Love is in the Air

 It's that time of the year again. Red and pink are popping up everywhere. Hearts, lips, and the L-word are on everything. JC and I have decided to go to Maynard's Market for dinner, I've never been but have heard great things. We have also decided to celebrate the holiday on February 15th. Call me frugal (I am a "Starving Medical Student" after all), but the day after the big holiday, there are always lots of leftover flowers, candies, and other goodies that stores desperately want to get rid of. It might be a lame idea, and this is the first year we are doing it, but it might become our tradition in the future. Even Kuma was in the Valentine's Day spirit with his new cupcake toy:

As much as I love a holiday that gives me an official reason to have a romantic date night with my love, the thing I enjoy most about this holiday is an excuse to get crafty and bake cute treats. I have a hobby of making cards for holidays (I have a slight obsession with ribbon, stickers, stamps, sparkles...). I have a craft  box for every major holiday, a ribbon box, a colored paper box, a stamp supply box, and even a box devoted just to adhesive supplies (Glue Dots are one of the best inventions ever). Here are some of the cards I created this year:

I always make red velvet cupcakes every year. My standard recipe is by Paula Deen, but this year I decided to try something different. Paula's recipe is absolutely delicious and create soft, bright red cupcakes. I was tired of using nearly an entire bottle of red food coloring on a batch up cupcakes, so I tried a little shortcut. Gimme Some Oven posted a great recipe using a box of red velvet cake mix with a few spruced up ingredients. She compared a traditional made-from-scratch recipe with her shortcut recipe and decided they came out equally delicious. I'm always up for high results with less effort--maybe my nucleus accumbens still hasn't completely developed. This recipe looked just perfect and indeed it turned out great. To make things even better, I found that Pillsbury now makes frosting in a whipped cream can. This way you can easily pipe the frosting out and make beautifully decorated cupcakes. Genius!

The frosting tastes just like the stuff that comes out of the jar. I love to make my own cream cheese frosting, I always use Paula's recipe. It is super delish, but sometimes you want something super easy. These cupcakes took about an hour to make, including baking, cooling, and decorating. They are super yummy, very festive, and are pretty darn close to tasting like you made them from scratch!

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
from Gimme Some Oven

• 1 (18.25 oz.) box red velvet cake mix
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 4 eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 baking cups with paper liners.

Add the first three ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on low to medium speed until moistened, about 30 seconds.  Add eggs one at a time, until the batter is well-mixed. Increase speed to high and beat until thick, 2 minutes longer.

Pour or scoop the batter into the paper liners until they are 3/4 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cupcakes cool on a wire rack.

Once cool, frost with cream cheese frosting and decorate with sprinkles.