Cheeseburger Mini Muffins

I understand the world does not revolve around the keto diet, so I try very hard to serve things that work for my way of eating but are equally compatible with TheHub's standard American diet. Most of the time it is something as simple as making zoodles for me and cooking pasta for him, or changing out cauliflower for his potatoes. It is truly not a big deal, except for those nights when everything in the day has gone wrong and I have nothing remotely ready to cook.

About a week ago we had one of those days, it was raining so grilling was off the table and all I had produce-wise  was salad type stuff and I had a pound of ground sirloin thawed.  Limited options! This is not really a recipe, but it more of a how to.

Preheat the oven to 350
I grabbed the ground beef (This was an 85/15 mix, though how they figure that accurately I will never know.) and mixed it with a heaping  teaspoon of steak seasoning.  I use Angelo's because I think it is the best I have ever had, but honestly any steak seasoning would do.  Spray a mini muffin pan with Pam. I used a 24 muffin pan and had enough beef for 20 mini muffins. Divide the meat in half. Put about 1 tablespoon in the bottom of each muffin well. Flatten it somewhat. I have a dough tamper and used it, but a spoon or clean fingers would work also. Cut an 8 ounce block of very sharp cheddar cheese in half, then cut one half into 24 small cubes of cheese. Put a cube on top of the beef  in each of the muffin cups, then top with the remaining meat mixture. Press it to cover the cheese completely.  Put the muffin pan on a jelly roll pan or sided cookie sheet and pop it in the oven until it is done. (Takes about 15 minutes) Let them sit for about 2 minutes then remove from the muffin pan with a fork. Do not try to turn the pan over to remove them or you will have a huge mess. Even using the very low fat content sirloin still created a lot of drippings. (Just letting you learn from my mistake know what could possibly happen if you are not thinking clearly)

I julienned a vidalia onion (any sweet onion will work) then topped it with shredded lettuce, added the meat muffins, then surrounded them with pickles, sliced tomatoes and banana peppers. TheHub used mayo, mustard and ketchup on his. I stuck to the mustard and mayo. This tasted like a cheese burger salad and was really delicious and quick (about a 20-25 minute process from start to finish) meal. I am not sure what, if anything, I would do to improve it except to maybe add finely minced onions to the beef mix before cooking.

Anyway if you are short of time and need a meal in hurry this might be just the thing to try. I am going to try something similar with ground chicken, greek spices,  and feta cheese on a spinach salad soon. It might or might not work but it is worth a try.