And I’ve got some plans!!!! Last year, after 4/1, I received the April issue of Family Fun magazine from a friend. It had some neat ideas for dinner on April Fools Day. I haven’t forgotten those recipes and thought I would post them in case you might like to do the same. I can honestly say I’ve never looked so forward to making a meal in my life.
I think we will start with desert first, it is April Fool’s after all:
Colorful Cupcakes
The first surprise here: there’s not a grain of sugar in these
cupcakes. The second surprise: your kids will love them anyway.
 |
|
Step 1
Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 12 muffin tin cups with foil bake cups.
Step 2
In a large bowl, mix together all of the meat loaf ingredients until
well combined. Divide the mixture evenly among the lined cups (the
liners should be about three quarters full).
Step 3
Place the filled muffin tins on cookie sheets and bake the cupcakes for
about 15 minutes or until cooked through.
Step 4
Divide the mashed potatoes among three small bowls and stir a few drops
of food coloring into each batch to create blue, yellow, and pink
pastel frostings. Spread a generous dollop on each cupcake. Makes 12
cupcakes.
After dinner we will have desert of course…meatloaf sounds good:
| Rice Cereal Meat Loaf |
Meat loaf surprise, indeed. Imagine the
look you’ll get from your kids when they discover that this mystery
meat isn’t meat at all but a slight variation of a favorite
cereal-and-marshmallow treat.
Cocoa-flavored crisp rice cereal (we used Cocoa Rice Krispies), bits of
red and green fruit leather, and chopped dried pineapple help a classic
marshmallow treat masquerade as our meat loaf. The secret: You make it
in a pan, then slice it for serving, just like Mom’s.
To make this sneaky main dish, first coat a bread pan (ours was 5 by 9
inches) with cooking spray and set it aside. In a food processor,
briefly pulse 6 cups of cocoa-flavored crisp rice cereal. (If you don’t
have a food processor, place the cereal in a plastic ziplock bag and
mash it with a rolling pin.) Next, tear or cut 2 rolls each of red and
green fruit leather into pieces and chop 1/2 cup of dried pineapple
into small chunks.
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large saucepan over low heat.
Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder and stir until mixed.
Add a 10-ounce package of regular-size marshmallows and stir until
they’re completely melted.
Add the cereal, fruit leather, and pineapple pieces to the
marshmallow mixture. Stir quickly with a rubber spatula coated with
cooking spray until well mixed. If the mixture gets too sticky to stir,
place it in a large bowl, coat your hands with butter, and mix it with
your hands.
Press the mixture evenly into the prepared pan. Let the loaf
cool (about 30 minutes), then remove it from the pan, slice with a
serrated knife, and set a serving on each plate.
I think we will need some mashed potatoes in the form of vanilla ice cream with some carmel/chocolate gravy. Sounds like lots of fun to me. I better get started making the grocery list.
