Adobo-Glazed Mini Meat Loaves

Today was a challenging day. From 2 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. when I finally left everything that could probably go wrong did. And when I left there were still people working on things.

Then I came home to find my cat left me a few upchucked surprises. Awesome.

Luckily, my dinner was pretty much made for me. Just assemble, heat and eat.

This week I tried Self's Cook Once Eat All Week feature. I started off the week with these Adobo-Glazed Mini Meat Loaves, turned them into the Sweet Potato Shepard's Pie last night and finished up the "building blocks" with the Cheesy Shrimp Enchilada Bake tonight.

It was definitely nice to mostly assemble and throw the casserole in the oven. I try to reuse ingredients through the week so everything gets used up, but these recipes took that a step further.

First, the good about these recipes:

• The adobo glaze - REALLY delicious and unique.. an improvement from the usual ketchup-based glaze.
• The enchilada bake - by far the best recipe of the three. You can't go wrong with cheese!

Now for the bad. The meat loaves were just a bit weird. I couldn't get behind the peas. As far as meat loaf goes I prefer a lean beef to a lean turkey. I used all lean (93/7) turkey rather than a fattier/super lean mix. I have a favorite meat loaf muffin recipe that I think I'll stick with. You could definitely use some southwestern seasoning in the meat mix and use the adobo glaze. That might be a better alternative in my opinion.

I think because I didn't really care much for the meat loaf, the shepard's pie was also not my favorite. It was also super ugly. Gross, actually. I decided to spare you. You'll just have to trust me.

Lastly, one change I'd make with enchilada bake: cooked chicken instead of shrimp. The shrimp got super dried out and tough in a 400-degree oven, but cooked rotiserrie chicken would probably work out much better. You can still toss it with lime juice and cilantro. I also made one change to boost flavor. Instead of regular diced tomatoes try fire roasted. It added a little extra oomph. You know?

So overall, repurposed leftovers for much of the week has been fun and maybe I'll something I'll look to do more of. Unfortunately, the recipes fell a little short and needed a little tinkering to make them better.

Are you someone who cooks once and eats all week? What do you make?