Turkey Cupcakes or Meatloaf Muffins?

What does a food blogger, obsessed with baking and cooking person do when the kitchen is out of commission?

She goes insane.

Thank God it was temporary. (both the out of commission kitchen and the insanity)

My sink had a leak. Well, more like a gush. A pipe under the sink separated and instead of going out to the main drain and off to the water plant, all that water just ended up on the floor. Did I mention that I had a kitchen full of dirty dishes when this happened? This was Friday night and the plumber didn't consider it an emergency (ya, I know it's not a toilet....but it's my SINK!! I can't cook without the use of my sink, don't you understand? This is what my weekends are all about.....what am I going to do?) and wasn't coming out until Monday.

No cooking. No baking. No playing in the kitchen. No playing with my food. Which leads to said temporary insanity.

So I went to Trader Joes (and Santoro's Subs, and Steve's Charbroil Burgers, and Starbucks) for some food. One of the items that caught my eye in the freezer section was a box of ground turkey patties, topped with spinach and mashed potatoes. It looked really good so I bought it. I haven't re-heated cooked them yet and probably won't at this point (I'll leave them for the kids....I'm not much into spinach. So why did I get them? Good photography on the box.) but they left such an impression on my little semi-culinary mind.

I came home today from work and what did I find? A fixed sink and almost all of the dishes had been clean!! Omg...Sir Sportsalot made up for some of other things that happened over the weekend that I won't go into....yep...he does dishes. (more than I do, if you want to know the truth)

Woooo Hooooo.....I started doing the happy dance!! Defrosted some ground turkey, poured myself a glass of chardonnay and started on my own version of Trader Joe's Turkey Meatloaf Muffins.

It's really simple. I'm not giving out recipes here....just a few links and a really awesome idea on what to do with some already existing recipes.

Mix up a batch of turkey meatloaf....or what ever you're favorite recipe is for meatloak....beef, turkey...whatever. I basically used the same recipe for Turkey Meatballs

Preheat your oven to 375', and grease 12 muffins tins. Divide the turkey mixture  evenly among the tins. Sprinkle with some extra seasoning; black pepper and paprika

 

Bake for about 25 - 30 minutes, or until thoroughly cooked.

Get some Pesto. I had picked up a bunch of basil at the store yesterday so I made some fresh Garlic and Basil Pesto.

Make your favorite mashed potatoes. And start layering, and garnishing.

This is some seriously good stuff. It's like comfort food on another level....all in one bite.

And the veggie on the side? I peeled a zucchini with a wide potato peeler and did a quick saute in some butter, olive oil and garlic....with a little dash of black pepper.

Don't you just love playing in the kitchen? Especially when you've been deprived for 3 days!!!

Btw, I happen to have cupcakes on the brain. In a big way. You see...there's this really cool event happening here in Los Angeles on November 20 called Cupcake Camp LA and I'm going to be there. It's a charity event and I'm bringing cupcakes. Lots of cupcakes. 100 or more to be exact, more or less. Yep, I've signed up as an amateur baker participant and am so very excited!

The event is sponsored by BakeSpace.com. If you're going to be in the area and you like cupcakes, or you like supporting non profits, then stop on by and say hello!

This is my entry this week into the Hearth and Soul Blog Hop....what isn't more yum for the soul than comfort made fun