Valentine's Dinner - are you staying in or going out?

15 years ago

What are you making or are you going out? We are staying in and enjoying a relaxing evening, so I am trying to decide what to make. On LPinks "lobster stretching" thread Annie mentioned scallops and that sounds pretty good to me. I have a new recipe I have been looking for an excuse to make, maybe this is it. I guess I need to decide on either an ingredient or dish and build the meal around that.

What is your plan?

Alexa

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Comments (32)

jessyf
15 years ago
We always stay in. We're an old married couple, LOL. I like to enjoy good restaurants when they aren't ripping you off. Besides, it is a school night, so we eat in.

I'll ask the kid what he wants (DS#1 will be gone for the week on a school trip) maybe I'll make something red or heart shaped.
ruthanna_gw
15 years ago
We're definitely not going out but will probably pick up one of the Valentine's Day dinners prepared by local churches (takeout only). We have until 9 tonight to decide what we want and order it.
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claire_de_luna
15 years ago
Happy Valentines Day Alexa! We have a favorite ''take-out'' place close by, so we're taking-out and staying in. It's an anniversary for us so I'm making an Orange Layer Cake to celebrate the citrus season. I made it for our 30th Anniversary last year, and it was destined to become a favorite. Since I'd rather bake than cook, that's what I'm doing!
annie1992
15 years ago
Definitely staying in and probably making those scallops. Not because it's Valentine's Day, but because I love 'em and I have them, LOL.

truthfully? I'm much more a realist than I am a romantic. I tend to ignore things like Valentines and try to remember to do little things at times when they are unexpected, not on the day that Hallmark tells me I should. I will buy small treats for the grandkids and take them out on Sunday.

Valentine's Day is just an excuse for me to cook something I wouldn't cook otherwise because it's too time consuming or expensive, LOL. This year it's on a Monday and I'm working, so Elery will be cooking dinner anyway.

He feels the same way about it as I do, I bought him a 6 quart Nesco roaster a few weeks ago because he loves mine and he bought me a beautiful handblown Chemex coffee maker about the same time because he just knew I'd love it.

But did we buy Valentine's gifts or cards? Nope.

Annie
lowspark
15 years ago
Another "old married couple" here. And we pretty much never go out on holidays like Valentine's or New Year's for the same reason Jessy said, they rip you off.

Don't know what I'm making yet, but it won't be anything fancy. I'll look through recipes & my freezer tomorrow and decide.
jessyf
15 years ago
I just got my inspiration - I'm going to make wings and tell the family I had to hunt down and trap a lot of Cupids to provide the meal heh heh
wizardnm
15 years ago
I prefer to stay in rather than get ripped off as Jessy said. I do usually try to make something special.

I love fresh flowers on my table so this weekend I'll buy something special.

Nancy
jakkom
15 years ago
We're going out. If we stay home I have to cook plus my MIL is there, so how romantic would that be, LOL?

We love a good steak and it's hard to find in Northern CA. We discovered a nearby steakhouse has wet-aged beef - delish! - and they only serve prime rib on Sundays, so DH and I will celebrate a day early.
colleenoz
15 years ago
Staying in and cooking a special meal. I don't get to cook special often due to our hectic lives and we're both too busy to go to a restaurant so we'll do that another day.
triciae
15 years ago
We re-sided our house last fall with Nantucket cedar shingles & that was our Christmas, anniversary, Valentine's Day, & birthday presents for 2011. :) So, we're having chili mole Monday night - chocolate & dinner all in one dish!

/tricia
foodonastump
15 years ago
Staying in. Going out on a school night is too rushed and too much of a hassle. On the lobster thread, I think I talked myself into lobster paella. On Karen's (lakemayor) thread I think Lou talked me into heart-shaped pizzas for the kids.
lowspark
15 years ago
Chili mole? That sounds good Tricia! Will you post the recipe please? thanks!!
User
15 years ago
We stay in way to crowded and rushed at restaurants that day. I usually make something special but I haven't got my head around what yet. Maybe I'll show Clive how much I really love him and grill a steak! Lord knows that is a rare thing for me to do ....no pun intended but it was clever ;)
jessyf
15 years ago
OK I'm adding angel hair pasta to the 'Cupid Wings' I mentioned above, waste not want not if I'm already butchering the poor things. Hmmmm, Cupids are all boys, right? Baby brussel sprouts, two per person?

Any other anatomical ideas? Baby back ribs (can't do those unless they are beef...)?
rob333 (zone 7b)
15 years ago
evil jessy!
cookebook
15 years ago
I don't have a Valentine but I do have a friend who is a waiter. He told me it's one of the worst nights to go out to a restaurant. Very busy with jacked up prices, and a restaurant full of "amateurs" according to him lol
caliloo
Original Author
15 years ago
Jessy - you crack me up! You could serve Linda C's Angel Rolls and instead of making them into 3 sectioned cloverleaf rolls, put 2 pieces in each muffin tin and call them Angel Buns......
dgkritch
15 years ago
Staying in for all the same reasons above.
Especially what Annie said about doing the little things all the time and not just on one Hallmark day.

I'm making a local dinner:
Filet Mignon from the beef we bought from a friend over the hill.
Roasted Rosemary Garlic Potatoes (my garden)
Home canned green beans.
Maybe I'll cut hearts out of my pickled beets, I need something red!

And maybe a mini cheesecake for two (still looking for a recipe..........HINT!!).

Deanna (another HAPPY, old married woman)
nancyofnc
15 years ago
We hardly ever celebrate Hallmark Holidays (Easter and Thanksgiving we do though). DH's birthday is a few days after Valentine's so we'll do dinner in - bought Ribeye Steak half price today, and we'll have asparagus from the garden last year spritzed with lemon, some homemade crusty bread with a slice of Stilton cheese and dab of butter. A nice Shiraz and Netflix movie later, with popcorn! His birthday cake will be Apple Pie (made from my canned apple pie filling).

Nancy who hates hearts in/on anything!
katefisher
15 years ago
Because it is a 'school' night for my husband and I we are actually not going to celebrate on the 14th at all. Plan to drive up to Truckee, CA to a place famous for their breakfasts called The Squeeze In this weekend instead. Eat, do a little sightseeing and head home. The weather has been incredibly spring-like here in Northern CA so should be a nice day for it.

Hope everyone enjoys the holiday.

Kate
annie1992
15 years ago
Hey, Jessica, that reminds me, I still have a heart in the frezer. Yeah, a REAL heart. A beef heart. Elery says he has a recipe for chili dog sauce that takes ground beef heart as one of the ingredients. So.....we could have heart. Or you could buy some chicken hearts and have those with the wings. Or tell the guys you found that cupid really doesn't have any heart at all, so you had to cook the livers...

Annie
lakemayor
15 years ago
As you probably know from my thread on "main dish valentine's dinner" I'm going to our RV Park's Community Center and I'm making a heart shaped meatloaf and Ann T's post of the See's gooey brownies. I need to figure out what to put on them that would be red or hearts. Any ideas?

Karen
annie1992
15 years ago
Karen, how about raspberries or strawberries? Or you could top a brownie with a scoop of ice cream and drizzle with strawberry or raspberry sauce...

Annie
nancyofnc
15 years ago
Gotta have the chocolate mousse with raspberry sauce - maybe not for our calorie/cholesterol laden DH's birthday dinner but soon. Is you do hearts - this can be made in a heart shaped pan for Valentine's. I feel it melting in my mouth already.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chocolate Mousse with Raspberry Sauce
Islay_Corbel
15 years ago
Heart shaped crab cakes
heart shaped ravioli
heart shaped meringues with cream and raspberries.
Very corny! Lots of candles.
nancylouise5me
15 years ago
We wanted to go out, but the small, intimate restaurants we usually go to for special occasions were booked up way in advance so we will stay home. We are going to make a cheese fondue with lots of dippers and then a chocolate fondue for dessert. Champagne to toast our life together. Hopeless romantic here and proud of it. NancyLouise
lakemayor
15 years ago
Oh, that sounds really good Annie!

Karen
ruthanna_gw
15 years ago
Annie, you'd be surprised to see how often stuffed beef heart with gravy is one of the nightly specials at some of the old country taverns in our area.

Dgkritch, here's a mini cheesecake recipe I've made. It's best made a day ahead of time so the cookies soften up.

OREO COOKIE CHEESECAKES Ã¯Â¿Â½ makes 16

20 Oreo cookies
16 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
Dash of salt
2 Tbs. flour
3 eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
3 Tbs. sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 16 muffin cups with paper liners. Separate 16 cookies in two, leaving the OreoÃ¯Â¿Â½s cream filling on each cookie half and placing any half into each cup liner, filling side up. Make crumbs out of the 4 whole cookies and set aside.

In bowl of electric mixer, combine cream cheese, sugar, salt, flour and eggs. Beat for 4 minutes. Place one tablespoon of the mixture on top of each cookie half. Sprinkle the cookie crumbs on top and add the remaining cream cheese mixture on top of the crumbs. Bake for 20 minutes; remove from oven.

Combine the sour cream and sugar. Spread each cake with the mixture. Return to the oven for 4 minutes. Remove from the oven and place remaining cookie halves on top of each cheesecake, filling side down. Cool and then store in the refrigerator. Serve chilled.
lpinkmountain
15 years ago
I'll take any excuse to celebrate something with a nice fancy meal! This is my first EVER Valentine's Day with a genuine Valentine!! Imagine that at 50! I couldn't spoil BF enough to repay all the joy he has brought into my life. Unfortunately I am still sick with a bad cough and we're both realists too. We're having dinner at home but not going overboard on the romance part. I can't wait to peruse the gushy card section of the drugstore though, lol!
dgkritch
15 years ago
We celebrated last night.
Here's our dinner:

Perfectly rare steak, sauteed green beans, Roasted Garlic Potatoes and heart-shaped pickled beets! And yes, a couple of glasses of wine.

Deanna
trixietx
15 years ago
Staying in, we are having shrimp cocktail, bone-in ribeyes, baked potatoes with all the trimmings, salad, bread and maybe another vegetable if anything looks good at the store. For dessert, molten lava cakes!

Withing everyone a Happy Valentines Day!
annie1992
15 years ago
Well, we've had ours. Elery made supper, we had french onion soup with my homemade bread, some baked coconut shrimp, pan fried scallops and white potato shells stuffed with mashed sweet potato, cheese, sour cream and seasonings:

For dessert we had cherry crumble pie from the Grand Traverse Pie Company. Normally I'd not buy a pie, but Yahoo news had an article saying this was one of the 10 best pies in America. Mario Batali said eating a slice was a "religious experience". since he has a home by Traverse City and knows more about food than I do, I figured I'd give it a try. It was good, very, very good, sour Michigan Montmorency cherries in a traditional bottom crust with a struesel of crumbled shortbread. Elery said it was one of the best pies he'd ever eaten:

Happy Valentine's Day.

Annie

Valentine's Dinner - are you staying in or going out?

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Valentine's Dinner - are you staying in or going out?

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