Coconut cupcakes with Lemon Frosting

So last weekend was the daughters birthday. Most likely the last one she will be living at home for. I decided to make something different with a lot of flavor, so I made up coconut cupcakes with lemon frosting.

Start by creaming together 1 cup of butter, 2 cups of sugar and 4 eggs. Add eggs one at a time.

In a separate bowl combine 3 cups of all purpose flour, 1/2 tsp. salt and 2 tsp. baking powder. In a measuring cup pour 3/4 cup of milk and 1-2 tsp. coconut extract (I used 1/2 cup whole milk and 1/4 cup buttermilk). Alternate between the dry ingredients and wet and mix into butter and sugar mixture. If the cake mix is a little too thick for your liking you can add up to another 1/4 milk or buttermilk.

Fold into cake batter roughly one cup of toasted coconut. I used sweetened shredded coconut that I toasted on a parchment lined cookie sheet in a 350 degree oven.

We did cupcakes. I love the stuff in this Etsy shop

I baked the cupcakes in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

Just waiting for the frosting.

The lemon frosting was a cinch. Combine in a bowl 1 cup very soft butter, 5 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon lemon zest, 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1-2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream, for desired consistency

The final touch was a little coconut sprinkled on top. Perfection.

I halved the cake recipe and frosting recipe for this occasion and it still made 14 regular sized cupcakes and the halved frosting recipe covered them perfectly with just enough left over in the bowl for me to taste.

My Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday and it was like most typical weekend days for me. I cooked, cleaned and spent time with my bf. I enjoy the simplicity. For my birthday we did take Katsu to the dog park...his second visit ever. Now that he is neutered, chipped and feeling tons better, I feel only slightly better about his off leash play...you see Katsu doesn't have the greatest recall skill. We are working on it. I look at it this way at least at the dog park he can run and play in relative safety.

So last nights dinner was a new recipe that I spied online a few weeks back and I have wanted to try. I love meals that cook up in the crock pot. I consider it a form of torture to have the aroma of fantastic food wafting through the house all day long. Not to mention the simplicity of not having a ton of pots and pans to clean up before, during and after the dinner.

You start with a crock pot...then after you take the photo you wash the crock pot again because someone didn't get it clean the last time they used it...me.

Into the crockpot you add one 14oz can of diced tomatoes with the juice.

Then you add some fresh Thyme (about 1 or 2 teaspoons), one medium diced onion, two cloves minced garlic and roughly one small can of tomato paste (if you use the whole can of tomato paste I would add a little red wine). Give it a good stir to combine with the tomatoes.

You can used a chuck roast, but I happened to have an arm roast on hand. I cut the bone out (fed the marrow to the chupacabra who was watching me intently) placed the roast on the top of the tomato mixture in the crock pot. Liberally salt and pepper the meat

Put on the lid and set it to cook for 8 hours on low. That's it. Done. When the dish is done cooking go in with a couple of forks and pull apart any large chunks of meat that remain.

Doesn't that look amazing? To finish this dish you take a 1/2 cup of fresh chopped basil, zest from one small lemon and a drizzle one or two tablespoons of olive oil and toss together in a small bowl.

Place the meat and sauce on top of hot pasta and the basil topping on top of the meat followed with some fresh grated cheese. See doesn't that look amazing? Don't forget the crusty bread...Yum. Perfect dinner. I used trottolle pasta. It is fun and interesting.

What's a birthday without a birthday cake? So I did not make my own birthday cake...everyone was surprised about that, but I did get a really nice tiramisu cake from a local bakery...It was really quite good...seriously who bakes there own birthday cake?

My kids were here for dinner last night which was nice...thanks D.H. and D.C. for washing the dishes and tidying up the kitchen for me. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. We are off to a family gathering today, and I was smart enough to take a day off tomorrow to spend some time with me.

Tired of making Lemonade.

So Katsu went through his neutering surgery with flying colors, but he has has a couple of issues lately that we are trying to sort out...One is well things aren't coming out quite right (if you know what I mean) and that has been going on for some time. It is not a consistent problem but still troublesome, and then the latest is he has been wetting the bed and having a little dribble here and there (which started about 3 wks ago)...sigh. So he has been in had his urine tested and currently we are doing a regiment of antibiotics (broad spectrum)in the hopes that whatever ails him will be found and destroyed, and we won't have to go to the next level. In the meantime however I am keeping track of everything he eats, and when, how often he goes and what, when he is given his meds and which ones, and when we go for walks. This is all very traumatic for the bf and I having lost a dog 2 1/2 years ago, so everything is really still raw and fresh in the back of our minds. Any progress right now I am being cautiously optimistic about...mostly I am just terrified. I will tell you something right now I would happily give up Christmas and my birthday for the next 20 years if it would make him all better...fact.

In the meantime people still need to eat in between me worrying myself sick and making babbling baby talk to my puppy...yes that was me you passed. I made a super simple and easy dinner last night that is so versatile you will find yourself making this many different ways...Honestly anything complicated right now would totally freak me out.

Breakfast Fried Rice Super easy and not just for breakfast. We eat it as a main dish all the time.

Start with your protein. This is one of my favorite options. BBQ pork diced up (about 1 cup or so).

One bunch diced green onions.

Into a bowl or measuring cup measure 1/3 cup light soy sauce (has to be light), 1 Tlb. rice vinegar, 1 Tlb. sesame seeds (toast them if you like), 1/4 tsp. chili flakes (more like 1/2 a tsp.).

Then you will need 3 to 4 cups of cooked white rice. Make your rice the morning before or the night before. Using fresh rice will make it mushy.

Heat (medium heat) a tablespoon of sesame oil in a large skillet and add half the green onions and cook for a couple of minutes.

Then add the rice working it around and breaking apart the little clumps of rice.

Then add the remaining green onions and BBQ pork and keep working it through until hot.

Then add the soy sauce mixture and incorporate it into the rice.

You will end up with this golden brown, fragrant rice loaded with tasty bits of BBQ pork, and green onion.

This recipe feeds two hungry people or three not so hungry people. I love it because you could easily swap out the BBQ pork with any kind of protein...just cook ahead and set aside. You also could add more veggie to this dish with the simple addition of snow peas or carrots or...whatever. Just cook them up ahead and add them in with the addition of the last half of green onions. Originally this recipe called for bacon as the protein and placing eggs on top of the finished dish...honestly I have never made it that way, but it does look delicious.