Turkey Meatloaf Muffins

Everyone who is anyone in the business of healthy food has his/her variation on poultry meatloaf. Turkey meatloaf muffins. Miniature chicken loaves. Turkey and chicken combo-loaf. You can’t consider yourself established in the world of healthy recipes until you have one to your name, so this probably should have been one of my first posts. The problem is that I rarely make it the same way twice – it’s a pretty forgiving recipe, so I just use whatever I can find. It's super easy, and it usually ends well. Last time I went home, I made it for my family. My dad is among my hardest critics, but he ate four of the little things and admitted to liking them quite a bit. I quickly wrote down what I had done, because a positive review from that man is gold.

I should also note that this is also the first one of my recipes in which Frank's RedHot makes an appearance. I have no idea why it hasn't come up before. Their slogan is "I put that on everything," but really, I do. I buy Costco quantities. Someone asked me my opinion on cayenne pepper pills, and I suggested just pouring Frank's on everything instead. You get whatever metabolism-boosting benefits cayenne pepper allegedly has, plus the heat makes you eat more slowly and drink more water, and it tastes awesome. Win win win win. 

Per 2-muffin serving (1/6 recipe)

Ingredients

1.25 lbs extra lean ground turkey

1 egg

half of a bell pepper

half of an onion

1/3 cup chunky salsa

¼ cup cilantro

½ tsp cumin

½ tsp chili powder

1 tsp paprika

Frank’s RedHot (as much as you dare)

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Then put the bell pepper, onion, salsa, and cilantro into a food processor and pulse until it all looks kind of like salsa.

Dump everything from the food processor into a large bowl and add all the other ingredients. Combine thoroughly. 

Spray a muffin pan or line it with foil cupcake liners for easy clean-up (the paper ones don't work - I tried). Evenly distribute your meat mixture into the 12 muffin holes.

Bake in the preheated oven until a meat thermometer registers a safe internal temperature of 170 degrees (about 45 minutes). Try to eat a couple before your father scarfs them all himself.