Meatloaf Cupcakes

Yesterday I had a lot of rare free time. Nick was sleeping off the shots he got at the pediatrician. He spent most of the day snoozing in his crib. I had ground beef in the fridge. Blah blah ground beef and I wanted to do something not boring with it. Then I found meatloaf cupcakes, PERFECT!!! We just so happened to have some cooked bacon in the fridge.  Andy considers bacon to be some sort of health supplement so I decided to use it as "sprinkles." Cute huh??? Yields 8 cupcakes

For meatloaf bottom:
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon Wostershire sauce
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 lb ground beef or turkey
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg 
I had some McCormick hamburger seasoning so I threw in a teaspoon of that too! 

Meatloaf Glaze
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon Wostershire sauce
1/2 tablespoon brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Spray muffin tins with non stick spray
3. Mix together meatloaf ingredients. (my LEAST favorite part of meatloaf is getting cold meatloaf hands)
4. Fill muffin tins with the meat mixture to the top, but not overflowing
5. Mix together glaze ingredients and spoon over each cupcake
6. Bake for 30 minutes
7. Carefully tilt the tin over the sink to pour off the fat

Mashed Potato Frosting
 2 cups of mashed potatoes prepared however you want. I like salt, pepper, garlic powder, milk, and either a tablespoon of butter or cream cheese.

I happened to have some piping bags and tips to pipe the mashed potatoes on top. You can also just put it in a ziplock baggie and cut off a corner to use as a piping bag. Add crumbled bacon on top and you're done!

Raspberry Cream Pie

Last week the Mennonite grocery had Driscoll's raspberries for 50 cents! I was thrilled! Seeing raspberries for anything less than 3.50$ is thrilling! I bought 6 containers for 3$. There are still 3 in the fridge that are awaiting us. I found this pie on allrecipes and compiled it from two different recipes. It called for two cups of sour cream... Well it just so happens that Greek yogurt was 3 for a dollar this week. So I subbed the sour cream for Greek yogurt and saved about 500 calories :D So this is technically a "diet" pie... which is why I ate at least half of it!

1 (9 inch) pie shell

3 cups raspberries (about 12oz)

3/4 cup white sugar

1tbsp cornstarch

1/3 cup all purpose flour

2 cups fat free Greek yogurt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract  

Topping

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup cold butter

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Place raspberries in the bottom of the crust

3. Mix the sugar, cornstarch, flour, vanilla, and yogurt until blended and smooth

4. Pour over raspberries

5. Place pie uncovered into the oven (the topping comes later!)

6. Bake for 30 minutes 

Meanwhile cut the butter into the sugar and flour. I like to do this by hand, until you have course crumbs.

7. After 30 minutes remove the pie from the oven and sprinkle on the topping. Return to the oven for 15 minutes. Top will be golden brown and the pie should be pretty firm. Mine was a touch jiggly but firmed up nicely as it cooled.