Turkey Meatloaf Muffins - Gluten/Wheat, Dairy, Egg, Soy Free

So I tried to make these poor little things once before and learned a good lesson about using quality ingredients... if you use cheap ground turkey with a high fat content, you will not get these to keep from falling apart. Sorry, Jenni-O in a tube, you are so cheap and you have your place, just not in a meatloaf (or meatballs!).

I replaced the usual need for egg and bread crumbs/oats simply by using cooked quinoa. This works fabulously and packs terrific nutritional benefits, too!

You are pretty much free to add or remove any seasonings that you want, meatloaf can be spicy and southwestern, pretty basic and just salty, you can add raisins, shredded veggies,  cheese... do whatever you want! That's the beauty of meatloaf!

Cheese Filled Meatloaf Muffins

1.25 lbs ground turkey
1 cup cooked quinoa (still hot if possible)
1 shake (about 1/2 a tsp) hot sauce
3 Tbl ketchup
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp garlic powder
2-3 cracks of fresh ground black pepper
1 green bell pepper chopped finely (reserve about 1/4 cup for topping)
1/2 red onion, finely chopped (reserve about 1/8 cup for topping)
1/2 cup Daiya mozzarella cheese shreds

Mashed potato 'frosting'
Use your favorite dairy/soy free mashed potato recipe or use this:

2 Tbl Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery Spread
1 cup water
1/2 cup unsweetened plain almond milk
1 cup mashed potato flakes
1/2 tsp garlic powder
salt to taste


Preheat oven to 375.
Mix all the meatloaf ingredients except Diaya together. Spoon mixture into muffin tins, pressing down with the back of the spoon, making sure it's very compact. Once all tins are filled, press your finger into the center of each muffin and fill the hole with Daiya shreds.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the mashed potatoes. Bring Earth Balance and water to a boil. Remove from heat, stir in mashed potato flakes. Slowly pour in dairy-free milk until you get a good consistency for frosting, you don't want these to be runny (like I prefer to eat them by themselves) but also not dry and crumbly either. Stir in seasonings.
When the 20 minutes is up, remove the 'muffins' from the oven.
Scoop the mashed potatoes into a ziploc bag (make sure it's a bag with regular pointy corners, the larger bags sometimes have strange squared off corners that don't work). Cut the corner off about 1/2 an inch up and pipe the mashed potatoes onto the tops of the meatloaves. Top with onions and bell pepper and bake for another 10 minutes, then broil for 2-4 minutes, until the mashed potatoes begin to brown.

Allow to cool about 5 minutes and you can remove these easily with a spoon since the meat shrinks from the sides of the pan while cooking.