Ugly Cupcakes

Happy Late April Fools! I meant to post this sooner. These are actually little meatloaves with colored mashed potatoes on top. Nasty, huh? My kids came into the kitchen and I said, "Look what's for dinner!" They were so excited to have cupcakes for dinner until my oldest stuck her finger into the "frosting" and put it in her mouth. I should have taken a picture of her face. At least they didn't cry, I was kind of expecting one of them to have a melt down when their hopes of eating cupcakes for dinner were dashed.

Go here to see this idea that came from Family Fun (I know, I know. Mine look so gross and theirs look so pretty), and here's the meatloaf recipe I grew up on and love:

Meatloaf

2 lbs ground beef
2 C bread crumbs (4 slices)
1/2 C. milk
1/2 C. minced onion
1/4 C. bell pepper
2 eggs
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Preheat oven to 350. In large bowl, mix well all ingredients. Spoon mixture into a 9x5 loaf pan, with spoon level top. Bake 1 1/2 hours.

Baked Chimichangas

I'm finally posting something on here! I just tried these today. They're yummy! The red enchilada sauce I used was a bit hot, but you can change that by using milder red chile powder.

Baked Chimichangas

1 lb. lean ground beef
1/4 C. onion, finely chopped
1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. ground red chiles
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1 4 oz. can green chiles, drained and chopped OR 3-5 fresh or frozen green chiles, roasted, peeled, seeded, devined, and chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped
8 10-inch flour tortillas
1 egg, beaten
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine, softened
red or green chile sauce (I'll include the recipe I used, but you can use any sauce you want...including sauce from a can!)

1. In 10-inch skillet, cook beef and onion, stirring occassionally until beef is browned; drain.
2. Stir in vinegar, ground red chiles, cinnamon, cloves, green chiles and tomato. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes.
3. Warm tortillas.
4. Preheat oven to 500. Spoon 1/8 of the beef mixture onto the center of each tortilla and brush edges with beaten egg mixture. Fold envelope style to seal. Brush each chimichanga with butter or margarine and place seam side down on a large ungreased baking sheet. 5. Bake uncovered for 8 to 10 minutes or until tortillas begin to brown and filling is hot.
Serve with your favorite red or green sauce.

Also, as a side note, I added some canned pinto beans to my meat mixture which made it really yummy.

Here's my red sauce recipe.

Red Chile Sauce

2 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
1 C. white onion finely chopped (I used yellow because that's what I had)
1 garlic clove minced (I used the kind in a jar)
1/2 C. ground hot red chile
1/2 C. ground mild red chile
1 Can (12 oz) tomato sauce
6 C. water salt to taste
1. In a 3-quart saucepan, heat oil; add onions and garlic and saute until onions are soft. Do not brown.
2. Stir in ground chile, tomato sauce and water. Simmer uncovered until sauce is desired consistency. Season lightly with salt.
3. Sauce may be used as is or pureed. Refrigerate in a tightly-covered container or freeze in an ice cube tray.

*Beware this makes a LOT of red sauce. I would say it makes about 5 cups. And....here's the picture....

Baked Spaghetti

This is really good. Both of my boys even eat it, which doesn't happen often.

1 pkg. lasagna noodles cooked (you only use about 10 noodles so don't cook the whole box)

1 lb. hamburger cooked

2 c. cheese ( I use either colby jack or mozzerella, and I use a little more becasue we really like cheese)

1 can tomato soup

1/2 c. milk

1 26oz. can of spaghetti sauce

2 TBS. sugar

Mix soup, milk, and sauce together in a bowl. Spread some of the sauce on the bottom of a 13 X 9 inch pan. Then place half of noodles on top of that. Sprinkle 1 TBS. sugar over noodles (sounds weird, but it's really good) and 1/2 of cheese on top of that then 1/2 of the hamburger. THen repeat, noodles, sugar, cheese, hamburger. Pour the rest of the sauce over the top and spread it around. Cover and bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Meatball Sandwiches

Here is a meatball recipe that makes a delicious meatball sandwich! I've made them three times now, and we love them. We had them last night and I took a picture, but it didn't turn out too well. I got the recipe from Picky Palate, so just go there to see the beautiful picture and get the recipe -- its worth it. Click here ----> Meatball Recipe (if you can't find mozarella balls, just get a block of mozarella cheese and cut it into cubes.)