How To Clean Muffin or Cupcake Pans

Aluminum muffin pans used many times,
still looking like new after 10 years.

I put water in my pots and pans to soak them after cooking. I don't like to put large pots and pans in my dishwasher because they take up too much room, so I wash them by hand. When I bake cupcakes or muffins, some batter will always drip around the rims and get baked on. I can't soak the  top rims of the muffin pans in water so I keep a cheap spray bottle full of water by the sink. I spray water on the baked-on batter around the rims. This just needs to soak for a few minutes while I do other dishes. Then when I clean the muffin pans, the baked-on batter comes right off without scrubbing! My muffin pans look as good as new.

Easter Egg Nest Cupcakes

This is a fun project to make with kids:

Easter Egg Nest Cupcakes with jelly beans and pretzel sticks

I made the cupcakes with a commercial cake mix then added frosting made from scratch.
Frosting Recipe
1 cup vegetable shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups sifted confectioner's sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes
Jelly beans
Pretzel sticks
Place shortening in a large mixing bowl. Add sugar, one cup at time and mix with electric mixer, beating well at medium speed. Add vanilla and milk and beat at high speed until light and fluffy. Spread thinly on cupcakes, reserving the rest for the yellow nests. Sprinkle coconut on cupcakes and press down lightly. Color the remaining frosting with a few drops of yellow food color. Put in frosting bag and use Wilton tip number 32 to pipe icing in 1.5 inch circles on top of each cupcake. Press 2 or 3 jelly beans into the yellow frosting nests. Break pretzels in half and insert them a little way into each cupcake just under the nests.

14 Minute Square Meatballs Recipe

14 Minute Square Meatballs

I remember my mom making meatloaf. She put all the ingredients onto the top of the ground beef and mixed the squishy mess together with her hands. That grossed me out a little. I stir together all the ingredients except the meat with a fork, then, after it's all mixed well, I stir in the meat with the fork and then mix by hand for just a minute. This is faster and less messy.

14 Minute Square Meatballs
1/2 cup crushed saltine crackers
1/3 cup minced onion
1 to 2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt or seasoned salt (optional)
1 pound lean ground beef or ground turkey

Crush saltines in glass 8- by 8- or 9- by 9-inch baking dish. Add all ingredients except meat and stir together with a fork. Add meat, stir briefly with fork. Use hands to more thoroughly mix together. Pat mixture evenly in dish. Cover dish with waxed paper or vented plastic wrap (turn back a corner of the wrap for air to escape). Microwave on high for 8 minutes or until 160 degrees in the middle. After cooking, if there is a lot of fat, stuff a paper towel in one corner. Tilt dish down slightly toward that low corner to absorb the fat. Cut into 1 inch cubes for square meatballs or cut into larger pieces and serve as meatloaf.

Kitchen Timesaver - Square Meatballs

14 Minute Square Meatballs on Spaghetti

Next time you need to make meatballs and you're in a hurry, mix the ingredients together in a glass Pyrex casserole dish, for example, 8 by 8 inch or 9 by 12 inch if you're feeding a bigger family. After the ingredients are well mixed, mash it flat so that it's level in the dish, about 1 inch high. Cook in the microwave about 8 minutes per pound of ground meat. (Read your microwave's instructions.) After it tests done, cut into about 1 inch cubes and you have square meatballs in minutes!