meatloaf cupcakes

Mmmmmmm, Savory cupcakes for dinner!! My kids will eat without a fight tonight!!!

Hey gang. Hope everyone is having a great week. It's been less than a week since my last post, I'm on a roll!! So I thought we should make something fun, and super simple for dinner. My hubby HATES meatloaf. He has offered to try these, but as of yet, we still make these only when he is working and not going to be home for dinner. With 4 kids, and our sweet *foster* son last year its hard to prepare a meal each kid will enjoy. With this fun twist, we always have great success. Who wouldn't love cupcakes for dinner?!? Let's get started!

I use 1 1/2 lbs of ground Italian sausage and 1 1/2 lb of ground beef. We have a local butcher I get a lot of our meats from. This sausage is from him, and it is so good.

Add an egg, about a cup of bread crumbs, salt, pepper, parsley, oregano, thyme, basil, celery salt, katsup...no restrictions, whatever you like. Measuring is completely optional. I guess-timate prob 3 -4 tsp of the herbs maybe a tsp of salt & pepper.

No, long before man invented spoons and utensils, God created our hands. It worked for our Great - Grandmas and before, it works for us too. Mix and mix and mix. You will start to feel the bread crumbs absorb the moisture in the mix and soften up. When this happens, it ready for the next step.

Grab a muffin tin, and fill each little cup about 1/3 full of meat mixture. Use about half of the meat, and reserve the rest. Next layer another 1/3 of green beans,shredded zucchini, blanched asparagus, wilted spinach, again your choice. Be creative! Top with the remaining meat mixture to complete the cupcake, sandwiching the green "filling" in the center. Pre-heat the oven to 350* and then bake these for around 30 minutes, until the meatloaf is done.

While the cupcakes are baking, make mashed potatoes. I try to keep them just a bit dryer than I would If they were being served on a plate, like in a chicken fried steak dinner. This way they hold the shape better as the "icing" on our cupcakes. Sometimes I take the time to pipe the potatoes on so it's prettier, but this was a rushed meal, so I skipped that this time.

We need gravy. I always have stock on hand. Any time we make pork or beef ribs we boil them before they hit the BBQ, or if we have turkey or chicken carcass, we boil that, I turn it into stock and can a few quarts each time. Make a rue, and salt and pepper to taste, then let it boil down and thicken.

When cupcakes are finished baking, pull them out, and frost with your mashed potato icing. remember this is their serving of potatoes, so be generous!

Now, poor the hot thick gravy over top, so each frosted cupcake has plenty of syrup.

These literally fly off the platter, so I'm not sure why I arranged them on a serving platter at all. I could have just thrown them at kids, and they would have been devoured in mid-air!! We love to eat these with warm, buttered homemade sourdough bread.

Well, they are cupcakes, so here they are in a cake platter, and they are very easy to make, pack, and travel with, so they would be perfect for a picnic, party, or pot luck as well as a quick dinner for the kids at home. We love these treats for dinner, and I truly hope y'all enjoy them too. I'm am loving this quiet time in the office at 5:00-6:00 am to get a few things rolling on this Blog. There are so many things to bake, fry, grill, and enjoy coming up On Fried Okie's Suburban Kitchen, so hurry back. Until then, all my love and tons of (((hugs))) from this Fried Okie!!