I recently made bacon wrapped meatloaf cups.  I’m not a big meat-eater, actually I’ve done various vegan-type phases for different reasons.  Right now- full carnivore!  Anyway, meatloaf reminds me of old-fashioned home cookin’.  But, what mom’s meatloaf come wrapped in bacon and made in cupcake tins?  None that I’ve seen so that’s why I’m sharing my recipe with you.  This is definitely a favorite in my family, the guys LOVE this one.

Recipe yields about 8 meatloaf cups (I can eat 2-3 🙂 ).

Ingredients for Meatloaf:

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 egg
• 1/2tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp Dijon Mustard (I’ve used yellow and can’t tell the difference)
• 1/4 tsp hot sauce (your favorite)
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup crushed saltine crackers
• 1/4 cup parsley
• package of bacon (low sodium)

Ketchup Glaze:

• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 4 tbsp brown sugar
• 3 tsp white vinegar

**Mix glaze ingredients together.  Part will be used in cooking, extra for the ketchup lovers.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix egg, thyme, salt, pepper, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce and milk in a small bowl.
3. In a large bowl, mix meat and egg mixture until combined.
4. Add crushed crackers and parsley.  (if mixture sticks to bowl, add a small amount of milk)

Now comes the fun yucky part:

I used the disposable cupcake tins which came in very handy because there was nothing to clean… just toss!  Lay one slice of bacon in the cupcake tin.  (I also made a few with 2 slices)

Using a 1/2 cup measuring cup, scoop the meat mixture into the cups.  Depending on the size of your tins, you made need more or less.

Next, wrap the bacon around the meat, tucking in all sides of the bacon.  it should make a nice ball that you can pick up out of the tin if you wanted to.  (I don’t like handling raw meat… especially bacon!)

Finally, top the cups with about 2 tablespoons of glaze, covering all visible parts of the bacon, meat.

Bake for about 1 hour until a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees.

EAT & ENJOY!