Alright. I bought some Halloween fun-shaped silicone pans from Aldi and I wanted to use them. I’m not a baker. I could have made beer cheese bread? This seemed easy enough though. No measuring. No fuss. Fall shenanigans good for Halloween or Thanksgiving. These taste like delicious pumpkin rolls.
Three ingredients. OK, four. I used some pumpkin spice. Alright, five if you count the frosting.
Ingredients:
1 box (15.25 oz) Yellow Cake Mix
1 can (15 oz) Pumpkin
1 single-serve cup (4 oz) Unsweetened Applesauce
A shake or two of Pumpkin Spice
1 tub Baker’s Corner Cream Cheese Frosting
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Get your cupcake tins of choice ready, grease, spray, or line ’em if so inclined.
Dump the cake mix, the can of pumpkin, & the cup of applesauce t into a large bowl.
Shake on some pumpkin spice and/or cinnamon. Mix it all together. Mix it well.
Slap that batter into your cupcake thing, go about ¾ fill ’cause it’ll rise.
Pop the baking sheet into the oven and bake at 350°F for about 30 minutes.
Pull ;em out & let ’em cool.
Slather on a generous amount of cream cheese frosting.
Notes:
I used the silicone cupcake trays, so I put them on a flat backing sheet. Apparently this can extend typical baking time a bit. I started checking at 20 minutes with a knife, and it was still gooey then.
This would be fine in a cake pan or pie plate or casserole dish or even a loaf pan or two, I bet. I am here for you doing you & using what you’ve got.
I like pumpkin flavor more than pumpkin spice. Of course, go heavy if that’s your thing.
Hit me up with your tips, tricks, similar recipes, or super easy stuff to bake.
Yeah, I blogged about this before. But, that post is long winded and I have refined my method ever so slightly. Also Kraft doesn’t make Roasted Red Pepper Italian dressing any more. Which isn’t a huge deal, but still. Mainly, I make my meatballs & chicken both in the oven now.
Here’s the recipe for the meatballs & the soup. I don’t measure anything, so these are guesses.
Meatballs
Ingredients:
~3 lbs. ground beef (80/20)
½ bag Seasoned croutons, crushed (eyeball it; you want mostly meat, not bread)
splash of milk, to soak the crushed croutons
½ cup French fried onions, crushed
splash of Zesty Italian (eyeball it)
2 eggs, beaten
¼ cup chopped fresh spinach
2 tablespoons fresh parsley
¼ cup Parmesan/Romano “shake cheese”
Seasonings: onion powder, garlic powder, salt, black pepper, Italian seasoning, Dash table blend
Method:
Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Crush the croutons (I used a ground meat masher thing – but you can do it by hand, or in a baggie with the shake-cheese bottle) and the French fried onions. Stir the milk into the croutons and let them soak for a few minutes (The internet tells me this is a panade.)
In a big bowl, mix the beef, soaked croutons, French fried onions, a splash of dressing, the eggs, a few shakes of cheese, the spinach, the parsley, and the seasonings by hand until just combined.
Roll or scoop into mini meatballs, about 1 inch, and space them out on the pan.
Bake 18 to 20-ish minutes, until no pink remains and they hit 160°F.
Chicken
Ingredients:
Chicken breast cutlets (about 1½ to 2 lb)
Olive oil
Rotisserie chicken seasoning, poultry seasoning.
Method:
Put the cutlets on a separate sheet pan, drizzle with oil, and sprinkle with seasoning.
Bake at 400°F for 18 to 20-ish minutes, flipping halfway, until they hit 165°F.
Let rest a few minutes, then slice into chunks.
Soup
Ingredients:
Butter (enough to cover the bottom of the pot when melted)
A few handfuls of carrots, finely chopped
About ⅓ bunch celery, chopped (stalks plus some leaves)
1 onion, chopped
Fresh parsley
Minced garlic (the jarred kind in oil is fine)
4 cartons chicken broth/stock (or whatever mix you have)
Fresh spinach, chopped (I get the kind in the clear box at Aldi)
Shredded Parmesan for topping
Method:
Melt the butter in the soup pot. Add the carrots, celery, onion, parsley, and garlic, season well, and sauté for a bit.
Pour in the broth/stock and bring to a boil. (I used chicken broth, chicken stock, bone broth, and vegetable broth this time.)
Reduce the heat a bit and add the chicken and meatballs. Bring back to a boil.
Add the spinach and acini de pepe and boil about 9 minutes, or until the pasta is done.
Top each bowl with shredded Parmesan. Let it cool before eating.
Notes:
The acini di pepe swells a lot in leftovers. The whole internet says to cook it separately and add it to each bowl which ensures that I will absolutely do exactly not that. You do you though.
This is not a traditional Italian wedding soup. I’m a mostly UK-ish mutt with some German and maybe even Norwegian heritage living in southwestern PA. Don’t come at me telling me what I did wrong.
You can use bouillon cubes, Better Than Bouillon , make your own stock, or even sneak your favorite beer into the stock. You do you.
You can use frozen meatballs, but these are so much better. Maybe use a rotisserie chicken too? There are no rules. I support culinary anarchy.
I feel like mushrooms may be good in this too? I don’t know why.
There’s other stuff I’m surely gonna try. The Wedding Soup Meatball Sub worked, why not make it a meatloaf? Maybe? I thought of a chili meatloaf, whic would maybe have beans in it… and I still may try that someday, but this seemed like more of an easy win. Plus, leftovers right into a warmed tortilla? Yes, please.
Maybe this is “white people tacos” because of the seasonings, but I mean… it was pretty good, and it tasted like the tacos I grew up eating in the 80s. I should have snuck in some salsa and black olives. Wait. Maybe refried beans? Would that even work?
I absolutely do not measure. All measurements are approximate. Measure with your heart, and season according to your ancestors. If your ancestors come from the same place mine do, maybe keep seasoning a bit past that.
Ingredients:
2½ lbs. 80/20 ground beef
2 Tbsp taco seasoning (from a shaker; about 1-1½ packets if you’re using packets)
2 large eggs
1 cup crushed Doritos (about 2 cups before crushing; roughly 2 big handfuls)
¼ cup panko
¼ cup taco sauce
¼ cup milk, for soaking the panko
1 cup Mexican-style shredded cheese
2-3 Tbsp. sour cream
½ cup slightly crushed French fried onions
Other seasonings, approximate:
1 tsp chili powder
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp paprika
¼ tsp cayenne
½ tsp black pepper
½ cup taco sauce, divided (for glaze/topping)
½ cup shredded Mexican-style cheese (for topping)
3 sacrificial slices of white bread.
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment and lay the bread slices side by side, shaped roughly like the loaf.
Soak the panko & crushed Doritos. Stir the panko, ¼ cup taco sauce and ¼ cup milk together in a large bowl. Let it sit about 5 minutes until it’s a thick paste. Season this up.
Beat the eggs lightly and stir them into the soaked panko mixture..
Add the beef, taco seasoning, cheese, sour cream, French fried onions and all more spices to the bowl. Mix gently with your hands.
Shape. Form a loaf on top of the bread, about 9-10 inches long and 3-4 inches tall. (The bread catches the drippings and keeps the bottom from burning.)
Bake for about 50 minutes.
Take it out and brush the top with about ¼ cup taco sauce. Add a thin layer of shredded cheese, then drizzle with the remaining taco sauce. Bake another 15-20 minutes, until the cheese is browned and bubbly and the internal temperature reads 160°F.
Rest for about 3 minutes, then slice.
I think it was pretty good. Obviously you could do regular tortilla chips and add more seasoning. I may do that next time. This time I baked it alongside a normal meatloaf just in case nobody liked it. The family looked at me weird when I rolled out my plan.
I served all this along with some Spanish rice & black beans. I probably made that very not traditionally, but it was also pretty good. Also with it I sauteed some zucchini and bell pepper. Would have done onion, but the last one was a little too squishy for my taste.
What unconventional meatloaf ideas are you sitting on? Would you try this? What are you making out there?
I had to try ’em out. We’ve done the mummies. Why not the ghosts? They were at least horrifying in the spirit of the holiday.
These were really simple, here’s what I did…
Pre-heat the oven to 375°.
Cut 4 bun-length hot dogs in half, & stand them up on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Roll out a can of Pillsbury croissant dough, pinch the diagonal seams & cut it into 8 squares.
Put some shredded cheese and seasoning on the dough.
Wrap the dough over the dogs cheese & seasoning side in.
Use a metal straw (or whatever) to cut holes for the eyes and mouth.
Pop them in the oven for 13 minutes, because of course.
You can see how they turned out. My wife got a much more flattering picture:
She opted for ketchup. I made “Scary Sauce.”
Maybe 3:1:½ of Ketchup/Yellow Mustard/Miracle Whip, with some onion powder, paprika, and mustard powder. It was nice & orange for the season.
Next time, I may cut up black olive slices & use them for the eyes and mouths. Maybe. I also will use regular sized dogs instead of the bun length, so maybe they don’t half tip over.
What are your favorite or new fun Halloween themed foods?
Of course, I made these while listening to a Halloween playlist. You should too.
OK, so this recipe is really inspired by or let’s say heavily borrowed from a recipe that I saw on a Barilla Campanelle box years ago. I saw some Reggano Halloween Shaped Pasta at Aldi recently, and I thought the butternut squash sauce would hit the right color and flavor for fall.
I’m not fancy enough for pancetta, so I used bacon pieces, and I skipped the balsamic vinegar and added a dash of heavy cream because why not? I didn’t measure anything, but here’s what I did;
Ingredients:
1 bag Reganno Halloween Shaped Pasta (or whatever you have on hand, really).
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
⅓ cup bacon pieces
1 small Onion chopped
2 small butternut squash, cubed (It was about 8 cups)
So, I recently made a meatball sub inspired by wedding soup flavors. In that post, I considered making a turkey meatloaf with flavors like stuffing and mashed potatoes in it among other weird meatball subs. I like to mix it up with meatloaf. I have done a mushroom one(and a Swiss Mushroom one too actually), a breakfast one, and I do “normal” ones with the ketchup glaze, or A1, or gravy all the time. I think next up is a taco-inspired meatloaf. Maybe. It’s probably fair to call it “white people taco” inspired.
In a large bowl, combine ground turkey, soaked stuffing, potato flakes, eggs, shredded carrots, French-fried onions, and all seasonings. Mix until just combined.
Divide into two loaves (~1½ lbs. each) and shape onto a parchment lined sheet pan or into loaf pans.
Bake at 400° F, tented loosely with foil, for the first ~30 minutes.
Remove foil.
Continue baking, checking internal temp starting around 45 minutes. Apply glaze in the last 15 minutes or so.
Pull loaves once they hit 165° F internal.
Rest 5 to 10 minutes before slicing.
Glaze Method:
Melt jellied cranberry sauce over medium-low heat.
Whisk in applesauce and brown sugar until smooth.
Add apple cider vinegar, honey, white pepper, and mustard powder to taste.
I thought about sautéing a mirepoix here instead of just the carrots. Maybe next time? I do that for my stuffing, and it adds so much.
I used something that’s somewhere between cheese-grater and lemon-zester so my shredded carrots were TINY.
I normally may cook meatloaf at a lower temperature, but I was cooking butternut squash at the same time, popped on to the top rack.
I also served this with canned green beans (hit with butter & onion-powder), instant potatoes (mixed THICC), and some turkey gravy from a packet so everyone had their choice of glaze, gravy, GTFO, or both.
I put my beef meatloaves on top of bread to prevent burning and soak up grease, but there was hardly any fat here. I could have skipped it & let the parchment paper do its thing.
I don’t like the cranberry sauce with whole (or mushed) cranberries, and neither does my diverticulitis… but, if you do, I’m gonna guess that would work well here too.
In the name of mad science, should I include squash, green beans, and/or cranberry sauce IN the loaf next time?
If you don’t have poultry seasoning, use sage, thyme, & rosemary.
Apologies for the absolutely atrocious photo, but I was hungry.
A poorly composed photo of two Giving Thanksgiving turkey meatloaves fresh from the oven.
This might be a cool thing for a second holiday gathering, a small gathering, or in June when you want a turkey dinner. I have some Thanksgiving mazes you can solve too. Maybe skip the ground beef one, unless you wanna just get the book(it even made the cover!).
Really though, if you’re here, you gotta make these Thanksgiving sliders some time too. Should I make a thanksgiving dinner meatball sub with gravy to dip it in?
Hit me up in the comments with your thoughts, concerns, questions, tips, or tricks! Do you make one like this? What kind of themed meatloaf do you make?
Lots of other people have done this and there are certainly other recipes out there, but as always I did my own take here. I get real tired real quick on foodie gatekeeping about the “right” way to do stuff, as it recipes and ingredients haven’t always changed across generations, borders, & families.
I had what I wanted to do and a taste I was going for in my head, and it definitely hit the mark. My son tasted a meatball before we made a sandwich and he said the meatball tasted exactly like wedding soup. I’ll take that!
I ended up making a broth on the side to kind of have like a a French Dip sandwich. Google says it’s a Brodo di Bollito. I took the bun that I messed up, but it still looks pretty good. I’ll try to make the recipe concise below. I just kind of throw stuff together, don’t measure, and hope it works.
How would you do yours? I present this as a guide and a reminder for myself the next time I make these. I encourage you to make it your own. Here’s what I did, I’ll try to present it as a recipe:
Dash of extra virgin olive oil, for sautéing mirepoix
Seasonings! (To taste, throughout.)
onion powder
garlic powder
black pepper
Dash table blend
paprika
dried parsley
Italian seasoning
rotisserie chicken seasoning
poultry seasoning
3 tsp. jarred minced garlic (I know, I know, the internet hates this. Use fresh then.)
1 (32 Oz.) box chicken stock
1 (32 Oz.) box chicken broth
1 beef bouillon cube
1 cup whole-milk ricotta
4 cups fresh spinach
4 hard rolls, split on top
1 cup fontina, freshly shredded
½ cup fancy shredded Parmesan, for topping
Method:
Preheat the oven to 400° F.
In a soup pot, sauté the Carrots, celery, & onion in some butter & a splash of olive oil, with the jarred minced garlic. Season with a bit of the herb/spices to taste, add minced garlic after the stuff cooks a bit.
Take out maybe ½ to ¾ cup of the mirepoix and set aside to cool.
Add the chicken stock and beef bouillon cube to the pot with the remaining mirepoix, and bring it to a boil.
Add the acini di pepe, cook about 9 minutes per the box, just shy of tender — you want it barely cooked, not swollen.
Set aside about ½ to ¾ cup of the acini di pepe to cool.
Put the stock on a warmer or a low simmer.
Mix the meatballs! Combine ground beef, ground chicken, 2 large eggs, 2 tablespoons milk, plain & panko breadcrumbs, 0.5 cups grated Parmesan. Gently fold in the cooled mirepoix/acini di pepe mixture, Mix by hand until just combined, don’t overwork. Don’t forget to season the egg mixture, the breadcrumbs, & the meat.
Form a bunch of meatballs on a backing sheet with some parchment paper. Mine were probably just a little smaller than 2 inches in diameter. I seasoned them after forming, too.
Bake the meatballs at 400°F for 17-ish minutes (until they reach 165°F internal).
Season the ricotta: While the meatballs bake, mix ricotta with a pinch of the seasoning blend until well combined.
Wilt the spinach in a pan with some butter & seasonings.
Split 4 hard rolls on top. Spread the herbed ricotta inside, then toast in the oven at 400°F for about 5 minutes. (You can time it to go in with the meatballs or wait until they’re done.)
Layer wilted spinach into each toasted roll, top with meatballs, then sprinkle fontina & shredded Parmesan generously over the top.
Melt the cheese: Return assembled subs to the oven at 400°F for about 7 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
Warm the broth and serve alongside the subs for dipping, French dip style.
Notes:
I should have used fresh parsley in addition to the dried stuff.
Use “real” garlic if you’re cooler than me.
I should have put a tiny bit of spinach in the meatballs too.
This could have made like 10 sandwiches, I only made 4. We’re gonna freeze stuff for later.
Use plain or panko or seasoned breadcrumbs, or crush up crackers, parmesan Cheez⟐It, or croutons. Hell, crush up Ritz. Use what ya got.
Just melt butter with herbs/seasonings & spread it on the bun, then add mozzarella or provolone or whatever kind of cheese you like here if you’re so inclined. I went with Ricotta and Fontina because they seem more mellow for some reason.
I would use a little pasta here. Maybe orzo or stelline or any kind of pastina.
Of course you can use sausage, or veal, or pork, or whatever floats your boat.
The spinach could have used some type of vinegar maybe, to cut the richness? Lemon would work too, but I’m not a huge fan. We had these with a nice small side salad.
I feel like red bell pepper may not have been out of place here somewhere? In the meatball sauteed? Roasted red peppers on top?
I hate rice in meatballs, so I subbed in veggies for my cabbage rolls, and that really worked well.
FoundationsMeatball Before & AfterAccoutrementsRoll out! Sub assembly collage.
So, there you have it. What do you think? Do you make a similar sub or know of a restaurant or food truck that does? What other kind of soup would make a good meatball sub? My wife suggested French onion. That seems doable and delicious.
What if we got weird with cheddar cheese-filled meatballs dipped in tomato soup? Broccoli cheddar soup inspired, made with meatballs sort of like ham loaf ? I suggested a meatloaf made like a green bean holiday casserole and the family told me that the madness had to stop. (It’s not that far off from mushroom meatloaf mayhem.)
Wait. Ground turkey, boxed stuffing as the breadcrumbs, and a cranberry glaze? That would make one hell of a meatball sub or a meatloaf. (Sort of like my Thanksgiving sliders?)
I was recently reminded of this, & it’s pretty good comfort food. It’s like if chicken noodle soup was a casserole. Once upon a time I started then abandoned a blog for recipes. I remembered this was living there.
I think I may sauté a mirepoix next time I do this. I also have thought about adding canned condensed cream of chicken soup to make it a creamy casserole.
Sometimes I lack the patience to boil or a chicken or to break-down a rotisserie chicken. I have grilled chicken tenders for this, and this time I baked them. I used rotisserie chicken seasoning, table blend, poultry seasoning, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, & parsley throughout the process.
I’d start by roasting a chicken (425°F for 15 to 20 minutes per pound) & reserving the liquid, using a rotisserie chicken, grilling tenders (6 to 8 minutes on medium-high on a countertop/press) grill, or baking them (20 min. @ 400°F). Just get it to 165°F internal. You can boil a whole chicken too, but that will take some time.
Here’s my version written out:
Ingredients:
1 (16 oz.) bag Kluski noodles. (Obviously whatever kind of noodles you like is fine.)
I’m gonna call it beefaroni anyway, because these names are just ridiculous:
The dish commonly sold as “Beefaroni” (a trademarked name owned by Conagra Brands) has several regional and generic names. Depending on where you are in the US, the most common non-trademarked names for this ground beef and macaroni tomato skillet are American Goulash, American Chop Suey, Slumgullion, or Johnny Marzetti. [1, 2, 3]
Right?
Boy are deez tasty.
At any rate, I was hungry for it… and I am not a fan of the Chef Boyardee stuff/ (Sorry, Chef!) We would have this occasionally when I was growing up, and it’s a comfort meal I guess. It’s easy enough, and safe for the beef part these days, pretty economical.
Below is how I do it. How do you do it, & what do you call it?
Bring 4 quarts water to boil in a stock pot, ad the bouillon cubes, Italian blend, & Dash.
Brown the ground beef in your skillet, hit it will all those spices… or whatever you got or like. We don’t measure here. Season until you think it’s too much, then keep going a little bit.
Drop that Cavatappi or whatever pasta shape you dig into that water for 7 minutes or the recommended time on the box. Make sure you stir it up every once in a while.
Drain the pasta, leave a lil’ bit of pasta water, return it to the warm yet off burner.
Dump in the ground beef, the tomato soup, and stir like you practiced with the pasta.
Put it in a bowl and eat it.
Notes?
Yeah, tomato soup! Not tomato sauce, pasta sauce, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, or any of that for me. This is cheap.
Obviously if you would prefer any of that, do it.
Sauteed onions, diced tomatoes, some type of beans, or even bell peppers would probably be great in this.
This is a memory I’m not messing with though. I’m keeping it basic and cheap.
So, a while back I made some things, and I don’t know if they were calzones or stromboli because no one can seem to fully agree on the definitions of either. Yes, I know definitions exist, but restaurants are all over out here calling them the wrong thing and people will confidently give you their contradicting hyper-regional opinions as gospel. Maybe it’s a turnover? I like alliteration, so Pizza Pocket it is.
The first ones I made were not pretty. They were more half-moon shaped, one was not sealed well. They were delicious, but not awesome. I used pizza dough balls from Aldi and I did not do a great job stretching it.
This time I made some for lunch, and they looked pretty good. I put fillings in to order for each of us, and put our initials on top so they didn’t get mixed up. I got a resounding seal of approval on these, so I’m putting it here to make it again.
Preheat the oven to 400° (Or if you’re weird like me, preheat it to 425° then crank it down to 400° after you put the food in.)
Put down some parchment paper on a large baking sheet because washing dishes sucks.
Put any wet toppings like the mushrooms, olives, & red pepper on a paper towel or two do drain & dry off a bit.
Melt the butter in a microwavable bowl, add in spices to taste.
Crack the eggs into another bowl, whisk (or fork), and add spices again.
Pop open the scary dough tubes with a spoon, roll them out, and cut them in half the short way.
Put down the Italian cheese blend on half of the half. I didn’t measure, but I did use the whole bag. Leave room on the edges so you can seal the dough.
Spoon on a very little bit of the pizza sauce.
Add your preferred toppings, keeping track of who gets what. I took ’em all!
Sprinkle some parmesan cheese.
Top with a little bit of Mozzarella.
Hit the edges with some egg wash.
Fold over the dough to make a nice rectangle, and use a fork to crimp the 3 “open” edges.
Brush the egg wash on top, then brush the melted butter on top of that.
Add extra spices on top if you think it needs it, and go for more parmesan too.
Cut slits in the top shaped like everyone’s initials so you know whose is whose.
Pop that in the oven at 400° for 20 minutes and you get what I got in the picture.
Suggestions/Substitutions/Advice:
I measure with my heart. You should too. Trust your judgement. Season until your ancestors tell you to stop.
You could get fancy and do all kinds of stuff like green peppers, pepperoncini, sausage, onion, Ricotta, anchovies, spinach, basil, whatever.
Of course use whatever dough or cheese fits your fancy, fits your budget, or is simply what’s available.
You can skip the pizza sauce. I also wouldn’t overdo it… you want vents up top to let steam out so it doesn’t stay too wet.
So, do you make something similar? I am way too impatient to make dough, and I seem to even be too impatient to stretch a dough ball properly. These rolled canned tube things were perfect.
Hit me up on the comments or social media replies with some conversation:
