Valentine’s Day – Take II

I became obsessed with making sure I picked the right recipe for Valentine’s dinner. I think the whole holiday puts a lot of pressure on couples – and I totally got sucked into that. I wanted to make something that Dan would like, but I also wanted to take it up a notch from our every day meals. I was on my 6th cookbook before realizing that I had wasted the entire morning. I switched gears and went with my more creative side. I 86’d plans for a fabulous dinner and decided to work on the whole “experience” instead.

I set up some old beer crates with trays filled with movie watching eats. I had the plastic popcorn containers and hot dog holders already. I had red and white crazy straws from Christmas stocking stuffers a few years back… all I needed was movie snacks and hot dogs. No problem.

I grabbed some movie theater microwave popcorn, a package of Milk Duds and Raisinetes, Red Vines and we already had Coca-Cola – Dan’s drink of choice.

The popcorn was the best part for me. I haven’t had it in a while and I usually get the Smart Pop, no butter, low fat kind. Movie Theater Popcorn is the way to go!

Red Vines are also a movie essential. We had the movie “The Town” from Netflix and it ended up being the perfect evening. Casual, no pressure, no meal prep/timing to deal with… just a wonderful evening of bullets, bank robberies and Boston. A++

I did however spend time in the kitchen making special cupcakes. I went with a simple recipe from AllRecipes.com

The Ingredients:
3 Cups Self Rising Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Unsalted Butter – room temp.
2 Cups White Sugar
4 Eggs – room temp
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 Tablespoons Lemon Zest
1 Cup Whole Milk
1 Tablespoon Fresh Lemon Juice
I also added a few drops of yellow food coloring

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Line cupcake pans with paper liners – Mine used all 24 and I had some batter left over
Sift the self-rising flour and salt together in a bowl. In another bowl, beat the unsalted butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating each egg until incorporated before adding the next.
Mix in the vanilla extract and lemon zest.
Gently beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture – one third at a time, alternating with half the milk and half the lemon juice after each of the first 2 additions of flour. Beat until just combined – do not over mix.
Fill the cupcake liners with batter (3/4 full), and bake in the oven about 18 minutes.

Buttercream Icing – I used a recipe I had cut out and put in my recipe box – I have no idea where it came from.
1 Cup Butter – softened
3-4 Cups Confectioners Sugar – sifted – I used 4 cups
1/2 Teaspoon Table Salt
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
Up to 4 Tablespoons Milk or Heavy Cream – I used whole milk

Beat the butter for several minutes with a paddle attachment on medium speed. Add 3 cups of the powdered sugar and turn mixer to low until the sugar has been mixed into the butter. Increase speed to medium and add the vanilla, salt and 2 tablespoons of the milk and beat for another 3-4 minutes. At this point I added a little lemon juice – probably was a little too much – so I added more sugar to get it to the consistency I wanted. It turned out great!

I used a pastry bag and some new tips I got – I then sprinkled yellow decorating sugar and lemon zest on top of my buttercream.

I used a red heart shaped platter I already had to display the cupcakes. This was my first time making cupcakes from scratch. I am usually a box girl and I never care what the frosting looks like. I am forever changed…LOL. It really was a lot of fun and besides tasting great, I think they look pretty awesome.

We both ate 1 cupcake and I will probably bring the rest into work. Dan started his work’s Biggest Loser Challenge yesterday – they never know when it will start. The boss brings in a scale, all of the guys put 20 bucks into the pot, and they go for 6-8 weeks. This time around it is a 7 week challenge and there are weekly penalties if you don’t lose – If the scale stays the same or goes up, you have to put an additional 5 bucks into the pot.

This should be interesting. I’m headed to the grocery store after work to gather stuff for his lunches, dinners, etc. I will have to fit in treadmill time the minute I get home, now there will be two of us competing for workout time.

We had a great night. Keeping it simple is sometimes the best way to go.

Mental note: I stress out way too much. I even stress out about stressing out too much, ha! ha!