Friday, February 12, 2010

Red Velvet Cupcakes

So I've been wanting to try and tackle Red Velvet the past few months, and I tried a recipe from the ever-wonderful Pioneer Woman, but for whatever reason the cupcakes wouldn't cook all the way (I think it was my attempt at substituting for cake flour [which I now have a stock of in the kitchen]). Anyways, I found another recipe yesterday and I will post the link to it on here. They were good and they look pretty - but they could have been better. A friend of mine says she has a great recipe, so I'm going to try hers when she sends it!!
I also made Cream Cheese Frosting to top these and I even used the decorating kit for cupcakes that I got for Christmas. It made things SOOOO much easier than trying to spread on the frosting!!
Aren't these cute??
Karyl loved it...can you see the frosting on her nose?? She went right for the frosting first!!
These were super light and fluffy, and the red color was gorgeous!!!

My MIL's super-yummy meatloaf

Grandma B has an AWESOME recipe for meatloaf that I absolutely love. I made it about a month ago and took step-by-step pictures to post on here...and then just got lazy...
I am sorry, really I am....here is the recipe with the directions!!!
Preheat your over to 350 degrees

Here are all the ingredients that you'll need:
-About a pound of meat (I usually try to get closer to 1.25 pounds)
-1 egg
-A packet of Onion Soup Mix
-A small bottle of Russian Dressing (or the large if you're planning on using the rest for something else in the near future)
-Milk (enough to fill the small bottle of Russion Dressing half way - around 1 cup)
-Quaker Oats (the kind you use for oatmeal cookies...NOT instant oatmeal)
So, we'll start off easy...dump the defrosted meat into a decent size bowl
Then, crack that egg open and mix him up in to the meat
Once the egg is sufficiently combined, add the packet of Onion Soup mix....and mix...
Now, add the small bottle or Russian Dressing (or half the large bottle)...
Then fill up the bottle 1/2 way with milk and shake it up (with the lid back on of course), this way we get as much of the tangy Dressing flavor as possible, and we save ourselves from having to wash another measuring utensil from the milk!!

Then add about 2 good handfuls of oatmeal...enough that it makes a good showing throughout the entire lump of meaty uncooked meatloaf
This is what is will look like when it's all mixed...
then throw it into what I call a "bread loaf pan"
Our oven is horrible, not only is it smaller than a regular oven (it's like the Mini-Cooper of Ovens) but it heats weird, so I always have to cook things longer than usual....
That being said, I usually end up cooking mine for a little over an hour.
I would start with 40 minutes on your timer and check it...you want the edges to be dark and cooked, and the top to obviosuly be dark brown (like cooked meat). If you have a food thermometer, stick it in the dead center and look for it to read around 170 degrees. Otherwise, just stick a fork in the middle and spread it apart...does the inside look un-pink??
Keep in mind, there will look like there is a lot of "juice" bubbling around - and that is ok, this is a super moist (not mushy) meatloaf, so don't use the liquidity as a gauge for whether it's done or not. This one requires the un-pink test.
When it's done, pull it out of the oven, let it cool for a minute or two and then turn it upside down on to a serving plate (It might fall apart...that's OK - this guy is uber-moist and does not always allow for perfect slices, so it will never win a contest for it's visual appeal). It will be too big for a regular plate, so if you don't have something a little larger I would suggest just carefully cutting it in the pan and then sccoping it out.
So, that's our meatloaf!! Enjoy and please let me know if you give it a try!!