Mini Meatloaf Cupcakes

I've had this idea for a long time, and finally decided to make it. Basically just any old meatloaf recipe, but instead of making one big loaf, make smaller balls and put it into a cupcake pan. Then, put whipped potatoes on top as the "frosting."


When we made the meatloaf, we didn't measure anything or follow any recipe, we just guessed. We used 1 lb ground turkey, some flax meal and crushed garlic melba toast, 1 egg, a splash of milk, some ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, a little A1, diced celery, diced yellow bell pepper, green onion, sea salt, pepper, daddy hinkels (Chris's favorite steak seasoning)... and I think that's it.

Bake for about 45 min at 350, then put a blob of ketchup on each one and bake another 10min.

In the meantime, make your potatoes. You can do it from scratch, but I didn't want them lumpy so I used just a Betty Crocker instant creamy whipped potato mix (plus added some salt, pepper, and garlic powder). I loaded up the taters in my new frosting device and piped them on top of each mini meatloaf.

Served up with some corn and green beans and you've got a simple (and kid-friendly if that's important to you), nothing-fancy, yummy supper.

Ideas for cupcakes

I have lots of ideas for cupcakes I'd like to make. Some of these are similar to ones I've had before at various bakeries, others are ones I thought up that I've never seen anyone else make. However I have a problem - I don't really know the "rules" of baking proportions, meaning I have absolutely no idea how to create a recipe. I know how to make a box mix really well. And I can google recipes. So maybe I'll find somebody else's recipes online to try some of these? Or maybe I'll doctor up some box mixes? Not really sure yet. But here is my list (so far) of flavors I want to make someday:

Desserts:
Sweet-n-salty - dark chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting, topped with crunched up pretzels - made this one, see previous post!
Luck of the Irish - vanilla cupcake infused with Bailey's, topped with a Bailey's milk chocolate frosting... and maybe some green food coloring or sprinkles somewhere?
Velvety red - red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting
S'mores - A layer of graham cracker on the bottom, then milk chocolate cupcake, followed by marshmallow fluff frosting, and topped with more graham cracker crumbles
Bananorama - banana bread cake with a light caramel and rum flavored frosting
Lil Punkin - pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting, garnished with candied ginger
Oatmeal chocolate chip - a dense oatmeal cookie-textured cake filled with chocolate chips, topped with a sweet cinnamon glaze
Neopolitan - layered chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry cakes and one of those three flavors of frosting
Butterfinger - a peanut butter cake, milk chocolate frosting, and topped with crushed Butterfinger candies
Almond Joy - a coconut cupcake with dark chocolate frosting, topped with almonds
Key lime - lime cupcake, lime cream cheese frosting, and graham cracker crumbles
Banana Split Sundae - milk chocolate cake with creamy vanilla frosting, garnished with banana slices, multi-colored sprinkles, nuts, and a marachino cherry on top
Strawberry shortcake - a dense shortcake topped with creamy whipped frosting and fresh strawberries
Apple pie - caramel cake filled with apple chunks, topped with apple cinnamon glaze
Cookie dough surprise - either vanilla or chocolate cake, filled with a ball of chocolate chip cookie dough, either chocolate or vanilla frosting
Cherry cordial - dark chocolate cake with a cherry in the center, with cherry flavored chocolate frosting
PB&J - vanilla cupcake with a squirt of grape jelly in the center, topped with peanut butter frosting, crumbled peanuts, and another spot of jelly - see the ones I've tried already
Peachy keen - peach cupcake with a creamy whipped frosting and garnished with fresh peach slices
Grasshopper - dark chocolate cake with a mint frosting

"Breakfast" cupcakes:
The short stack - a buttery pancake/waffle-like cupcake topped with a maple syrup glaze
Cup-o-cereal - vanilla or yellow cake topped with creamy frosting, topped with various cereals such as Fruity Pebbles (see previous entry!), Cocoa Puffs, or any other of your favorite
Parfait - a cake made with lots of oats/granola, topped with a dollop of yogurt and fresh fruit
Cinnaroll - cinnamon cupcake with a very cream cheesy icing and more cinnamon and sugar

Drink-inspired cupcakes:
Margarita - a lime cupcake, frosting flavored with sweet-n-sour mixer, sprinkled with salt
Cherry limeade - a marbled cupcake of cherry cake and lime cake
Champagne berry - cake made with champagne with berries on top
Holiday egg nog - egg nog flavored cake with a creamy gingerbread and nutmeg frosting
Java - coffee flavored cupcake with light caramel frosting, topped with toffee bits

Savory non-cupcakes:
Quiche - egg baked with ham, spinach, and cheese
Meat and Potatoes - mini meatloafs, topped with whipped potatoes, drizzled with a little ketchup - I may make these soon, stay tuned!


And the list keeps growing in my head, so I may update this in the future.

Looks like I have lots of baking to do... either I'm going to get fat again, or I'm going to bring them to work/school/church/your house to pawn them off on other people and make them fat :-)

Fruity Pebble Cupcakes

For some reason, I've been having cravings for Fruity Pebbles lately. I have two bags full at home. The first few days I had them, I just had typical milk and cereal. Mmmm. Then I thought well they're good in milk, why wouldn't they be good in ice cream? So I bought some vanilla frozen yogurt, sprinkled with those yummy multi-colored fruit-flavored sugar flakes... tasty tasty! And then, Chris needed to take some sort of dessert to work for a meeting so I thought.... Fruity Pebble Cupcakes!

I just made cupcakes from a basic yellow cake mix (from a box because I had one I've been needing to use anyway).

Chris wanted them to have a cream filling, so we made some cheesecake Jello pudding, let it set up, then used my new cake decorator tool to inject a blob into each cupcake. Later we discovered that the pudding in each one ended up just absorbing into the cake, making it super-moist. This improved the taste and texture of the cupcake, but we lost the cream blob idea we were going for.

We l-o-v-e cream cheese frosting. I debated between buying both cream cheese and powdered sugar to make my own, or just being lazy and opting for a pre-made jar. I figured I'm already using box cake mix, so I caved and took the easy way out and got just a tub of whipped cream cheese frosting. But I thought white frosting on yellow cake would look a little boring. So I added a few drops of red food coloring - and I got the perfectly pink cream cheese frosting I was aiming for. :)

Finally, the best part - sprinkling each yellow and pink cupcake with the beloved Fruity Pebbles. They were pretty, yummy, and pretty yummy. Unfortunately, there was only one left over after the meeting, so that's all I got. Probably best for me anyway!

Peanut Butter Frosting

Ahh peanut butter. I love it. Who doesn't? So I've been wanting to make two different kinds of cupcakes, both of which have peanut butter, so I made a double batch of this frosting. Yum-my. Luckily, there was a some left over after frosting two batches of cupcakes (see below), so we could just eat this stuff plain. Just ask Chris or my brother Brian, this stuff was magic. We tried it spread on cookies, as a dip for pretzels, and just plain digging in with a spoon. Chris even thinks it's better than plain peanut butter. Anyway, enough babbling, here's the recipe:

Peanut Butter Frosting

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened

1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used Skippy)

2 cups confectioner's sugar

1/3 cup milk or heavy cream - I actually ended up using a splash or two more because the frosting was so thick

Blend butter and peanut butter together until smooth using a mixer. Gradually add in about half of the powdered sugar and mix well. Add the milk/cream and mix. Slowly add in the rest of the powdered sugar and milk, mixing well until a nice fluffy consistency is achieved. Add more milk/cream as needed if too thick.

PB&J Cupcakes

So the first batch of cupcakes I made was inspired by both one of my favorite childhood snacks and one of Chris's favorite cupcakes at Sara Sara - PB&J. Not necessarily a new concept, I've heard of PB&J cakes before, but I've never made them. I made this method up myself, other than the frosting

I'll admit, I just made a plain vanilla box cake mix (I know, not from scratch, don't judge. I didn't say I was Martha Stewart. Box cakes are very good). After the cupcakes cooled, I poked a hole in the center of each one, then squirted grape jelly into the hole. I had no idea how much was in there and I didn't want to overfill, so I was cautious. Lesson learned - next time use more jelly!! I should have either made a bigger hole or poked 3-4 holes to fill.

Next, frost the tops of each with the peanut butter frosting. Finally, crush up some peanuts or cashews (side note, I have come to love sea salt cashews!) and sprinkle on top for a nice crunch. I topped with another squirt of jelly. Ta-da! Oh and of course you have to have a glass of milk to go with it :)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Cupcakes

The other batch of cupcakes are inspired by one of my favorite candies, Snyder's chocolate dipped peanut butter pretzel sandwiches. I love the combo of sweet and salty, so the combo of chocolate pretzels and peanut butter is basically perfect. 

I made devil's food chocolate cupcakes (again, from a box). Then I frosted with the peanut butter frosting, and topped with pretzel pieces. This was sooo good. Could have used more pretzel though, I'll have to figure out how to get more in there next time. Also, they were crunchy at first, but by the next day the pretzels had gotten soft - fail. But this idea is a keeper, I just need a more creative name for them...

Chicken Cordon Bleu, Brown Rice Mushroom Pilaf, and Sauteed Garlic Asparagus

This is what I cooked for our Valentine's dinner this weekend. The basic recipes are from www.allrecipes.com, with a few modifications of my own. Sorry I don't have any photos, it was so good that we couldn't wait to find the camera before we wanted to eat! We'll definitely make it again, and I'll take pics then.

Chicken Cordon Bleu (2 servings)

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

2-4 slices Swiss or provolone cheese

2-4 slices ham

1 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp paprika

1 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp + 2 tsp dry white wine - I used Sauvignon Blanc

1/4 tsp chicken bouillon granules

2 tsp cornstarch

2/3 cup heavy whipping cream 

1.  Pound out chicken breasts until thinned. Place 1-2 ham slices and 1-2 cheese slices on each breast. Fold or roll up chicken over the filling and secure with toothpicks. Mix the flour and paprika in small bowl and coat all sides of the chicken pieces.

2.  Heat butter and oil in large skillet over med-hi heat. Cook chicken until browned on all sides. Add wine and bouillon, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes until chicken is no longer pink.

3.  Remove chicken from pan and remove toothpicks. Blend cornstarch and whipping cream in small bowl, then slowly whisk into skillet with the remaining wine and juices. Cook, continuing to stir, until thickened, and pour over the chicken to serve.

*Notes:

-- A little extra wine never hurts :-)

--The sauce is the best part - this recipe is actually doubled values from the original recipe because it's so good.

--The chicken with ham and cheese inside can be difficult to hold together - pound it out thin enough, don't fill too full, roll the chicken up as tight as possible, and don't get too frustrated.

Brown Rice and Mushroom Pilaf (2-4 servings)

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 small onion, chopped

2 Tbsp celery, chopped

3/4 cup sliced mushrooms

8 oz chicken broth

1 cup brown rice, uncooked

1 Tbsp parsley, chopped

1.  Heat oil in medium saucepan on medium heat. Add chopped onions and celery and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add mushrooms and cook 3 more minutes, until tender.

2.  Add broth, stir, and bring to boil.

3.  Stir in rice. Cover, reduce heat to med-low, and let simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand a few minutes. Add parsley, and salt/pepper to taste.

*The sauce from the cordon bleu is really really good in this too!

Sauteed Garlic Asparagus

1 Tbsp + 1.5 tsp butter

1/2 bunch fresh asparagus

1-2 garlic cloves, chopped

Splash of dry white wine - I used more of the sauvignon blanc

1.  Blanche the asparagus - bring water to a boil, add asparagus and let simmer for a minute, then transfer to a bowl of ice water. This will keep the asparagus a nice bright green color and prevent it from getting brown.

2.  Melt butter in large skillet over med-high heat. Add garlic and asparagus spears and cook for 5-10 minutes until tender enough for your taste (shorter time for crispier, longer time for softer), stirring occasionally. Add a splash of wine in the last couple minutes of cooking.

Allez Cuisine!

Ever since my husband, Chris, graduated from culinary school a few years ago, I’ve had an increasing interest in cooking (especially baking!) and my taste palate has widely expanded. I’ve been spending more time in the kitchen recently and have begun to develop a small collection of favorite recipes. My favorite still has to be desserts – my sweet tooth is relentless! I’ve had a few requests from friends for some recipes and I’d like to put some of my ideas out there for others’ opinions, hence the development of a food blog. Here I plan on posting my creations and their recipes, along with my opinions on how they turn out and what I want to try next. Additionally, I’ll probably have a few posts on yummy food we’ve had at other restaurants.

I used to think of food as just an essential requirement to survive – my attitude on that has completely changed. Food is now becoming an art for me and, despite the extra pounds that have been added on this quest, I have admittedly become a “foodie" (Chris is thrilled by this). I now watch Food Network a lot, search recipes on the internet, and think about food all the time. So come back to check on my ongoing endeavors in the kitchen - I welcome your feedback and with as much baking as I want to do, be aware that if you live near me you'll be made to eat some!