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.  

 

Stuffed Acorn Squash

Another Taste of Home goodie. I made this once with ground beef since I didn't have any sausage. It was still good, but not as good as the sausage. Luke eats the cranberries and the meat, and then Nick eats the stuffing pieces and the squash so it works out pretty well.

The squash is cooked in the microwave which is so easy! And very fast. It looks gourmet and time consuming but it couldn't be easier. My acorn squashes were 2lbs each, but I still ended up with extra stuffing. I also never made this with the spinach called for.

Ingredients

• 2 medium acorn squash
• 1 pound bulk spicy pork sausage
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 cup fresh baby spinach, finely chopped
• 1-1/2 cups soft bread torn into stuffing sized pieces
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Directions

• Cut squash in half; remove and discard seeds. Place squash cut side down in a microwave-safe dish. Microwave on high for 10-12 minutes or until tender.
• Meanwhile, crumble sausage into a large skillet; add onion. Cook over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. In a large bowl, beat egg and milk; stir in the spinach, bread crumbs, cranberries and sausage mixture.
• Turn squash cut side up. Stuff with sausage mixture. Cover and microwave on high for 2-3 minutes. Yield: 4 servings.

Baked Chicken Enchilladas

My mother in law sent me a box recently with all sorts of treasures... Including my favorite, cooking magazines! This came out of taste of home :) Next time I make it I will probably through in some corn. I cut the sour cream in half and substituted with fat free cottage cheese. It was still nice and creamy without being a calorie fest. Luke refused to eat this. I don't know if he was just being cranky, but mommy and daddy liked it! (oh and don't worry, Luke ate dessert so he didn't go to bed hungry)

Ingredients

• 4-1/2 cups chopped chicken (I threw two chicken breasts in the oven for an hour that morning)
• 1 can (28 ounces) green enchilada sauce
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 3/4 cup cottage cheese
• 9 corn tortillas (6 inches), shredded into 1-1/2-inch pieces
• 16 ounces shredded Monterey Jack cheese (I used a little less)

Directions

• Mix chicken together with enchillada sauce, sour cream, cottage cheese, and most of the shredded cheese 
• In a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish, layer the chicken mixture alternating with the shredded tortillas. The final layer should be torillas. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese
• Cover and bake at 375° for 40 minutes. Uncover; bake 10 minutes longer or until bubbly. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Pumpkin Banana Bread

I had a lonely cup of pureed pumpkin sitting in my fridge. It was left over from last week's pumpkin donuts. It wasn't enough to make a pie, plus I don't have cloves. I tried making a pumpkin pie without cloves last fall and it just wasn't the same :(

It's hard to say if this is Banana Pumpkin Bread, or Pumpkin Banana Bread. Both flavors come through in this very moist fall-ish bread. Andy really liked it, Nick really liked it, Luke really liked it, and the floor got to taste some too. I sliced the bananas thin instead of mashing them before tossing them in the batter. The bread had actual banana pieces in it which made it so moist. Thanks food.com!

1 cup brown sugar (I reduced it to 3/4)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 bananas, sliced
1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon clove
1/2 teaspoon allspice

( I don't have cloves or allspice, so I sub'ed 1/2tsp of pumpkin pie spice)
1/4 cup milk (or 1/4 cup yogurt)

Directions:

1 Preheat oven to 325°F.
2 Mix together sugars, oil and eggs.
3 Add sliced banana, pumpkin, and milk (or yogurt).
4 Mix dry ingredients together. Slowly add to wet ingredients, mixing as you go. 

5. Pour into a greased loaf pan, leaving about an inch of room at the top.
6. Bake in preheated oven for about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Mine was done at 1hr and 17 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Enjoy!

Pastry Crust

Lately I have been making butter crusts. You can use this same recipe with vegetable shortening, like Crisco. For now though I am on a butter kick, especially since butter in Iowa is 1.99$ a pound. Since I'm used to paying at least 3$ a pound I just can't help myself!


The secret to making pie crust not so painful is get the dough COLD COLD COLD. You want to use COLD butter, and ICE water. Once your dough is assembled stick it in the fridge for 30 minutes before you even attempt rolling it.

I have used this crust for pot pies, meatball calzones, and fruit pies. The site where I found this states this is enough for two crusts. Perhaps I roll mine too thin, but I get enough dough for three 9" pies every time I make this.

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
• 1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) salted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 6 to 8 Tbsp ice water

Pour half a glass of water, then fill the rest with ice.

Mix butter with flour, salt, and butter until it forms little crumbs with pea sized pieces of butter. I do this with my hands.

Add water 1TBSP at a time. Stop at 6Tbsp and mix it together well by hand. Too much water will make the dough tough, so don't add the last two tablespoons of water unless you need it. 

Work the dough just enough to form two disks do not over-knead. You should be able to see little bits of butter in the dough. These small chunks of butter are what will allow the resulting crust to be flaky. Sprinkle a little flour around the disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes to 1 hour. If it is in the fridge longer than and hour you will need to let it sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes so that it is not too stiff and cold to roll.

Put 1/4 cup or so of flour down on your clean rolling surface. Place dough on floured surface, sprinkle more flour onto dough and roll it out adding more flour if dough sticks to rolling pin. Take a dinner knife (not a sharp pointy knife!) and slide it gently between counter and dough to loosen it from counter. Gently lift it and place into pie plate. I like to use the rolling pin to roll it up off the counter.

Trim overhang to 1/2 - 3/4 inch and fold under against the pie plate and flute edges. After I roll out both of the crusts I collect the scraps, form a ball, wrap with plastic, and stick in the freezer for another time.

Taste of Home has a nice step by step picture tutorial here.

Frozen Peanut Butter Pie

I love this recipe. I'm not usually a big fan of peanut butter pie because it tends to be so rich that it kinda makes me feel sick after a couple bites. This recipe isn't like that. It truly is perfect! I have made it twice now. The original recipe wanted you to get TWO pies out of this filling. Unless you want to be known as the "chintzy pie lady" use this filling for one 9" pie.

• 6oz package cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat)
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 3/4 cup peanut butter
• 3/4 cup milk (skim is fine)
• 1 16 ounce package of cool whip thawed, reserve 3/4 cup for the top
• 1 prepared crust
• 1 cup of cookie crumbs mixed with 2Tbsp melted butter (Oreo's, Nutter Butters, or graham crackers)
• Press into greased pie plate, bake at 350 for 8 minutes

Instructions

1. Beat together cream cheese and confectioners' sugar. Mix in peanut butter and milk. Beat until smooth. Fold in whipped topping.
2. Pour into prepared crust
3. Spread reserved cool whip on top
4. Garnish with whatever you want... left over cookie crumbs, shaved chocolate, etc etc
5. Freeze until sold. 
6. Remove from freezer 10 minutes before cutting
7. Store any leftovers in freezer