Our Valentine's Day

I forgot to take pictures of everything we made for Valentine's Day! Sorry... But out menu was:


Breakfast we had Belgium Waffles- I made regular batter- could have added some red food coloring, but ran out and forgot to buy more- I used red frosting to pipe a heart and filled it in with whipped topping and valentine sprinkles. We had Strawberry Milk with our breakfast.


Lunch was fun, we ate BLT (Because Love is Today) sandwiches. I cut out parchment paper hearts and stuck them to the bread (with butter) before grilling. But they grilled through the parchment. Just not as much. So you could see a faint sign of a heart on the bread. And we had chocolate fondue. We dipped Graham Crackers, Pretzels, Banana Chunks, and Orange Wedges. We drank LOVE POTION.



After Dinner I remembered to take photos. We had a "nice" dinner. We had cheese fondue: I used 8 oz. Brie (no rind) and 8 oz. swiss. I added 1/2 cup chicken broth and 2 Tbsp. flour. This was an okay consistency, but it didn't stick to all the food we dipped. We dipped Lemon Pepper Chicken, Lemon butter Crab, Pretzels, and Broccoli. We have fun with Fondue. But we don't do it very often. I think we like the Cheddar Fondues better. I enjoy brie, but I like it better baked. We drank Sparkling Cider and had a candle lit dinner. For dessert we savored a Chocolate Velvet Cake with Strawberries.



Chocolate Velvet Cake with Strawberries

Cake
1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
1/2 cup milk chocolate morsels
1 pkg (18.25 oz) devil's food cake mix
3 eggs
3/4 cup water
1 jar (12 oz) seedless strawberry jam, divided


Glaze & Garnish
1/3 cup melted vanilla ice cream
1 cup milk chocolate morsels
1 qt. fresh strawberries, divided
Additional ice cream (optional)


Brush Stoneware Fluted Pan with 1 tbsp of the oil. For cake, combine chocolate morsels and remaining 1/4 cup oil in Small Batter Bowl. Microwave on HIGH 30-60 seconds or until melted and smooth, whisking after 30 seconds. In Stainless (4-qt.) Mixing Bowl, combine cake mix, eggs, water, 1/2 cup of the jam and chocolate mixture; whisk until well blended. Pour batter into pan.
Microwave cake on HIGH 9-12 minutes or until wooden pick inserted near center comes out clean. Remove cake from microwave. Center Simple Additions® Large Round Platter over pan and carefully invert. Without removing pan, cool 10 minutes. Remove pan.
For glaze, combine ice cream and chocolate morsels in Small Micro-Cooker®. Microwave on HIGH 20-60 seconds or until melted and smooth, stirring after each 20-second interval.
Place remaining jam into Prep Bowl and microwave on HIGH 30 seconds or until melted; brush evenly over cake, using Silicone Basting Brush. Dip 16 of the strawberries into glaze; arrange around bottom edge of cake. Drizzle top of cake with remaining glaze. Slice remaining strawberries using Egg Slicer Plus®; place into center well of cake. Serve with additional ice cream, if desired.
Yield: 16 servings
Nutrients per serving: Calories 360, Total Fat 14 g, Saturated Fat 6 g, Cholesterol 45 mg, Carbohydrate 57 g, Protein 5 g, Sodium 290 mg, Fiber 1 g


Cook's Tip: For best results, bake this cake in a 1000-watt microwave with a built-in turntable. This cake can be baked in a conventional oven, if desired. Bake at 350°F for 45-50 minutes.



We REALLY enjoyed our food filled Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Recipe

Chocolate recipes are GREAT! You can make the Warm Nutty Caramel Brownies and Chocolate Raspberry Cookie Trifle.

Chocolate-raspberry ganache, white chocolate mousse filling and vanilla wafers taste delicious and create a festive look that makes this trifle great for any occasion.

1 cup milk
1 package (3.3 ounces) white chocolate instant pudding and pie filling
1 container (16 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided
1 box (12 ounces) vanilla wafers, divided
1 cup milk chocolate morsels
1 jar (12 ounces) seedless raspberry jam, divided
1 bag (12 ounces) frozen sweetened raspberries (not in syrup), thawed

For filling, in Stainless (4-qt.) Mixing Bowl, combine milk and pudding mix; whisk until pudding mixture begins to thicken. Reserve ½ cup of the whipped topping in Measure-All® Cup. Gently fold remaining whipped topping into pudding mixture. Cover and refrigerate.

For ganache, combine chocolate morsels, reserved whipped topping and half of the jam in Small Batter Bowl. Microwave on HIGH 40-60 seconds or until melted, stirring after each 20-second interval. Stir until smooth. Reserve ¼ cup in Prep Bowl for garnish.

Place remaining jam into another Prep Bowl. Microwave on HIGH 30-60 seconds or until melted. Place berries into Classic Batter Bowl. Pour jam over berries; stir gently. Set aside 16 cookies for garnish; break remaining cookies in half.

To assemble trifle, place one-third of the broken cookies into bottom of Trifle Bowl. Layer one-third of the raspberry mixture evenly over cookies. Top with one-third of the pudding mixture and one-third of the ganache. (See Cook’s Tip.) Repeat layers two more times, finishing with a smooth layer of ganache. Dip reserved whole cookies halfway into reserved ganache; place into top of trifle.

Yield: 16 servings

Nutrients per serving: Calories 330, Total Fat 13 g, Saturated Fat 7 g, Cholesterol 5 mg, Carbohydrate 52 g, Protein 2 g, Sodium 180 mg, Fiber less than 1 g

Cook’s Tip: To easily top cream layers with ganache, place large resealable plastic bag into (2-cup) Easy Read Measuring Cup. Pour ganache into corner of bag. Twist top of bag; secure with Twixit! Clip. Cut tip off corner of bag to allow ganache to flow through.