Although its origins go back many centuries, Valentine’s Day is one of today’s most commercialized holidays. But that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate if you’re going green! After all, spending time with the one you love is what it’s all about. And a romantic dinner and sweet treats can make your time together sweeter than any material gift. Here is a Valentine’s Day menu that is sure to please.
Spinach and Cherry Tomatoes Salad
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2-3 Tablespoons Lemon juice
- Coarse salt and ground pepper
- 1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes
- 1 bunch spinach, stems removed
- Salt and pepper
- Shaved Parmesan Cheese
Directions
- In a large bowl combine spinach and tomatoes
- Add salt and pepper to taste
- Add olive oil and lemon juice
- Toss to combine
- Top with shaved parmesan cheese and serve immediately.
Fettuccini with Mushroom Sauce
Ingredients
- Fettuccini pasta (dry or fresh)
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 3/4 Pound fresh mushrooms (cremini, Portobello, shiitake, etc), stemmed and thinly sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- Coarse salt and ground pepper
- 1 tablespoon cold butter
- 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- Grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain.
- Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add onion and cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Add wine and cook until almost evaporated, 4 to 6 minutes. Add mushrooms; season with salt and pepper and cook until browned, about 8 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and stir in 1 tablespoon butter.
- Add mushroom mixture to pasta; stir to combine. Serve topped with Parmesan.
Red Velvet Cheesecake
Crust Ingredients
- 1 ½ c. finely crushed chocolate wafer cookies
- 5 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
- 1/3 c. sugar
- Pinch of salt
- Heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix cookie crumbs, butter, sugar and salt in a bowl. Press into the bottom and an inch up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan.
- Place on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes or until set. Cool completely
Filling Ingredients
- 4 8-oz. packages of cream cheese, softened
- 1 ¼ c. sugar
- 1 tbsp. lemon juice
- 1tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 4 eggs
- 1 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa
- 1 tsp. red food coloring
- Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.
- Beat cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla 4 to 5 minutes or until smooth. Add flour. Beat in eggs one at a time.
- Pour 2 cups of the batter into a separate bowl and stir in cocoa powder and food coloring. Pour red batter into the crust, then pour white batter on top. Use a spoon to pull some of the red batter up through the white batter and swirl.
- Bake until edges are set, approximately an hour and 20 minutes. Allow cake to cool for 20 minutes, then remove from pan and transfer to a rack to finish cooling.
- Refrigerate for 4 hours before cutting.