One of the things I enjoy most as a parent is pulling a fun prank on my kids. The bar has been set high over the last few years (a meatloaf cake with pink mash potato “frosting”, dessert sushi, fake fish sticks, peas and carrots, impossible to drink juice and meatloaf cup cakes). While I can’t reveal what I anticipate surprising them with this year, since I know they read my blog and look for clues about how I will prank them on April Fools, I am very excited to share how I punked them last year.
We were in the midst of a kitchen remodel and all of our dining, homework, home entertainment was relocated into one common area which was our living room. Given the situation I had them convinced that without an oven and other cooking tools they should be on high alert for the April Fools Day 2013 – post remodel. The ruse was set, they hadn’t a clue. I went about making sure they were all out with friends and then I used the few cooking tools I had and made my epic BBQ Meatball Sub Sandwich.
And once you’ve pranked your brood you may want to share some stories about other famous pranks. We always like to discuss these over dinner.
* 1957: Hoax BBC Panorama reveals spaghetti harvest in Switzerland
* 1976: Patrick Moore tells Radio 2 listeners that at 0947 a planetary event would lessen Earth’s gravity and if people jumped in the air at that moment, they would float
* 1986: Le Parisien newspaper announces that the Eiffel Tower is to be moved to Euro Disney
* 1998: Burger King launches left-handed Whopper
If you are looking for other fun April Foolin’ Food Ideas see a few of my past posts:
Dessert Sushi & Eye Ball Surprise
Crispy Fish Sticks, Sweet Veggies, Raspberry Coolers and Hearty Cup Cakes
BBQ Meatball Sub Sandwich
Ingredients
4 cups oatmeal
½ cup peanut butter
½ cup butter
4 TBS cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup milk
1 ½ cup sugar
1 pound cake loaf, sliced horizontally
strawberry preserves
1/8 cup white chocolate, grated
butter cream frosting, home made or purchased
yellow food dye
mustard (optional prop)
ketchup (optional prop)
french fries (optional prop)
Directions
Line a cookie sheet with wax paper.
In a large pan, over medium heat, mix the butter, milk, sugar, and cocoa powder together until the mixture comes to a boil. Once the mixture is boiling, allow it too cook for another 1-2 minutes—stirring continuously.
Remove the pan from the heat and stir in peanut butter and oats. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto wax paper. Allow these no-bake cookies to cool and set for 5-10 minutes. If the mixture is too warm then the shape you are molding the cookies will not hold. Once the cookies have cooled, use your hands to shape them into balls. Reshape them as necessary.
Place once piece of the sliced cake on the bottom of a plate (see image) and pace 2-3 ‘meatballs’ inside. Spoon the strawberry jam, thinned out with a little water or fruit juice, over the “meatballs” to look like BBQ sauce. (If you have access to strawberry ice cream topping this also works well.)
Add a small amount of yellow dye into 1/2 cup of the butter cream frosting. Combine well, adding additional yellow as needed until it is the desired color. Place into a plastic bag, twisting at the top to avoid any frosting from spilling out while decorating the sandwiches. Cut 1/8’inch hole at the bottom of one corner of the bag and squeeze out ‘mustard’ onto the meatballs. Grate about 1/8 of a cup of white chocolate with a cheese shredder and sprinkle the shredded white chocolate “cheese” over the “meatballs.” Prop the second piece of bread on the top of the meatballs for full effect. To really confuse your victims I recommend putting catchup and mustard on the table and preparing some french fries to go with the BBQ meatball sub sandwich.
Depending on the size of the “meatballs” you will have between 6-8 sandwiches. Meatballs can be made up to three days in advance and stored in an air tight container. If possible, keep cool without refrigerating.
