Mini Meat Cakes

I've learned one fundamental truth: dudes like meat. Most dudes, anyway. Any time I think of meatloaf, I hear Bart Simpson's voice saying, "Aww, meatloaf! My most hated of all loaves!" When I was a kid, I remember hating it. Of course, I also hated spaghetti, tuna fish sandwiches and peanut butter sandwiches, mostly because we had them like three times a week. The thing I remember hating about the meatloaf, though, is it was just a chunk of dry meat covered in a ketchup/brown sugar sauce.

After I modified a meatloaf recipe and came up with a gluten-free version, my guys did not balk at eating it. In fact, it became one of my 16-year-old kid's favorite foods! My primary objection was how long it took to get dinner on the table - the loaf was in the oven for about an hour.

Then I came across an idea for mini meatloaves. The only thing I took from the original recipe was the fact that they're cooked in muffin tins - everything else I changed completely. This recipe has TONS of vegetables in it, but they still cook up into tight little "meat cakes" (my son's name for them). In fact, the guys liked them so much that they were actually fighting over the leftovers. Okay, maybe not fighting, but they both wanted them. And the next day when we were talking about dinner they both said, "More mini meat cakes!"Maybe I should be making quadruple batches of these.

If you make these with the coconut flour, they are 100% paleo approved. In the past I've used oat flour to thicken the meatloaf, and that would work as well, you'd just need to use quite a bit more.

Feel free to substitute beef or pork for half of the turkey if you'd like.

Ingredients:
2 lbs ground turkey
Drizzle olive oil
1 sweet onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 small zucchini, shredded with a cheese grater
3-4 baby bella mushrooms, depending on size
4 eggs, beaten
1 tsp sea salt
Crushed black pepper
1 tsp onion powder
1 T. chili powder
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried sage
1/4 tsp dried rosemary
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup coconut flour

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray two muffin tins (24 slots) with cooking spray.

Drizzle a little olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and pepper. Sautee until starting to caramelize. Add mushrooms and zucchini and continue cooking until soft. Remove from heat and drain liquid, allowing vegetables to cool slightly.

Put turkey in a large mixing bowl, breaking it up with a spoon. Whisk seasonings into eggs until no lumps remain. Add vegetables, eggs and coconut flour to turkey, mixing well. I use my hands and sort of "squish" it all together. If mixture is too wet add a little more coconut flour.

Spoon turkey mixture into the muffin tins, distributing evenly. Mine came just below the rim. Bake for about 25 minutes or until cooked through. The sides should pull away from the pan just slightly. Let cool about 5 minutes and removed from tins to a serving plate.

Makes 24 mini meat cakes.