Valentine's Day

 

It's the perfect holiday.  It's all about celebrating love.  Of course, you don't need a special day to celebrate love, but it sure is nice.  A day full of love, flowers, hand-holding, smiles, and sweet treats.
Since work is getting in the way of seeing my love until Tuesday afternoon, I will have to spend all day Monday focusing on the sweet treats part of Valentine's Day.

The most fitting treat I can think of that just screams VALENTINE'S DAY is red velvet cupcakes.  It's so moist, not overly sweet and so very very red.  With the addition of whipped cream cheese frosting, it's the perfect compliment to such a fantastic cake.  You know you want it.  Come along with me and we'll make some!

Whisk up the dry ingredients

Add in the wet ingredients. That batter is REALLY red!

An ice cream scoop works really well to ensure there's less mess and uniform cupcake sizes.

Frost 'em up with cream cheese frosting, and sprinkles make everything taste better.

Voila!  YUM!!

VALENTINE'S DAY RED VELVET CUPCAKES
(recipe taken from Ming Makes Cupcakes)

1 1/4 C. flour
3/4 C. sugar
1/2 tea. baking soda
1/2 tea. salt
1 Tbs. cocoa powder
3/4 C. vegetable oil
1/2 C. buttermilk
1 egg
1 Tbs. red food coloring
1/2 tea. white vinegar
1 tea. vanilla

Sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, buttermilk, egg, food coloring, vinegar and vanilla.  While mixing at medium speed, gradually add dry mixture to wet mixture until just combined. Fill cupcake liners.  Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Makes 12 cupcakes

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

(recipe taken from Mel's Sweet Treats)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1 pound (4 cups) icing sugar, sifted

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.  Reduce speed to low.  Add sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, then vanilla, and mix until smooth and combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.  Easily frosts 24 cupcakes.

NOT A Photographer

I admit it.  I take terrible photographs.  It's not going to keep me from posting a few pics here and there, I'm just not going to worry about the quality of the pictures.  Even when I'm taking pictures of food, I'm not trying to make the dish look as beautiful as possible, just want to show what it looks like.  Hopefully I'll be forgiven for my shoddy photography and perhaps, I'll get to the point where I become better at taking pictures.  Until then, I'll resume with my regular crappy photography. 

Superbowl XLV

I don't really care about the Superbowl.  I don't have an attachment to either team so this year I'm in it for the food and the commercials. 

The Husband made baby back ribs, of course.  It's his go-to game food.  Usually, he'd make potato salad to go with it but it's a lot of work and he knows that I won't eat any.  Personally, it just doesn't do anything for me.  So he put me to the task of making a salad.  When he asks me to make a salad to go with ribs, it's not just any salad, I know just the one to make every time.  It's easy, tastes so good and with pasta as the main ingredient, it just keeps getting better and better the more it sits and marries with the dressing. 

PASTA SALAD

For the dressing, blend in a blender: 

1/2 c. mayo
1/2 c. olive oil
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
1 1/2 tea. dijon mustard
1 clove garlic
1 tea. sugar
1/2 tea. salt
1/2 tea. pepper
1 Tbs. Italian Seasoning

For the salad: 

1 can quartered artichoke hearts
1 bunch green onions
1 package julienne cut sun-dried tomatoes
1 package (20 oz) cheese tortellini
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese (I like more)

*Cook the tortellini according to the directions.  The best way to know it's done is when the pasta floats to the surface of the water.  Drain and rinse with cold water to cool.
*Add all the salad ingredients in a bowl including the cooled pasta, mix in the dressing then refrigerate for at least 1 hour, but just like any pasta, it's best if you let it sit over night.  

YUM!