A Little Baking, a Little Cooking

Here are pictures from cake week number 2. Not exactly how I would have chosen to decorate it, but we had to practice our flowers. Oh and Jen thanks for the icing tip! I did the warm water thing but I dried off the water before smoothing which apparently you aren't supposed to do. Anyway, it still helped a lot on the sides...the top is still a little sloppy as you can see. But I am definitely going to keep putting the spatula under hot water.


And I thought I would post a recipe from tonight. I love getting recipes from others and enjoy it when people post them, so I will share this one for anyone who is a coconut shrimp fan :)

Coconut Shrimp
28 large shrimp (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1/3 cup cornstarch
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
3 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups flaked sweetened coconut
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400°. To prepare shrimp, peel and devein shrimp, leaving tails intact. Rinse shrimp in cold water; drain on paper towels until dry.

Combine cornstarch, salt, and red pepper in a shallow dish; stir with a whisk. Place the egg whites in a medium bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium-high speed until frothy (about 2 minutes). Place coconut in a shallow dish.

Working with one shrimp at a time, dredge in cornstarch mixture. Dip in egg white; dredge in coconut, pressing gently with fingers. Place shrimp on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Repeat the procedure with remaining shrimp, cornstarch mixture, egg white, and coconut. Lightly coat shrimp with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until shrimp are done, turning after 10 minutes.

To go along with this I made pineapple salsa. I found this recipe that is supposed to be similar to the pineapple salsa at Cafe Red Onion (my favorite restaurant!). I thought it turned out great and very much like the restaurant's salsa...except that my mouth was on fire causing lots of jumping and arm flailing. I will make it again with much less jalepeno. Greg claims he couldn't taste the hotness. Seriously, are your tastebuds broken? Also, do jalepenos come in different "hotness levels"? Because this salsa really was SPICY unlike Cafe Red Onion salsa, and I followed the recipe exactly. Maybe we got the queen bee of jalepenos. Anyway, be warned - if you make this salsa, start with one teeny tiny slice of jalepeno and go from there.

Pineapple Salsa
1 (20 ounce) can pineapple chunks, with juice
1-2 teaspoons corn oil (I just used olive oil)
1 tablespoon cilantro
Juice of 1/2 lime
1/4 jalapeño, or to taste
Salt to taste
Splenda (I used real sugar)

Combine all the ingredients, except the salt and Splenda, in a blender or food processor. Pulse twice or until the salsa is chunky.Season to taste with salt and with Splenda if the pineapple needs additional sweetness. Serve with chips.