Spaghetti tacos? Of course! It doesn’t get much more kid friendly than that! When I was a child, “kid friendly” meant a smaller portion of what Mom & Dad were having. Not today though. There seems to be an entire sub culture of recipes geared at just the young (not usually just the young at heart).

Just because they are young, doesn’t mean they can’t eat healthy. Spaghetti tacos at our house feature whole wheat spaghetti, ground corn taco shells, and fresh tomato sauce. And cheese of course. Lots of cheese. Watch for a new Kid Friendly recipe every Wacky Wednesday. Same bat channel, same bat time. Or something like that.

OAE (Oh, and enjoy)

Ingredients:

Pink or white paper cupcake liners * 1 recipe batter for Red Velvet Cupcakes (below) * 1 recipe Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting (below) * Red and Pink food coloring * Chocolate brain candies (optional) * Pastry bag and large round tip

Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe Ingredients:

* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour * 1 1/2 cups sugar * 1 teaspoon baking soda * 1 teaspoon salt * 1 teaspoon cocoa powder * 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil * 1 cup buttermilk * 2 large eggs * 2 tablespoons red food coloring * 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar * 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

* 1 pound cream cheese, softened * 2 sticks butter, softened * 1 teaspoon vanilla extract * 4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a hand held electric mixer. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.

1. Cool the cupcakes completely and right before serving bring them out to frost and decorate.

2. If you are using frosting for the brains, mix a drop of pink food coloring into the frosting to make it a pinkish brain color.

3. Using a pastry bag or clear plastic bag with the tip cut off, pipe the frosting in squiggly lines on half of each side of the cupcake to resemble the two hemispheres of the brain. You can use small squiggly lines with a small piping tip or bigger ones, it makes no difference as long as you get the desired effect you are looking for.
Source: GrossHalloweenRecipes