April Fool's Day Cookies! (WW 1 Point)

 

These mouth-watering "cookies" are the perfect side for any meaty meal, or you could use them as the base of your vegetarian dinner. Why? Because they aren't chocolate chip--they're mashed potatoes and black beans! :)

Just whip up your favorite mashed potato recipe, add in black beans, scoop and shape into "cookie" shapes, and bake til brown. Each cookie is only 1 WW point!  Recipe below!

INGREDIENTS
3 medium white potatoes, peeled and boiled 'til they fall apart when stabbed with a fork
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/2 c. fat-free milk
2-3 drops yellow food coloring
3/4 c. black beans, rinsed and drained

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Mash potatoes with garlic, butter, and milk. 
Add in food coloring and mix well.
Stir in beans (barely).
Scoop and flatten into 24 "cookies" on two parchment-paper-lined cookie sheets.
Bake for 30-50 minutes, or 'til golden brown (I baked mine for 30 minutes, then turned the broiler on for a minute or two to give them a golden top because I was impatient!).

Enjoy your April Fool's Day cookies warm!  These are great with salsa, ketchup, or really any toppings you'd normally put on your baked potatoes (though toppings will add extra Weight Watchers Points!).  The outsides are firm enough to pick up each one, but the insides are still like a mashed or baked potato.  Yummy all around!

Of course, I don't have children, and Paul saw the pot of potatos before he saw the cookies so he figured out my "trick" pretty quickly.  But that's what I get for living with a smartie pants.  ;)  We still enjoyed them next to our beef tenderloin and some honey-balsamic-roasted carrots for dinner.  :)

Not-Quite-Cupcakes

This was our dinner last night.  :)

It was actually based on a recipe from, you guessed it, FamilyFun.go.com.  They're not REALLY cupcakes...they're meatloaf and mashed potatoes! 

They are SO easy and fun...not as easy as actual meatloaf and potatoes, but still pretty easy.  And worth it just for the look on Paul's face!

Not-Quite-Cupcakes (makes 12)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, and line a 12-cup muffin tin with FOIL muffin liners (you can get a pack of 30 at Hobby Lobby for less than $2)...don't use plain paper liners, they won't work!!!

2. Make your meatloaf mix however you like (for about a pound of beef)--some days I just add ketchup, bread crumbs, and onions to a pound of ground beef, while other days I get a little more adventurous and add things like onion soup mix to the meat.  Yesterday, I was feeling a little like chocolate, so I loosely followed the directions for the meat here--it includes barbeque sauce, cocoa powder, and molasses, among other things!  I also added wheat germ and oats along with bread crumbs.  This part is totally up to you.  :)

3. Spoon some of the meat mixture into each foil liner--fill them about 3/4 full.

4. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes or until cooked through.

5. Meanwhile, make about 3 cups of mashed potatoes.  (It's easier here if you use a boxed mix...this part was difficult for me to gauge, as I always use real and whole potatoes and I had to peel them this time around...plus, I always make too much.  But better too much than too little!)  Separate into three or four bowls, add food coloring, and stir to make pastel colors.

6. When the meatloaf cupcakes are done, let them sit a while and cool off (not 'til cold, but until the meat hardens up a bit).  If you try to move them while they're still really warm, you'll (A) poke holes in the foil liners, and (B) probably mash the whole thing up.  Trust me, I learned that the hard way.  You CAN drain them first...that might help.

7. Spread a generous spoonful of mashed potatoes on each "cupcake," et voila, you're done!

Even with our huge appetites, these dozen were plenty, and we brought some over to my mom to surprise her.  :)  I had anticipated we'd want more than we did, so I have LOTS of meat and potatoes leftover...tonight, I'll probably put them all into a "pie." 

Happy eating!  Linking up HERE.

April Fools!

I don't usually get too into April Fools' Days, not on principle but mostly just 'cause I forget about it until it's here.  Once in a while, though, I pull out some real gems.

Like last year, when I was student teaching--I often gave the kiddos "fun packs" of activity pages that went along with the theme of our units or of the holidays (so that they can have something to do when they are done with seatwork or during quiet time), and on April Fools' I gave them bogus word searches and mazes...and then had them play tricks on their parents by sending home permission slips to the moon, just to see how many parents even read what they are signing.  :)  The kids loved it.  I got all my printables here--they also have a TON of ideas for family pranks and faux foods, you should really check it out!  When we have kids, I'll be doing something from this site like every year.

Then there was the year (2008) when Paul and I faked an engagement on facebook.  It was believable because we'd been dating for about 4 months at the time and just about EVERYONE was trying to get us to just do it and move on...although Paul was ready, I wasn't really even close, and I thought this would be the perfect payback to all the pressure!  We were pretty convincing, too--we had realistic-looking fake rings, engagement photos (taken by my sister, Cerene), a story about how it was all done, and, of course, facebook to make everything "official."  :)  On April Fools' Day, we told everyone it was a joke...and even got the story mentioned in the Exponent (Purdue's newspaper).  It was pretty dang memorable.  Of course, I had no idea at the time that all that "practice" would help us realize that that's what we really wanted, or that six months later, I'd be getting my own real diamond ring and a promise to go with it...

Cerene is the awesomest for taking our fake engagement photos--and she brought their dog, Leo, to join in the fun!

This year, however, I didn't plan well enough ahead to do anything.  I mentioned the shame of this on facebook, and here are some of the replies I got:

Mary--"Announce you are prego! You'll be like my 5th friend today!! Or your pup got the neighbor dog prego and the neighbor is ticked! =)"

Emilie--"I tried to convince Ian's mom I was pregnant..... too bad I'm Mormon....... hahahahaha she was like Love ya, nice try!"

Ashley--"I don't really have to think of any I have an April Fool every day of the year since I've had Phoenix." (Phoenix is her daughter. :)

Great-Aunt Jan--"I didn't think of any this year either, but in past years, I would tell my husband there was a big spider on his back, and he fell for it every year...ah, those were the days... :-)"

And Spencer--"My lame holiday gag is to ask Jamie (his wife, my old roommate) if she has gone to get the mail yet. Worked the first few years--now she's caught on and asks me. : )"

Thanks for the inspiration, friends!

What about YOU?  Any funny April Fools' Day pranks or stories, from this year or years past?  Any suggestions for next year?