Happy Valentine's Day

I love all holidays…including Valentine's Day. I’m a believer of telling your friends and family that you love them every day, but I see no reason why there can’t be a day of the year designated for over the top gestures of love and friendship…plus…everything is pink. I have my box of Hello Kitty valentines filled out and ready to distribute at work today (I’m such a grown up) and a delicious pasta dinner for one planned for this evening to be followed by the GLEE Valentine’s Day episode & a tall glass of chocolate milk. Exciting plans, I know J

I actually celebrated Valentine’s Day early this year since the 14^th is on a Tuesday. The Boy and I decided to make gifts for each other. Since I’ve been in a super crafty mood lately, I had tons of fun with this plan. I also got to use this as an excuse to find another cupcake recipe to test out. The Boy loves coconut & his favorite candy bar is an Almond Joy…challenge accepted…

Almond Joy Cupcakes:

Here’s What You Need:

For the Cupcakes…

1 box Devil’s Food cake mix

¼ cup of Canola Oil

¼ cup of Apple Sauce

3 egg whites

1 1/3 cup Lite Coconut Milk

¼ tsp Coconut Extract

For the topping...

1 can Whipped Vanilla frosting

¼ tsp Almond Extract

Sweetened shredded coconut

Chopped almonds

Here’s How to Bake Them:

Preheat the oven to 350

Line two cupcake pans with cupcake liners

In a large bowl, add cake mix, oil, applesauce, egg whites, coconut milk, & coconut extract

Mix until smooth

Evenly divide batter into each cupcake cup

Bake in oven for 22-25 minutes (test with toothpick. When it comes out clean, cupcakes are ready)

When cupcakes are cool enough to touch, move onto baking rack and allow to cool completely

Meanwhile…

Scoop your frosting into a bowl and add almond extract

Mix until creamy

Pipe frosting onto cupcakes starting around the edges and working towards the center

Top cupcakes with coconut/almond mixture

Tip: Next time, I think I’ll use a bit more coconut extract in the cake batter. If I presented these on Cupcake Wars, Florian would be the first to point out that the flavor wasn’t strong enough J

I used a combination of recipes to make my Almond Joy cupcakes. Some day I’m going to be a good enough baker to break free of the boxed mixes and create my own recipes. Until then, I’ll continue reading as many baking blogs as I have time to and using other recipes as my starting point. I’ve found tons of great baking blogs. I usually START HERE and explore until I find what I’m looking for.

By the way…The Boy rocked the homemade Valentine’s Day present.

He wrote The Story of Justin & Kim…Mad Libs style. How awesome is that? There are 5 stories in Volume 1. I’m already looking forward to Volume 2 J  



Adventures in the Kitchen - Super Bowl Style

Indianapolis is my second home, so I loved seeing all of the pictures from the Super Bowl activities. I’m glad I go to experience the NCAA tournament while living there, but man, it would have been awesome to be there for Super Bowl. Everyone is saying it, and I’ll add my two cents…when Indy hosts an event, the city does it big and they do it right.

I’m not a big football fan (unless the Colts are playing), but I do love a close game, great commercials, and awesome food. Super Bowl weekend provides all three! This year, instead of taking a store bought dessert, I actually made something to take to the viewing party I went to. I know…ME...cooking again!

I decided to make Buffalo Chicken Dip. It’s easy & tastes delicious…perfect tailgating food.

Here’s What You Need: 

 8oz. package of cream cheese, softened

½ cup ranch salad dressing

½ cup Franks Redhot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce

½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

2 cups of shredded cooked chicken

Here’s How To Cook It:

Heat oven to 350.

Place cream cheese into deep baking dish and stir until smooth.

Mix in salad dressing, hot sauce, and mozzarella cheese

Stir in chicken

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes or until mixture is heated through; stir

Serve with tortilla chips, pretzels, celery, etc.

Tip: You can also make this in a Crock Pot (an item still on my wish list). Combine the ingredients are directed. Cover pot and heat on high setting for 1 ½ hours or until hot & bubbly.

I was 100% pulling for the Giants last night...mostly because I'm in love with the entire Manning family :) So glad they won!

Favorite commercial of the night? I'll start by saying I was disappointed with the Bud Light commercials...although Weego was cute. I liked the Dorito one (with the cat & the dog), but the M&M commercial gets my vote for favorite...enjoy!