Red Velvet Cupcakes with Pink Coconut Possibilities

Wanna know a secret? I don't like pink. It's true. It's one of those colors that rarely looks good on me and thus I've harbored a not-always-silent little grudge against it. Especially when it's managed to infiltrate large portions of our womanly world--from Victoria's Secret bags to Mary Kay lipstick to your daughters birthday cakes (ages 2-15). As a female, I'm pretty much required to enjoy this color.

Wanna know what else? I don't really like cupcakes. Once again, I'm striking out against woman-kind here. Only now I'm also attacking our 21st century version of American pie. Ask anyone (or at least anyone who shares loud facebook opinions)--they're sure to tell you that to dislike cupcakes is un-American.

And I mean I kind of get the cupcake thing. I mean, they're cute and all. But they're just so impractical. I can't ever seem to get a bite from top to bottom into my mouth at once, so I have to eat a frosting-heavy bite or a frosting-less bite (I mean, the horror of this tremendous first-world problem; let us not speak of it). Furthermore, the cake to frosting ratio is just always off for me--cake that's too thick with too little frosting. Cupcake makers have compensated for this by creating cupcakes with a layer of frosting just as thick as the cupcake itself. Yeah, I don't like that either. And, once again--whose mouth does this fit into?

Yet for my dear dear friend's birthday, I wanted to make her a little something. And, for whatever mystery of the universe, the thing that I very very very most wanted to make her were cute little red velvet cupcakes. The thought just rolled around in my brain and made me salivate. It's no secret that I love red velvet cake. I've got the recipe and then this and this riff off of it. I love it especially in these sweet little Valentine's day weeks. But cupcakes? What was I thinking? Nevertheless I followed my heart (or, well, tongue) and wound up with pretty little red cupcakes with white frosting. And then I thought, "Well, I'm sure my friend would enjoy some coconut on these." And then, well, insanity overtook me again and I could not imagine anything prettier than pink coconut atop my red and white cupcakes.

And you know, sometimes it's best to just roll with the insanity because I was really really happy with how they turned out. And they were delicious. And beautiful. I still couldn't fit it from top to bottom in my mouth though. But, truth be told, my red velvet cake recipe is good enough to eat plain. So I ate the bottom like that and then I ate the frostinged cupcake top.

And I think my friend liked them too. And they all lived happily ever after in a pink land of sugared confection. I mean, it is un-American not to.

I followed my red velvet cake recipe here (I halved it and that made 12 cupcakes). 

To dye your coconut (and it doesn't have to be pink), you'll find instructions at the end of this post. It's so easy it's stupid. 

Thai Soup with Chicken (Gluten Free)

Tonight I took the train to crazy town and made my family a soup containing (among other things) coconut milk, lemongrass, lime leaves, thai curry, and rice noodles--this for my family who complains fervently when I have the nerve to make tomato sauce that has "chunkies" in it. Because I figure if you're going to go to crazy town, you might as well not stop half way. And I didn't. I had to take a deep breath every time I shoveled in big doses of ginger and lime zest, handfuls of cilantro and a glug of fish sauce. When my husband came in, he uttered this loving phrase, "That better be healthy." By which he meant, "Because there'd be no other reason in the world for eating it." So then I added more lime juice and some other weird stuff. So then he left the room. And I just kept thinking that this would never ever work. But there it was--the most heavenly broth in the world. And, while my kids weren't crazy about the rice noodles, they actually really really liked the rest of the soup. #Is this my family##I love crazy town.# (And, no, I don't do twitter. Why?)

Of course I had planned for defeat. I'd made this so simple and delicious refrigerator bread to go with it (only I'd made it mostly with white flour). Turns out I wasn't so defeated after all, but--boy howdy--was that bread good dipped in this soup. #Who needs drugs# (#Why is it so fun to hashtag everything##I can see how people could get addicted##to bread/soup and hashtags#)

It's been wicked cold here and for whatever reason tangy, creamy, hot things are the very deepest desire of my heart. This hit it right on.

Now I must say this. I've never made a soup like this before. I could get several of the ingredients at my local Walmart. But the rest (lime leaves, cilantro root, etc.--#cilantro roots huh#) required a trip to my city's ethnic store and I had to spend about 20 minutes there and ask several questions to a very sweet man who did not speak my language (it reminded me of my good old days teaching English in Taiwan). We eventually found everything, or nearly (the cilantro root called for still eluded us). I'm still not sure I got exactly the right type of noodles. What I am sure of is that I used too many noodles. With the amount of noodle called for this came out as more of a noodle dish than a soup. Nothing wrong with that, except that you sort of had to eat it with a fork and a spoon (#chopsticks were in order#). Nevertheless, it was a very good noodle dish. But I thought the broth was just so divine that it really needed its chance to shine as the soup it was meant to be. When I make this again (which I'm already planning for a Friday lunch with friends), I plan to use only a quarter of the noodles and to chop them a bit so they're not quite so long.

If you're feeling a little afraid of this recipe--don't. You can find rice noodles, coconut milk, limes, fish sauce, curry, and cilantro at Walmart (and of course chicken and broth). And, truth be told, you'd probably be doing pretty well with just those ingredients. Yes, I do feel that the lime leaves and lemongrass added something to it (in the same way a bay leaf might add something to your pasta sauce--it's good, but if you leave it out, your pasta sauce will still be great). So don't be afraid. You can make it a little less exotic if you wish. And if you make it you will be so so happy. #Yes. Yes you will.#

Also, if you're vegetarian, I think you could easily make this without the chicken and use a vegetable broth. It's just so flavorful anyway--the chicken just added another level/food group.

Thai Soup with Chicken
adapted from Chef Michael Smith
Serves 6-12
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Cost: $10.15 (or about $1.00/serving)
coconut milk: 4.00, curry: .20, chicken: 3.00, chicken broth: .30, carrot: .10, lime leaves: .10, lemon grass: .35, limes: .25, ginger: .25, rice noodles: 1.00, cilantro: .50, green onions: .10

Note: We halved this.

Note: I used cooked leftover chicken and just let it stew the last 10 minutes or so. Below I'll give directions for cooking up raw meat.

Note: Why have I never grated ginger before? It's so much easier than mincing it. With this recipe you can just grate your carrot, the lime zest, and your ginger. Done.

2 14-oz. cans coconut milk
1 heaping Tbsp Thai curry paste (I couldn't find "Thai" curry, which I believe has more heat; I used a little red and a little green, just to cover my bases, but after making it, I'm sure either would have worked)
1 bunch cilantro roots, rinsed (never found; didn't miss, but if you 've got them, then, by all means)
1-2 chicken breasts, cubed
2 C chicken broth
1 carrot, shredded
4 or 5 lime leaves
2 stalks lemon grass, halved lengthwise, woody leaves removed
2 Tbsp fish sauce
2 limes, zest and juice
1 knob ginger (yeah, I found the word 'knob' a little vague too--I probably used 3-4 Tbsp shredded ginger)
handful bean sprouts (go crunchy and make your own)
rice noodles (2-4 oz, broken a bit if long) (original recipe called for 8 oz)
2 green onions, sliced
1 bunch cilantro leaves
salt or soy sauce to taste

Before starting, grate carrot, lime zest, and ginger. Cut your lemon grass. Juice your lime. Yes, you can do this while your chicken cooks if you'd like. But if that stresses you out, do it now.

Heat a large pot. Scoop thick coconut cream from the top of one can into your pot. Melt it, add the curry and stir until it gets all fragrant and you feel woozy with pleasure.

Add cilantro roots if you could find them. Add chicken and cook it until it's cooked through (5 minutes or so).

Add remaining coconut milk from first can and the second can. Add chicken broth, carrot, lime leaves, lemon grass, fish sauce, lime zest and lime juice, and ginger.

Simmer about 20 minutes.

Stir in bean sprouts (these add a lovely texture, but if you can't find them, this will still be good). Stir in green onions.

Add rice noodles. They don't need to cook, per se. They just need to rehydrate. That said, they used a lot more liquid than I had expected, so start with less (2 oz) and then add more if you want more noodle.

Stir in cilantro (I chopped mine pretty finely).

Remove lemon grass stalks and lime leaves.

Taste and season with a little salt or soy sauce if you think it needs it (I didn't.)

Garnish with more cilantro if you wish.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Creamy Tomato Basil Soup

If you know me, you know I run cold--like, cold (which is not to say that I run in the cold--burr). A house set at 67 will leave me goose-bumped. Anything less and I shiver. I've learned to take sweaters to restaurants even in the summer (granny style). I usually wear two sweaters at my house in the winter. And let's not even talk about how cold grocery stores are because my lips might turn blue. Lucky for me we have a wood-burning stove that keeps at least part of our house deliciously warm. And lucky for me I like soup.

There are a few recipes for tomato soup on this blog. That simple little soup is my favorite. So I've got a roasted tomato soup--perfect for when you've got too many garden tomatoes or when you wind up with some blah tomatoes from the store (roasting brings them back to life). I've got a 7-minute pantry-friendly tomato soup. And I've got my "best" tomato soup--a tomato soup I consider to be of restaurant quality--fresh herbs, a little smoky, delicious. And today I've got another best soup. What?! You can't do that, right. Whatever. It's my blog. I can and I will. The fact is that today's soup is just as good and easier to prepare. It's a little different. It's not as bacon-smoky. Instead, it's creamy from something as basic and whole foody as cream cheese. It's got a nice dose of basil. And mine came out just a bit tangy from some lemon juice that was with my home canned tomatoes. That tanginess really amped it up for me. There's something about hot and tangy that just beats the cold like nothing in this world. Also, let me please emphasize that this soup is super easy to make. I hate to compare the two, or rather I hate to pick favorites on my own blog. They're like two slightly different, but still very attractive sisters. But let me say that today's soup--well, if the cold weather keeps up, I just might start taking baths in it.  

Creamy Tomato Basil Soup
adapted from The 36th Avenue (and, yes, I totally un-skinnied this recipe)
serves 6-8
Prep time:
Cook time: 30 minutes
Cost: $4.85
onion: .15, butter: .06, tomatoes: 3.00, cream cheese: 1.00, basil: .50, other stuff: .14

Note: Instead of water and bouillon, you can use chicken broth--homemade or otherwise.

1 small onion, finely chopped (like it's minced almost)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp butter
3 14-oz cans Italian-style diced tomatoes (or some home-canned tomatoes with lemon)
2 c water
2 tsp chicken bouillon granules (or cubes)
8 oz cream cheese
2 Tbsp pesto (or 1/4-1/2 C chopped fresh basil)
squeeze of lemon, optional

Chop up that onion. Chop it good (if you've got a decent knife, this adds about a minute of prep time and saves about 5 minutes of cook time).

Melt butter in a large pan. Add onion and cook for several minutes or until it begins to soften. Add garlic. Cook another minute, stirring.

Add tomatoes (with juices). Add water/bouillon. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Then reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes.

When it's about done, add the basil (or pesto).

Put your cube of cream cheese in a blender and add 1 C of hot soup. Blend (and be careful--you don't want it to burst out of your blender and burn you).

At this point, you can just add that creamy puree to your chunky soup and have a chunky soup. Or you can puree the rest of the soup, which is what I did because my family likes creamy. I had to do it in two batches. And I must warn you when blending hot liquids--be careful. Most blenders have a little plastic thingy at the top that you can remove. Remove that--this allows the steam to escape. If the steam stays bottled up, it sometimes makes your lid pop off and sprays super hot soup all over your face, arms, and kitchen. This is bad. So remove the plastic thing if you can. Then put a dish towel over the top of the blender and blend.

Re-warm if necessary. Taste for seasonings and add salt and pepper if necessary. If you'd like this tangy (and, oh, I do) add a couple good strong squeezes of lemon.

PRINTABLE RECIPE