Meatloaf Cupcakes with Potato and Cream Cheese Icing

Editors Note:  My recipe was chosen for the spotlight this week!! YAY!! http://www.realwomenofphiladel
phia.ca/post/spotlight-videos

This is my final entry in the Real Women of Philadelphia Contest! I've had a lot of fun coming up with new recipes and altering old recipes so they met the contest requirements.  I think this recipe is the one that I had the most fun with - they just looked so impressive and seriously tasted delicious!

I've tampered with quite a few different meat loaf recipes over the years and I love love love my final edition!  This recipe has brown sugar BBQ sauce in it, which adds a lot of sweet tang and moisture to the "muffins." When I was frying up my onions for the meatloaf, I cooked them at a higher heat than I usually do and they turned a delicious caramel color!  YUMMM!!  The Potato and Cream Cheese Icing took several attempts trying to get the right consistency and right flavor.  The end product was well worth the trials!  The trick is to get the potato mixture completely lump free so when you're piping through the large star tip, the lumps don't back your potato mixture up!!  A potato ricer makes this a non-issue though!  I think the part that I enjoyed the most was finishing it with the "sprinkles!" Everyone can decorate their own!  I think this would be fun for a birthday party or dinner party - something that tastes delicious, with readily available ingredients, and is a fun twist on an old classic!

Meatloaf Cupcakes with Potato and Cream Cheese Icing
2lbs lean ground beef

1 1/2 cups bread crumbs

1 cup Kraft Brown Sugar BBQ sauce

1 tbsp whipping cream

1 large onion

1 large egg

1/2 tsp + another 1/2 tsp minced garlic (divided)

3 tbsp milk

1/2 cup light Philadelphia Cream Cheese (brick)

5 medium potatoes

3 TBSP butter, divided

Salt & Pepper 

1/3 cup green onions, chopped

1/3 cup real bacon bits

1/3 cup parsley, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Grease muffin tin.

3. Dice onion.

4. Melt 1 TBSP butter in pan over medium heat, add diced onion and fry until onions are clear, about 5 min. 

5. While onions are frying, peel and cut up potatoes into small uniform sized pieces.  Put in large pot and add enough water to cover. Boil for about 15 minutes or until you can easily cut potatoes with a fork.

6. Add 1/2 tsp of garlic to onions and cook until garlic is fragrant, approx 1 min. and then remove from heat.

7. Put ground beef in large mixing bowl.

8. Beat egg. Add 1 tbsp cream to egg and whisk until blended.

9. Add egg mixture, bread crumbs, BBQ sauce, 1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper, and all of the cooked onion to the ground beef and mix thoroughly. (using your hands to mix is quickest and easiest!)

10. Roll ground beef mixture into 12 balls large enough to completely fill each muffin mold. Pat balls down to make them smooth on top.

11. Bake at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes.

12. Once potatoes are finished, drain water and add to a mixing bowl.  Add remaining 2 TBSP butter, 3 TBSP milk, 1/2 cup cream cheese, remaining 1/2 tsp garlic, and salt and pepper to taste.  Mix on medium high until smooth and all the lumps are gone.  **Use a potato ricer before adding the potatoes to the mixing bowl for an extra smooth finish!** 

13. Insert a large star piping tip into a piping bag (or snip the corner off a disposable zippered bag), add your Philly mashed potatoes, and squeeze all the potatoes down towards your tip and remove as much air as possible from the bag.  Bunch excess bag together above potatoes and keep this tightly pinched so potato mixture will go out the tip, not up into the bag.  (If you don't have a star tip, no problem, just cut the corner off of a zippered bag and use the same way -  it just won't have the fancy wavy edges).

14. Once meatloaf cupcakes are cooked, loosen around edges of the meatloaf with a knife to remove easier.  Place these on a plate lined with paper towel.

15. Starting around the edges and working your way into the middle, apply firm pressure to your piping bag to squeeze potatoes out the tip and spiral the potato mixture up like an ice cream cone. Once you've spiralled the potato mixture to a peak in the middle, release pressure and lift up. Place on serving plate. Repeat until all meatloaf cupcakes are "iced" with the mashed potatoes.

16. Sprinkle with green onions, bacon bits and parlsey.

17. Serve immediately while still hot!

Quick Broccoli Salad

I just submitted my recipe for Quick Broccoli Salad to the Real Women of Philadelphia contest!  I make a fool of myself yet again on camera as I video myself preparing this recipe.  I think Mike's favorite part is the 'shake shake shake!'

This is a remake of my moms Broccoli Salad, by adding dill cream cheese, cherry tomatoes, and goat cheese! YUMM!  It is seriously delicious, and by using pre-packaged ingredients like already washed and cut up broccoli and real bacon bits, it speeds up the prep time to five minutes!  I like to serve this as a side dish with anything BBQ'd: steak, pork chops, burgers, hot dogs, you name it!

Quick Broccoli Salad

4 cups broccoli, chopped into bite size pieces

1/4 cup Dill Philadelphia Cream Cheese

1/4 cup Kraft Coleslaw Dressing

1/3 cup chopped bacon (ready made)

1/3 cup goat cheese

1/2 cup cherry tomatoes

1. Soften cream cheese in microwave safe bowl - about 20 seconds.

2. Mix together cream cheese and coleslaw dressing.

3. Wash broccoli and tomatoes and add to a large bowl that has a lid.

4. Top with bacon and dressing.

5. Roughly chop the goat cheese and add on top of broccoli mixture.

6. Stir to spread it around.

7. Cover with lid, ensuring lid is on secure and shake until well mixed.

8. Serve.

Don't Go Breakin My: Chocolate Strawberry Tart

First off, I have to say WOW.  This is possibly one of the most delicious desserts I've made yet.  It's also sinfully bad for you, made up of cookies, sugar, butter, cream, and chocolate chips... but as Mike pointed out after we polished off a delectable slice each, strawberries are fruit and fruit is healthy, right?

The base layer is a crunchy delight of oreo cookie crumbs, mixed with sugar and butter and baked until crisp (and I don't mean burnt to a..), filled with a cream infused melted chocolate chip layer, all topped off with fresh, juicy strawberries that leave such a sweet after taste!  The recipe actually called for raspberries, which, in my opinion, would be better, but I had strawberries so that's what I used!

It took all the restraint and willpower I had to refrain from gorging down the rest of the tart... or atleast just one more piece.  I could have 'atleast just one more pieced' myself to a chocolate tart coma, but I would have been in a very happy place.  You need extra calories when you're breastfeeding, right?

You can find the recipe from Martha Stewart's website for this delish dessert here: Chocolate-Raspberry Tart.  Changes that I made: I didn't use a food processor as I used oreo baking crumbs instead of cookies.  I used a little over 2 cups as I just kept adding to the butter it called for, until it looked about right and would cover the tart pan.  Oh, and I don't have a fancy tart pan with removable base (or a tart pan at all for that matter) so I just used my springform pan.  It doesn't look as pretty but works just the same.  (Note to self, add to wishlist).  And I followed what the comments suggested and added my berries before it set.  Oh and I used strawberries instead of raspberries, but I think that is fairly obvious!

Okay, now that Mike is gone to hockey (yes, it is May and he's still playing hockey), I'm gonna sneak back in the fridge and grab my second slice that has been whispering my name for the past hour.  (Note to self: wash face after -- chocolate smeared all around my mouth is always my tell.)

Side Note:  I have always thought the word 'decadent' referred to a particularly rich, most likely chocolaty, sinfully delicious dessert.  Turns out, it doesn't.  After much searching, I find that it's related more to behaviour  than to desserts.  According to dictionary.com, decadent means characterized by decadence, which in turn means:
 1. the act or process of falling into an inferior condition or state; deterioration; decay: Some historians hold that the fall of Rome can be attributed to internal decadence.

2.

moral degeneration or decay; turpitude.

3.

unrestrained or excessive self-indulgence.

** I think we'll go with the last one!!  It's time for me to exhibit some decadence -- gotta go!