The First Piece of Art I Ever Sold

It still thrills me to no end that someone would

want to give me money for something I've made.

And I remembered that this didn't start out being a cooking blog.

I planned on it being a little of this and a little of that.

Plus, I'm ashamed of how long it's been since my last post.

Luckily, I have a hard time deleting photos off of my computer

unless I know they're saved in a few other places.

Caramelized Onion Meatloaf Cupcakes with Garlic Mashed Potato Icing

Garlic Mashed Potatoes
 -4 large Russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
 -4 cloves of garlic, peeled, halved and smashed
 -3 T. butter or garlic butter
 -3 T. sour cream
 -1/4 cup milk or cream
 -2 tsp. dried thyme
 -Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

Meatloaf
 -1 T. butter
 -1 onion, chopped
 -2 T. brown sugar
 -1 lb. lean ground beef, turkey or pork
 -3 cloves garlic, minced
 -1 medium egg
 -good squirt of ketchup
 -good squirt of Dijon mustard
 -1 T. prepared horseradish
 -1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
 -1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
 -1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper
 -a few button mushrooms, chopped (optional- threw these in just because I had them)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place potatoes and garlic in a pot and add just enough water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to medium-low. Cover and simmer 20 minutes or until tender.

While waiting for potatoes to boil, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add butter. As soon as it is melted add onion, stirring and tossing to coat. Stir in brown sugar, making sure to stir until all onions are coated. Cook, stirring occasionally, 5-8 minutes, or until onions are soft and browned. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.

In a large bowl combine the rest of meatloaf ingredients, adding onions last. Mix just until combined. Press into muffin cups or ramekins (I ended up with 11 'cupcakes'), leaving the top flat, and place in preheated oven. If your meat is fatty, you may want to place a pan underneath the muffin tins to catch drippings. Bake for 20 minutes.

When potatoes are tender, remove from heat and drain. Add the rest of ingredients to pot and mash together until smooth. When meatloaf is done, remove from oven and turn broiler on low. Drain any fat and place cupcakes on a baking dish. Using a spoon, spatula, piping bag or Ziploc bag with corner cut off, "frost" the cupcakes with the mashed potatoes. Place under the broiler for 5-7 minutes or until potatoes are lightly browned.

mine didn't look anything like this. 

IMAGE SOURCE

Seriously. I had a piping bag when I had an Easy Bake Oven, why don't I have one now?

I only broiled 2 cupcakes each for us. I frosted the remaining 7, and I'm going to try freezing them.