April Fools

Fool Your Kids With A Yummy Meatloaf Meal

Dessert For Dinner

 I don’t know about your kids, but mine do not love it when I announce that I am making meatloaf for dinner. So, I decided not to be insulted, but rather use it to my advantage. (Okay, so I was still a little insulted) 

I make a meal that looks just like meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy and of course there must be a veggie. For that I chose peas and carrots. It actually does look like the real thing!

I did this many years ago, when my youngest son was in Kindergarten. On April first, it was his turn to bring in the snack for the day and he was not happy to see me show up with the meal he likes the least. I served all the kids and told them to wait a minute to eat, because it was still very hot. It was so funny to see them all cut the meat with a knife and fork and then blow on it before they ate. One child even told me he burned his tongue. 

It was not long before they realized that they had been duped. They happily ate their snack and laughed the whole way through. 

It is an easy meal to put together and so much fun to have dessert for dinner, to celebrate April Fool’s day.

First you will need to make Cocoa Rice Marshmallow Treats. 

Mix 3 Tablespoons of melted butter, to 1 package of marshmallows, then microwave for 1 ½ minutes on high. (stirring halfway through) Then add 6-8 cups of cocoa rice cereal and stir.  

It’s really starting to look like ground beef.

Now scoop the mixture into a loaf pan and pat it into a loaf form.

You can even place it into the oven, to really make it look like you are cooking dinner. Just be sure not to turn on the oven.

Remember to use pot holders to remove it from the oven to give the real effect.

Next you will need to get candy peas and carrots. You can order them

online if you have a hard time finding them in your local store. I found mine at Home Goods.

Now, last on your plate for obvious reasons is the scoop of vanilla ice cream. Place a scoop on the plate and with the back of your scoop or spoon, hollow a well into the center for your “gravy.”

The gravy is really caramel sauce to top off the ice cream. If you are dishing it out to front of the kids, make it seem real. Pretend you are really serving up meatloaf using the potholders.

Put the ice cream in a big bowl, so you are not scooping out of the container and put the caramel sauce in a gravy boat and pour from there. 

When the kids dig in they will be pleasantly surprised and it will make dinner time a lot of fun! Something your kids will remember forever. (Mine do!)