Dog Food Fit for a College Student!

June 8, 2010:

A very special day in the lives of two sassy mamas:

Pepper Ann Kullerd,

and Sally Jane Kullerd.

To celebrate these lovely ladies' 8th birthdays, the PTiYM crew and I decided to make some dog-friendly birthday cupcakes. Even though dogs will eat pretty much anything that you put in front of them, we thought we should do something they would probably like.

Like meat.

After some experimentation, we applied a semi-traditional meatloaf approach, combined with a little Shepherd's Pie to create:

BIRTHDAY MEAT CUPCAKES!!!

2-6 strips of bacon (depending on your level of BacoLove)

2 lbs. ground meat (we used lean ground sirloin; any ground meat will work)

1 egg

Breadcrumbs/chips/crackers

2 T ketchup

2 T mustard

1/2 onion, diced

1 stalk celery, diced

3-5 cloves garlic, minced

3-5 mushrooms, diced

2 jalapeños, seeded & diced

Dried Basil

Salt & Pepper

2 large potatoes

Milk

White Cheddar or Mexican melting cheese (e.g., Oaxaca)

Butter

Salt & Pepper

0) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F and get a large pot of water boiling.

1) Cook the bacon until brown and crispy over medium heat. Remove the strips to a plate lined with paper towels, reserving the rendered bacon fat.

2) Heat the fat on medium-high and sauté the diced onions and celery for a few minutes until they begin to soften.

3) Add the mushrooms and jalapeños (optional) and continue cooking for a few more minutes until everything is soft, beginning to brown and reduced in size.

4) Add the garlic and cook for another minute or two. Remove vegetables from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

5) Place the ground beef in a large mixing bowl. Using your hands, create a well in the middle of the meat and crack the egg into the well.

6) Add the ketchup, mustard and seasonings to the well.

7) Once the bacon is cool, crumble it into small pieces (larger pieces will be more noticeable and provide more texture, while smaller pieces will mean more little morsels of bacon through the dish) and drop into the well.

8) Once the sauteed vegetables have cooled, add them to the bowl as well.

9) Add the breadcrumbs, crushed chips or crushed crackers to the bowl and mix to combine. Using your hands works best here, but the more you handle the meat, the tougher and drier your cupcakes will be, so mix just to combine and then STOP!

10) Using nonstick cooking spray, melted butter or olive/vegetable oil, grease a cupcake pan and fill each cupcake well with the meat mixture. Bake for 15-25 minutes until the meat cupcakes brown and begin to shrink, separating from the sides of the pan.

11) Salt the boiling pot of water.

11) Drop the 2 large potatoes (cubed) into the boiling water and cook until done. The best method I know to check boiled potatoes for doneness is to pick a piece out of the water with tongs or a slotted spoon and stab with a sharp knife or fork. If the potato is hard to stab and clings to the utensil without falling off, the potatoes need to cook longer. If the potato crumbles and falls off, they are OVERDONE. If the potato gives easily to the knife or fork and slides off easily back into the water, the potatoes are PERFECT!

12) Once the potatoes are all cooked, strain them into a colander and return the cooked potatoes to the pot.

13) Add a large splash of milk, some butter, salt, pepper and the cheese (optional) to the potatoes and mash with potato masher or hand mixer. Add milk and butter until the potatoes are smooth, light and fluffy. Add salt to taste.

14) Using a pastry bag with a fancy star tip or just a couple of spoons, pipe or scoop the mashed potatoes on top of each meat cupcake, like frosting.

15) Set your oven to Broil at the hottest temperature (usually 500 degrees F or so) and place the "frosted" cupcakes so that the tops are a few inches away from the top heating element. Allow cupcakes to broil for 5 minutes or so to brown the top of the potatoes. You won't regret this step, I promise.

TAH DAH! You have now made Birthday Meat Cupcakes! If you want, write a little message in the potato frosting with some ketchup in a squeezable bottle, or if you want to get really fancy, put the ketchup in a ziploc bag, seal it up and cut off the tiniest bit of plastic from one corner, using the ziploc as a piping bag, which will allow you to write pretty messages on top.

ENJOY!