Fooling with your food

PLEASANT GROVE — Taste buds beware!

Rosie Tippetts and her daughter Shilo Johnson like to play with their food.

So on April Fools' Day at the Tippetts' house, be on the alert when you reach for a cupcake.

It could be you're getting meatloaf instead of a frosted treat or a cupcake that looks like spaghetti and meatballs.

Those green beans may very well be Airhead candy and those moldy rolls are actually probably delicious!

"Most of these are my own lame brain ideas," Tippetts said. "I'm definitely an April Fooler." (Tippetts runs the Pleasant Grove Macey's floral department when she's not mixing things up in the kitchen. She also teaches an occasional class in the store's Little Theater.)

"My daughter helps me think of them and then we just experiment."

Tippetts said her grandkids love eating the unusual foods and sometimes will even down a vegetable without realizing it.

"I have practice runs with them," she said. "It's a lot of fun."

Here are her recipes:

---

Fooled Ya Cupcakes

Your favorite meatloaf recipe or the one below:

2 lbs. lean ground beef

1/2 green pepper, diced

1 onion, diced

2 eggs

1/4 cup bread crumbs

1 small jar A1 Steak Sauce

1/4 cup catsup

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon pepper

19-20 cupcake holders with

foil

grape tomatoes or small

cherry tomatoes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix ingredients and scoop mixture in cupcake holders. Fill to top of holders. Place into cupcake tin. Bake 30-35 minutes. While warm, pipe or spread "Tater Frosting." Put a grape or cherry tomato on top.

---

Tater Frosting

8-9 potatoes, boiled until very soft

1 8-oz. package of cream cheese, softened

salt and pepper to taste

milk (as needed)

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

clove of garlic, minced finely

Cook potatoes. With mixer, combine potatoes and cream cheese, add rest of ingredients, add milk to mixture if too dry. Whip to a frostinglike consistency. Place whipped potatoes in a frosting bag and pipe onto warm meatloaf cupcake or simply frost. Reserve some for Tater Sundaes.

---

Tater Sundaes

cream cheese, whipped potatoes

1 package pork gravy mix/1 package brown gravy mix

grape tomatoes

ice cream sundae dishes (optional)

With an ice cream scoop, scoop out whipped potatoes. Prepare gravy as directed on package. Pour gravy over potatoes to look like caramel or butterscotch topping. Put a grape or cherry tomato on top. Place on table where dessert would usually go.

---

Refreshing Lemonade Quencher

1 large Jell-O (pineapple or lemon)

1 cup club soda

1 yellow fruit juice (optional)

2 cups hot water

lemon slices (optional)