Tonight's Dinner - Meatloaf 'Muffins' and Smashed Young Potatoes

1.5 lb ground beef or turkey or your favorite mix, 2 eggs, 2 tbs Worcestershire sauce  1/4 cup chopped parsley, 1/4 bread crumbs, black pepper, one red pepper - chopped and one packet of Onion Soup Mix.  Note: no salt added because of the sodium content of the soup mix.

Mix with clean hands, careful not to over mix which could make the meatloaf muffins too dense

Use a large ice cream scoop to keep each portion equal for even cooking and consistant portions

12 tin muffin pan

I sprayed mine with Olive Oil spray but you can also line them with cupcake liners

Filled muffin pan 

A squirt of ketchup on each 'muffin' will create that popular crust everyone fights over.  Bake at 425 degrees F for 35 minuted.  I put my pan on top of a half sheet pan in case of spillover.

Done! Each portion now has their own portion controlled 'muffins' and no one will fight over the crispy crust goodness

I had to serve something equally yummy as a side so these are the ever popular smashed potatoes!

Banana Bread

I added a little more than 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and zest and juice of one orange. My additions are in red and a link to the original recipe is below.

Banana Bread Recipe
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour

INGREDIENTS
3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed (I used all 5 overripe bananas on hand)
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips - my addition
zest and juice of one Orange - my addition
METHOD
No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla, zest and orange juice. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Since I craved chocolate chips, they were the last addition. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Yield: Makes one loaf.

Original recipe from http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/banana_bread/ by Elise Bauer

Pinned It/Made It - 3 Ingredient Apple Cake

3, technically 4, ingredient Apple Cake.  In the pinned version, it was yellow cake mix but all I had on hand is this Red Velvet so that's what I used.

Use one box of cake mix

Sliced apples, skins on so it was supper fast and easy on a mandolin. I added a squeeze of lemon to prevent the apples from oxidizing while I sprayed the pan and melted the butter.

Spray pan with cooking spray to prevent sticking.

Add sliced apples to the sprayed pan.

Pour cake mix over the apples.

Melt one stick of butter, I used unsalted.

Pour butter on the dry cake mix.  Step away - add nothing else - no eggs, milk or water.  Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 35-45 minutes or till a pick comes out clean (dry not moist).

The moisture released from the apples will compensate for the 'missing' cake mix ingredients.  Stay tuned for the after photo.... I can smell it from the oven already....

After 40 minutes I checked on the cake and did mix it a bit, primarily due to the depth of pan I used.

The final result is a yummy combination of 'brownie' like crunchy and moist bites.  The apples add a luscious creaminess since they break down in the baking process.  Wish we had vanilla ice cream but some lightly sweetened whipped cream is a good substitute.  A rich dessert enough to feed a crowd that is extremely easy to make.