The Lovely Husband Cooks!

Chuck makes so much fun of me taking pictures of just about everything. I've whipped my camera out in restaurants for a pretty plate and he about dies of embarrassment. So this weekend when he made some pretty amazing stir fry, he called up to me, "Aren't you going to take a picture of this?!" And so I did!
Ladies, there is nothing sexier than a man who can cook! These shrimp were to die for! And the meal is pretty simple. We love the Sesame Garlic marinade by Iron Chef and do almost all our stir fry with it. Chuck also sauteed up some onions and chopped portobello mushrooms. Then he threw the cooked rice in to fry in some sesame oil and soy sauce. Our house smelled like Chinese food for 2 days and I did not care!
Note how he plated it so nicely, placing the shrimp delicately on top of the bed of rice? That comes from watching all those Top Chef episodes with me that he claims to not like and yet it's the one reality show where he does not make me change the channel.

The way to a man's heart (finally a new post!)

It's been over a month. I've been baking. Lord knows, I've been baking. Just so tired from the baking, parenting, working, beaching, and blogging that I've neglected my poor baking site. So to the 2 people who actualy read this, I apologize.



So a couple of weeks ago I made chocolate cupcakes with Reese's peanut butter cream cheese icing. It was very nostalgic to make something with Reese's because I contribute my husband's proposal to said brand. Well, it played a big part anyway. He was in school in Texas and I sent him a package for Halloween including a big bag of miniture Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. We were actually broken up at the time but "still friends" whatever that meant. He told me when he opened that package, he knew he was loved. One month later, he came home for Thanksgiving, told me he loved me, and the very next day, asked me to marry him. Talk about getting back together! So these cupcakes are dedicated to Chuck, the best thing that's ever happened to me.

I got the recipe for the cupcakes from Couture Cupcakes. She totes it as the "Best Chocolate Cupcake Recipe" I beg to differ. It was a little dry for my taste. The chocolate taste was divine but I'm a big fan of the moist cake. The first step is to melt unsweetened chocolate and cocoa powder in a bowl with some boiling water. This makes the most tempting bowl of chocolate which I kept forgetting was unsweetened so everytime I went to lick some off my fingers, I had to run for my Diet Coke.

For the icing, I just melted one cup of Reese's Peanut Butter Chips and added it to a basic cream cheese recipe which is as follows:
8oz. cream cheese (room temp)
4oz. unsalted butter (room temp)
Beat these two together until smooth. Then add powdered sugar, one cup at a time until you reach the desired sweetness, beating after each cup. Then I mixed in the peanut butter chips and got a beautiful, creamy peanut butter icing. I topped it all off with some mini chocolate chips just for fun! The leftovers went to work with Chuck and I heard they did not last very long.

Tres Leche - Chucky Style

On Wednesday, my wonderful hubby turns 27 years old. I sadly will be out of the country for the momentous occasion so we celebrated early. He made his own dinner of grilled pork chops with Iron Chef Sesame Garlic marinade. Thank you Erin, this is our favorite marinade of all time now! He also puts some secret spices on there which I cannot reveal. Mostly because he won't reveal them to me.
A couple weeks ago he had lunch at a Cuban restaurant. He called me at work, "they have my birthday cake!" He was referring to the traditional Hispanic dessert Tres Leche Cake. His mom makes a cake very similar to it for his birthday each year. This year his mom is in Texas so it's up to me. His twist is coconut and lots of it. Here's the recipe (I'm looking at you Shane & Megan!)

Chucky's Coconut Cake
White Cake Mix
1 can Cream of Coconut
1 can sweetened condensed milk
whipped cream
7oz sweetened coconut flakes

Bake cake as directed in a 9x13 pan. As soon as you take it out of the oven, stab it as many times as you want with either a butter knife of the handle of a wooden spoon. This is very therapeutic when stressed out about international travel by the way. Pour the cream of coconut and condensed milk all over cake. Use a spatula to spread the mixture over the top as it will keep sliding to the sides of the pan. When the cake is cool, top it with whipped cream. I actually made my own whipped cream since I've been channeling Martha Stewart lately. So I whipped up 2 cups of heavy cream with 1/2 cup sugar and 2 tsp of vanilla to make the whipped cream and spread that on the cake. Then scatter the coconut flakes over the top and enjoy. Keep it in the fridge and enjoy! It's way better on day 2 & 3 b/c the cake gets all gooey.