Faux Cupcakes

Faux Cupcakes

Meatloaf

1 pound lean ground beef

1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese

3 tablespoons ketchup

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon celery salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Potato Frosting

3 cups mashed potatoes

Food coloring

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 12 muffin tin cups with foil bake cups.

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).

Place the filled muffin tins on cookie sheets and bake the cupcakes for about 15 minutes or until cooked through.

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.

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Recipe and picture from FamilyFun.go.com

Faux French Fries

Faux French Fries

1 package of plain, prepared breadstick dough

Sugar

White envelope

Seedless strawberry jam

Begin by unrolling the dough and separating the breadsticks. Use kitchen scissors to cut them into 1/4-inch-wide sticks.

Roll all the sticks in sugar, then bake them on a cookie sheet according to the package directions or until golden brown (about 8 minutes). Leave them on the tray until they're cool.

Make this mix-up even more fun by putting the fries in a fast-food fry sleeve (the cutoff end of a sealed envelope; about 2-1/2 inches deep) and serving them with a side of "ketchup" (jam whisked with a fork to a smooth consistency).

Recipe and picture from FamilyFun.go.com

Faux Fish Sticks

Faux Fish Sticks

Cornflakes

Sugar wafer cookies

Peanut butter

Green taffy candy (ie: green apple AirHeads)

Seedless strawberry jam

For the fish sticks, place a couple of handfuls of cornflakes in a ziplock bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Cover 2 sugar wafer cookies with peanut butter, then toss them in the cornflake crumbs to coat.

For the peas, tear off and roll small pieces of the taffy candy into balls. If the taffy is too stiff to work with, microwave it for about 6 seconds.

For the ketchup, use a fork to stir a few teaspoons of the jam until it's smooth.

Recipe and picture from FamilyFun.go.com

Faux Grilled Cheese

Faux Grilled Cheese

Pound cake

1 cup buttercream or white frosting

Yellow and red food coloring

Cut the pound cake into bread-like slices and toast them in a toaster oven just until they turn golden brown. Once they've cooled for a few minutes, stack two slices for each sandwich and cut the stack in half diagonally (slicing the sandwich before you fill it makes for fewer crumbs).

Now tint the frosting by stirring in a few drops of yellow and red food coloring (more yellow than red) to get a shade of orange that resembles American cheese.

Carefully spread frosting between the slices of each half sandwich. If you mound the frosting on one slice, then top it with the other and gently press down, the frosting will ooze out a bit and look all the more like melted cheese.

Yield: Makes one sandwich

Recipe and picture from FamilyFun.go.com

Faux Fried Marshmallow Egg

Faux Fried Marshmallow Egg

2 teaspoons butter

12 marshmallows

2 dried whole apricots

Place a piece of aluminum foil on a flat working surface and then grease the surface of the foil with 1 teaspoon of the butter.

In a small saucepan, melt the second teaspoon of butter over low heat. As soon as it has melted, add the marshmallows to the pan and turn up the heat to medium-low. Stir continuously with a wooden spoon until the marshmallows are completely melted and have just started to bubble.

Immediately remove the pan from the heat and spoon the melted marshmallow, in 2 separate blobs, onto the greased foil. You have to work fast, before the marshmallow begins to solidify again. Tip: When spooning the melted marshmallow onto the greased foil, work quickly, using the back of the spoon to spread out the "egg white" a bit.

Shape 2 dried whole apricots and gently press each one, round side up, into the center of a marshmallow blob. Tip: To make a dried apricot look just like a dome-shaped egg yolk, use your thumbs to push the center of the fruit until it is concave.

When the marshmallow has set enough to hold together, but before it stiffens too much, use a spatula to transfer the eggs to a breakfast plate. Tip: Once the candy eggs have set, insert a plastic spatula beneath each one and, at the same time, use your fingers to gently peel the marshmallow from the foil.

Recipe and picture from FamilyFun.go.com