Mini Meatloaf Recipe for Babies and Toddlers - Mark 2

The new, the improved mini meatloaf!  Coming to an oven near you!

This is a variation on the other meatloaf recipe I posted some months back but it's a tasty, tasty dish and I think an improvement.  This is fine for toddlers and I would think ok for babies on finger foods as long as they're at the soft lump stage or later, probably 10 months plus but you know your baby best.

Beef and Pepper Mini Meatloaf - makes 12

Ingredients

1 slice of bread
4 Tbsp Full Fat Milk
1 Red pepper (capsicum)
Half a garlic clove, chopped finely then crushed into a paste with the side of the knife
200g Lean minced beef
40g Grated Vintage or Extra Mature Cheddar
1 tsp Paprika (mild not hot)
4 Sprigs thyme, chopped

Method

Preheat your oven to 200oC (400oF) (if you only have one oven like I do which includes a grill, preheat the oven after preparing the pepper.)

Heat a grill and grill (broil) the pepper until the skin chars and blackens.  Keep turning it then once it's fully charred, put in a deep bowl and cover with cling film (plastic wrap) or a plate.

Break the bread into approx 1cm (less than half an inch) cubes and soak in the milk.  Allow the pepper to cool a bit and once cool enough to handle, take off the outer skin, take out the core and chop finely.

Mix all of the ingredients together and press balls of the mix into a silicone mini muffin tin or a greased metal mini muffin or cupcake tin.  I would imagine you could also bake balls of the mix on a baking tray but the surface would be a little firmer which might be harder for little babies to eat.

Bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until fully cooked and hot throughout (please check as muffin tin sizes will differ!)

Allow to cool enough for your child and serve with vegetables.  My hungry horace 17 month old ate 3, I ate 4 and his Daddy who was eating something else, decided they looked good so he ate one too.  Only 4 have made it into the freezer!

If any are going spare, they'd be good as an impromptu kinda meatball dish with some home made tomato sauce either with pasta or in a sub!

Update:  They were a hit reheated for a couple of minutes from frozen in the microwave (check the centre is piping hot then allow to cool before giving to your child.)