Happy Valentines Day!!!

Happy Valentines Day!!  I know I know...Hallmark Holiday that is pretty much a big corporate scheme to make money...all very true buuuttt I'm sure we all would agree that all this world needs is a little more LOVE and we'd all be a lot better off, so I'm definitely not opposed to a day to celebrate it!!!  So even if you do or don't have a "romantic" other to spend today with let's all spread the LOVE to all those that deserve it (if you're feeling extra spiffy go ahead and spread it to even those that don't deserve it...who knows it might just turn them around).  So this is me sending out my LOVE via cyber space.  Especailly to you readers and those little, or not so little, animals I love so dearly.  This blog is for you!

I had the pleasure of surprising my Husband with a wonderful (If I do say so myself) romantic dinner at home, just the two of us (or three with Bella) yesterday for V-day.  I started all of the planning/prepping on Saturday.  Let me tell you it was a lot of work, but honestly each dish wasn't all that "hard" pursey, just a lot of time and coordinating to make it all work.  Everything turned out yummy..I had a few uh oh moments that I thought I would lose a dish or two, but it all worked out (thanking the good lord for my wonderful V-day luck).  Even though he got home 30 MIN EARLY!!  At least everything was warm and ready to eat.  He just got to hang out in the bedroom for 30 minutes until I was ready for him.  =) 

We started the night with champagne and fresh raspberries....I saw this somewhere a long time ago and just had to have it.  Even though fresh raspberries are a little expensive for my beer budget.  =)  Oh and forgive me now for all the photos in today's posts.  I tried my best to take good photos but I was in such a rush and frenzy I wasn't paying that much attention and left my photos for much to be desired.  Plus certain areas in my house SUCK for lighting...soo...You get what you get..especially with my iPhone! 

Thanks Maw for the champagne glasses!! 

Next up was stuffed mushrooms for appetizers.  I found the recipe at a new blog I found.  I made these on Saturday at my moms and they were SUPER simple.  My mom loved the stuffing and was eating it by itself.  It's basically the stems of the mushrooms, bread crumbs, red onions, garlic, parsley, basil and a little salt/pepper...stuff them in the caps and bake.  I made them on Saturday, kept them in the fridge and baked on Sunday before we ate.  Sorry I didn't get a close up of the mushrooms.  They are in the right side of the picture.  As you can see my hectic small kitchen.  Like my balancing skills with the cookbook?  LoL.

Next up the main course.  I made home made ravioli from scratch shaped like HEARTS!!  How adorable is this!?!  I found the recipe here at another blog.  The instructions don't always make sense.  In the filling it calls for nutmeg, but in the instructions it doesn't list nutmeg and adds cayenne?  I used what it calls for nutmeg and mixed with the filling, and just added a little Tony Chacherie's seasoning since I didn't have any cayenne at my moms.  Since I figured the instructions were a little off, I didn't follow the filling recipe too closely.  I added more bread crumbs and adjusted to my taste on the other items.  Seemed to turn out fine.  The ravioli were pretty labor intensive.  A lot of rolling out dough that was pretty sticky, cutting the little hearts, stuffing, sealing, etc.  I made these at my mom's on Saturday and then put them in a container lined with parchment making sure none of them touched each other.  Preferrably if I was doind this again I would cook them same day.  They still stuck to the parchment, and were a pain to get un done.  Plus they got a little smooshed in transit and didn't look as pretty the next day.  Also they tasted good but were a little "chewy".  I'm not sure what that was from.  This was my first time making home made pasta so I'm definitely a novice.  I cooked them about a minute after they floated to the top thinking they didn't cook long enough?  Not sure.  They were still edible, just not ideal.  I also stuffed half of them with the left over stuffing that I used for the mushrooms so we had some variance.  Both were yummy.  I had a ton of spinach stuffing left over though. 

ravioli filling

Ravioli dough

Making heart shaped ravioli...so cute! ♥



Finished product!

 

All together!  The recipe actually made about 2 more than shown. 

 I just made a jar of spaghetti sauce, fixed it up with some extra onion, garlic and my fav spices and let simmer while I did everything else.  Everything else I cooked was made from scratch so the sauce got the short end of the stick.  I didn't want to stretch myself too thin.  =).  Crappiest photo award below.  Obviously some ravioli turned out better then others.  The spinach ones don't look as pretty cause you can see through them.  All in All I was happy with the dish.  It definetly needs some adjusting to make perfect, but GREAT first try.  I'm just glad everything was edible.  Plus Husband said I was being too hard on myself and they tasted awesome! 

I was going to make a vegetable side (like green beans) but kinda forgot, and didn't have anything good in the fridge to put together so I just stuck with this.  For additional starch I made home made from scratch foccacia bread with carmelized onions from The Conscious Cook by Tal Ronnen.  Perfect side to slop up the extra sauce.  This also was a little labor intensive.  You have to knead the dough for 10 minutes..which doesn't sound like long..but boy does it get tiring.  Other then that it was pretty easy.  I probably should have cooked the onions a little longer, but Husband was home and the bread wasn't done yet, the mushrooms still had to be baked and I was a little short on time.  It tasted fine, but next time I would cook them down more.  I also must have miss measured because the topping was a little salty.  None of this really took away from the bread just a few things to work on next time to make it even better!  It was DELISH.  I will definitely make it again.  Husband raved about it!  (On a side note, I'm going to take a part of the loaf and make croutons for my upcoming cesar salad..YAY!). 

Making bread..the old fashioned way!



Carmelizing onions, boiling water for pasta, and clow cooking the sauce!



All done! 

Next up DESSERT!! Since V-day is all about the dessert I made it a two parter.  Mainly because I couldn't make up my mind which too make.  I'm glad I made both.  I started with a home made Strawberry Champagne Sorbet.  OMG sooo good..and SOOO easy!!  Aside from waiting for it to freeze this takes no time at all.  You dissolve some sugar in water, add it to purred strawberries with 2 T of agave nectar (recipe called for corn syrup, I improvised), and champagne (recipe called for 2C I used 1C plus 1C of water) let freeze for 4-6 hours, mix with a blender or food processor, freeze again until firm.  I am definitely making this on a regular basis.  ESPECIALLY for summer time.  This is the perfect dessert.  Great to make for a party too...Just make sure to keep in the freezer until you are ready to serve.  I served in a martini glass which made it extra classy!! =)   You can easily omit the champagne if making for little ones. 



While we ate our sorbet I popped dessert course numero dos in the oven to cook.  CINNAMON ROLLS!!!  Oh how simple and awesome they were.   There were a few things I would have done differently this time around.  I made the cinnamon rolls on Saturday at my mom's.  Sunday I took them out of the fridge and a lot of the butter/cinnamon/sugar mixture had melted? and was sitting at the bottom of the pan.  Not ideal.  They still baked up well, I just had to cook them a little longer to absorb the liquid.  Mine don't look as pretty as hers either...I think that could have been fixed with more frosting.  You can never have too much frosting!!

Saturday after assembly, and before melting.



Just prior to devouring!!

So there you have it, a 100% vegan Valentines day dinner for two.  I tried to gear the menu around my husband.  He loves mushrooms, ravioli, spinach, bread, strawberries and cinnamon rolls.  I didn't want to use too much "fake" meats/cheeses.  He gets enough of that during the week.  I think any of these dishes would happily satisy a meat eater.  I'm glad I had an occasion to try so many new recipes all in one day.  I found some great ones that I might not have tried otherwise.  Here are some additonal photos of our table decor.  Not the best lighting.  We had the lights off for most of the night with just the candle light (AWW..so romantic!!) but we had to turn the lights on for the best photo.  My phone isn't so great at catching the right "mood".  Thanks to my mom for helping me with all of the decor ideas, letting me borrow most of her things, and making us the beautiful frame featured in the center!  Love you!!  I also had music playing to set the mood.  I found a GREAT pandora station for old 1950ish music.  Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong!!  Brilliant combo and the perfect music for a night like yesterday.  I hooked up our computer to the TV stereo.  Since the TV has to be on for it to work I found a heart photos and kept it up so we didn't have to look at the computer monitor.  =)   

Pre chaos.  The beautiful flower is from my moms house.  LOVE!

Pretty blurry

Mood set with candles

I hope you all are feeling as loved as I am feeling today (Husband is surprising me with a hot air balloon ride once the weather looks up and we both get a day off together...SOOO excited!!  I'll be sure to blog about the trip!).  Cheers to LOVE and many more years to celebrate it!  Now go out there and tell those you love that ...well ..you LOVE them!!  ♥ ♥ ♥

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!