Who says you can’t have a cupcake before dinner? Better yet, why not have cupcakes for dinner? That’s right, I said it. WHAT? I’m an adult. I voluntarily eat my spinach. Don’t look at me in that tone of eye. You know you want to do it too. Go ahead. Nobody’s looking.
I’ve been in a culinary/writing slump since the holidays. My muse abandoned me and went skiing in the Swiss Alps or something like that. So, what to do? I turned to fellow foodies for inspiration. Through the foodie grapevine, I heard about meatloaf cupcakes, with mashed potato frosting. Perfect--just weird enough to grab my interest! I wanted to go with something different, but familiar enough that others would be inspired to try it. Sunday dinner is a good time to try something new. You have a few people around the dinner table to give you feedback.
Since meatloaf and mashed potatoes are the kinds of food that people tend to have a personal recipe for, just go with your favorite recipe for each, should you like to try this.Sunday rolled around and I was finally excited about cooking something again. I made my meatloaf mixture and filled a muffin tray with it (¼ cup to each mold).You can use muffin liners, but I didn’t, and they came out fine. I didn’t want to risk a soggy mess since I use lots of veggies in my meatloaf and it renders a good amount of natural juices.
After the mashed potatoes were made, I put some into a pastry bag with a decorative tip.I piped rosettes onto each cupcake and plated them. My sister walked by as I was piping the potatoes and asked, “When are you gonna bake something sugar free so I can have some?” I proudly told her, “These are sugar free”. I mean I am concerned with her health after all. She suddenly looked suspicious. I can’t imagine why. Well as long as I had her attention, I decided to tell everyone what we’d be having for dinner. “I made meatloaf cupcakes with mashed potato frosting!” *Crickets….*
You could hear a pigeon break wind in Brooklyn .
My family looked at me like I’ve been forgetting to wash the fruit before I eat it. Did I mention that my family isn’t chock full of adventurous eaters? They thought the cupcakes looked great until they realized what they were. Sheeesh. Think outside the box, people. As you can see, I’m the free thinker in the family.
Because I anticipated this reaction, I’d also made a standard meatloaf that looked familiar and safe to everyone. They descended on that like jackals on road kill. It’s always good to know that your cooking isn’t the issue. I am not deterred. Just because my family is boring doesn’t mean that yours won’t love this. I boxed up a few of the cupcakes and gave them to my official taste tester, my good friend Evelyn. She loved them. She is brutally honest, so I can trust a review from her. I think this idea is especially great for kids. It’s a fun presentation and also a good way to get them involved in the cooking process.
Somewhere inside of me, my inner child was kicking and screaming, “You’re not the boss of me!” when I decided to make meatloaf cupcakes. What is your inner voice saying to you?
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