Valentine's Day Menu Ideas

I still haven't decided what to make for my sweetheart for Valentines Day. I know we are having dinner rolls, asparagus, and Martinellis. But haven't decided the two most important things - main course and dessert. My husband's request - taquitos. No, I am not making tacquitos for Valentine's Day.

 

image via

If you are like me, here are some ideas to help spark your interest.

Main Course

Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin from Cafe Johnsonia
Chicken Francese from Gina's WW recipes
Grilled Ribeye with Onion Blue Cheese Sauce from Pioneer Woman
If you want to make a good ol' steak - PW has a great tutorial

Side Dish

Hasselback Potatoes
Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Sage Walnuts and Browned Butter  although her blog is now closed, Cafe Johnsonia has left her recipes up for us to enjoy
Roasted Cauliflower with Capers from Rookie Cookie

Dessert

New York Chocolate Cheesecake
Red Velvet Layer Cake from Bobby Flay
Cupcake Pops from Steamy Kitchen
Heart Shaped Ice Cream Sandwiches from No Biggie
Chocolate Caramel Cookies with Sea Salt from Two Peas in a Pod

Now what should I make?

Blueberry Pancakes

I love blueberry pancakes. But I have a confession, I never had them with real blueberries until about 2 or 3 years ago. We always used the dried ones. These blueberry pancakes are like a luxury for us. This could be a really special breakfast for Valentine's Day, or any day!

Blueberry Pancakes

adapted from Better Homes and Garden New Cook Book
1 1/2 c flour
2 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup blueberries

In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir well. In a separate bowl (or in my case the measuring cup) combine the egg, milk, and oil. In the bowl with the dry ingredients, make a well (aka pit). Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredient well. Stir until just combined, but still lumpy.
Please! I am begging! Do not use a whisk! Do not over mix! Yucky rubbery pancakes are sure to follow if you do! Okay, sorry, back to the recipe...
Add blueberries. Pour about 1/4 cup batter onto greased skillet. Cook until golden brown. Flip, brown again. Eat immediately! Makes about 8 4-inch pancakes

Tips:

• Like I said before, do not over mix, I can not stress this enough (obviously)
• Use fresh blueberries if they are available. If not, use frozen. Just thaw before using them.
• If you have a well seasoned griddle or heavy skillet, you don't really need to grease the pan - you will get beautiful looking, even colored pancakes.
• If your making a large batch, turn oven on to 200 degrees (or whatever your lowest setting is) with a cookie sheet inside. As the pancakes finish cooking, put them on the cookie sheet (in a single layer if possible). This keeps them hot and prevents too much sweat underneath.

Giveaway! Epicurean Aprons

I am so excited to announce my first giveaway. I met my friend Michelle in high school - long before she was an entrepreneur. She was always stylish and always creative. I am so excited to giveaway one of these aprons from Epicurean Style.
These fabulous handmade aprons are both reversible and have beautiful fabrics and detailing. I love wearing my aprons for cleaning, crafting, feeding my baby, and of course cooking! You'll look pretty cute in your kitchen with one of these on!

The winner will get to choose between the Penelope or Paisley Apron (worth $58!)
Winner will be chosen by random.org and announced on Monday, February 15.

Want to win an apron? Leave a comment telling me what you love using aprons for before Saturday, February 13th at midnight MST.
For extra entries (leave a comment for each extra entry):
1. Tweet, blog, and/or facebook about this giveaway
2. Add my button to your sidebar

*sorry, this giveaway is now closed, for the winner click here

Beautiful Blogger? Me!?

I received my first award! Thank you! Thank you! Jenn from Jenn's Food Journey nominated me.

So there are some rules I have to abide to in order to fully accept this award. First - 7 interesting things about me:

1 - I have been run over, drug behind, and fell out of a car (going 45 mph) and still have never broken a bone

2 - I am a mom by day and a labor & delivery nurse by night

3 - Sometimes I sit and read cookbooks... 

4 - In high school, I was the boys' buddy. I helped them ask my friends out. But it all worked out because I ended up marrying one of my buddies 5 years later.

5 - My parents moved in the summer before my senior year of high school. Instead of taking me with them, kicking and screaming, they let me stay and finish school.

6 - My daughter is a mini-me - red hair, blue eyes, and all. Maybe she'll inherit Redhead Recipes when she is older.

7 - I have been to Hawaii 6 times. My parents moved there (see 5). It is paradise - but mostly when my whole family is there. (and surprisingly enough - my first plane ride was at 18 years old.)

Now- I get to nominate 7 of you!

Hannah from Sherbet Blossom - she's my sister, but I think her posts are inspiring - I want to be a better person when I read them

Marta from Marta Writes - she has a way of showing how beautiful life is.
Melissa from Melissa E Photography - super funny, great photos
Linda from Craftaholics Anonymous - I love her crafts, I am not a crafty person, but her tutorials make me think, "I can do that!"
Jessica from Running with Scissors - she has great projects, but she is also so hilarious!
Whitney from Rookie Cookie - I love her food. Great pictures. I want to try all of her recipes. No, literally!
and Stephanie from The Daily Blarg - my fun twitter friend, she always makes me laugh and is so nice!


If you've been nominated and want to pay it forward, here are the guidelines:

• Thank the person who nominated YOU.
• Copy the award and post it you YOUR blog.
• Link back to the person who nominated you.
• Share 7 interesting things about yourself.
• Nominate 7 more bloggers for this award.
• Post your link to those 7 blogs.

Minestrone Soup

You are in luck! Today is homemade soup day! I love soup all year round - even in the summer. In college my roommates thought I was crazy eating soup in August. But it's delicious!
This is a simple Minestrone soup recipe. I didn't do a step by step because basically you dump, stir, dump. Simple enough right?

 

Minestrone Soup

3 carrots

3 celery stalks

1 small onion

olive oil

2-3 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

2 cans diced tomatoes

1-2 cans kidney beans

4 cups chicken stock

1/2 lb cooked pasta

1/3 cup chopped parsley (reserve 1 Tbsp for garnish)
Parmesan cheese, for garnish

Chop carrots, celery, and onion into a small dice (The smaller you dice, the faster they cook). Saute in large stock pot with a little olive oil over medium high heat until vegetables are soften. Add garlic and red pepper flakes (if you so desire) and saute for another 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes (don't drain them), beans (drain and rinse these), and chicken stock. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add pasta and parsley. Serve. Garnish with a little fresh parsley and Parmesan. Serves 6.

Tips:

You can make this a day ahead - gets better with time.
Don't like kidney beans, substitute cannallini beans. (I just like the color of kidney)
Use any shape of pasta - Orecchiette or small shells is what I usually see, but we had bow tie in our house. Use what your family will eat.
I cut my vegetables pretty small and was willing to eat them slightly firm. My soup was ready in 20 minutes! Beat that Rachael Ray! :)

What's in Season - February

I slacked last month. Sorry about that. Even though I am a little late this month, I thought I will try to redeem myself. With these cold months here in Utah, we aren't able to get too much locally, but at least we know these are fresh and not shipped terribly far. Thank you warm states for providing us these delicious produce items.

Here's What's in Season for February:

From left to right (kind of):
Oranges
Cauliflower
Rutabaga (just learned the difference between rutabaga and a turnip is a rutabaga is a cross between a turnip and a cabbage)
Brussel Sprouts
Turnips
Broccoli
Apples
Tangerines (and all family members)
Endive
Grapefruit
Escarole
and Fennel

Enjoy the freshest produce!

Crepes

For my birthday, and in honor of National Crepe Day, we decided to have Strawberry Crepes for breakfast. They were mighty tasty, if I do say so myself.

Crepes

1 c flour
1 1/3 c milk
3 eggs
6 Tbsp butter, melted (plus extra for pan)
pinch salt

Combine all ingredients in blender. Blend until smooth. Let batter rest for a few minutes while you prepare your fillings.
Heat an 8-inch nonstick saute pan over medium heat. Brush the pan with melted butter. Pour 1/4 cup batter into the hot pan, twirling the pan so the batter spreads out evenly into a very thin layer. Cook about 30 seconds until the crepe comes away from the sides of the pan. Cook until batter is dry and slightly browned. Transfer to a plate. Fill with whatever you'd like.  Makes about 8 crepes.

Holidays This Week

There are some great holidays this week - I thought you might want to celebrate some of them:
February 1 - Baked Alaska Day
February 2 - Groundhog's Day
                     My Birthday
                     Crepes Day
February 4 - Homemade Soup Day
February 5 - Chocolate Fondue Day









image via myrecipes.com

Birthday Wishes

Next week is my birthday. I always wish for clothes, jewelry, and pretty things. But here is my foodie wish list.

 

A Dutch Oven like this from Le Creuset  

A beautiful, large wooden cutting board like this from Food Network  

Silicone tongs like these from Rachael Ray 

 

A cooling rack like this from Williams-Sonoma - oh man, is my current one sad. 

 

And these by my girl Paula Deen 

  

Oh, and I need a replacement for my salad spinner, it didn't like the dishwasher.

That's not too much to ask for right?

Thinking about...

... what to post today. At first I was going to respond to the comment left here. Then I decided to ignore the meanness. Then I was going to make something truly gourmet to show him/her. But then I decided to share a treat to show that I truly love ghetto foods.

But you must try this recipe before bashing it. It is my Grandma's recipe and it is delicious.

Grandma's Chocolate Treats

2 cups Peanut Butter Captain Crunch cereal
1 1/2 cup Peanuts
2 cups pretzel sticks, broken a bit
dipping chocolate

your ingredients (you will need more chocolate than that)

Mix cereal, peanuts, and pretzels in a mixing bowl.

break your pretzels more than that. 

Mix chocolate in microwave, stirring every 20 seconds until melted. Careful - it can scorch in the microwave. Pour over cereal mixture, stir until completely coated. Spoon into clumps and place on waxed paper until cooled.

this was my first batch and I didn't have quite enough chocolate... learn from my mistake.

Voila! (that's how much chocolate you want - this is semi-sweet chocolate, above is milk, use what you want.)