For Valentine's Day this year I decided that my gift to my 3 Valentines would be cooking up some special food for them. They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, and since my Valentines are a man and 2 men-in-training, I figured this was appropriate! I also included some of my favorites in the mix, too :)
For breakfast I made Red Velvet Pancakes for me & the boys. Red velvet is my very, very, very favorite (as you know, if you
follow me on Pinterest!) I was planning to use the same recipe from our
elf breakfast back in December, but the night before I realized that I didn't have sour cream. So I tried a new recipe and liked it even better! Here's the link:
Red Velvet Pancakes. (Instead of the elaborate topping, we just dusted ours with powdered sugar. Also, I left out the cinnamon).
Josh doesn't like sweets for breakfast, so I cooked him up some eggs sunny-side up, hash browns from scratch, toast, and heart-shaped bacon :)
I didn't make lunch but instead got Noah his very favorite: Subway! A turkey & cheese sandwich on wheat with olives, pickles, tomatoes, and honey mustard. :) Love that boy and his funny 3-year-old tastes.
Dinnertime was a bit tricky but I think I pulled it off. I had a lot of things going in our kitchen and I think I used every pot and pan we own! Josh's favorite recipe I make is
Heavenly Halibut (the link takes you back to another Recipe Roundup post). I made it with creamed spinach and our new very favorite side dish, Quinoa Primavera. It seems that quinoa is all the rage right now, and for good reason: it's delicious! We both love this recipe, which of course I found via Pinterest. The original recipe comes from
here, and I have only slightly modified it. The picture comes from the original site.
Quinoa Primavera
1 1/2 C uncooked quinoa (find it in the organic section)
3 C chicken broth
1 T olive oil
2 oz cream cheese
1 T butter
2-3 cloves minced garlic
1 red bell pepper, finely diced
1/2 yellow onion, finely diced
1 zucchini, finely diced
(You can really use an veggies you want. Just dice them very small)
grated or shredded Parmesan cheese
Heat the olive oil on medium-high in a saucepan, add the quinoa and stir it around for about a minute to toast it. Pour in the broth, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed. Meanwhile, in a large pan melt the butter and saute the garlic and veggies until they are just starting to get tender. Stir the cream cheese into the cooked quinoa, then stir in the veggies. Top with a generous amount of parmesan. Yum yum.
For the boys I made Noah's recent favorite. We call it Ketchup Chicken because that gets him to eat it :) He actually really loves it though. I made it for the first time about a month or so ago and he has asked for it no less than 5 times a week since then, for lunch and dinner. I have seen similar recipes floating around the Internet but I cook it a little bit differently. Josh & I are fans of this one, too. I add in sliced green onions for us and it tastes like Pei Wei takeout. Noah is convinced that is is like Chick-fil-a, probably because the sauce is similar to his coveted Polynesian Sauce.
"Ketchup Chicken"
2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
1-2 T cornstarch
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 T onion flakes
1/8 cup ketchup
1 T vegetable oil
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
Toss the chicken with the cornstarch, and mix together the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl. Heat another 1 T oil in a big skillet over medium and cook the chicken until it is white all over but not cooked through. Pour in the sauce and stir well, cover the skillet and turn the heat down to medium-low and cook it until the chicken is cooked through. Serve over brown rice.
And then...dessert! This one was all about me, although Josh was a fan. I had to do something red velvet. The perfect way to start and end the day :) I searched for a red velvet pie recipe and the only thing I really found was red velvet brownie pie. Since both my
mom's brownie pie and
red velvet brownies are favorites of mine, I decided it was perfect! You can find the recipe here:
Red Velvet Brownie Pie. I left out the chocolate chips. I know that cream cheese frosting is a traditional pairing with red velvet, but I absolutely love the addition of white chocolate buttercream to my coveted rv brownies, so I wanted to go with a similar flavor. I decided to attempt to make white chocolate whipped cream. It turned out deeeeeelicious. I may or may not have eaten several spoonfuls of this stuff just by itself.
White Chocolate Whipped Cream
2 ounces white chocolate
2 T + 1 C heavy whipping cream
1/3 C powdered sugar
Put the white chocolate in a bowl with 2 T of cream and melt in the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir it well and if it isn't totally smooth microwave for a few more seconds. IN a large mixing bowl, combine 1 C cream with 1/3 C powdered sugar. Beat with a handheld electric mixer until soft peaks form. Fold in the white chocolate/cream mixture. Seriously, this stuff is pretty to-die-for.
Enjoy!!
