heat and stir in a handful of fresh spinach.

Taste carefully and season with salt and pepper before serving. You may or may not need to add any depending on how flavorful your tomato sauce was.

That's it - plate it up and dig in!

Polish Wonder Pot

makes 6 servings

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 pound kielbasa, sliced into 1/4-inch thick coins

• 1 large onion, sliced

• 1 1/2 cups flavorful tomato sauce (jarred or homemade)

• 4 cups water

• 1 pound dry fettuccine

• 1 handful fresh spinach leaves

Directions

1. In a very wide skillet or stockpot over medium heat, saute kielbasa on both sides until browned; remove from pan and set aside until needed.

2. In the same skillet or stockpot, saute onions in rendered kielbasa fat until they turn translucent and begin to caramelize (add olive oil if needed).

3. Return browned kielbasa to pan.

4. Add tomato sauce and water; stir well to combine.

5. Raise heat to high and bring to a boil.

6. Add fettuccine, submerging it in the boiling liquid as best you can, moving a bit to keep the pasta from sticking together.

7. Lower heat to medium and stir pasta occasionally until liquid is absorbed and pasta is cooked "al dente".

8. Remove from heat and stir in spinach.

9. Stir well and season with salt and pepper if needed.