Valentine's Day Dinner Ideas

Do you celebrate Valentine's Day?

While I take pride in cooking dinner for my husband most nights, I like to make an extra special dinner for Valentine's Day. I might make a dish with pricier ingredients that I don't cook with too often. We'll have a bottle of wine and I always make a wicked dessert.

Because the restaurants will be mobbed, we usually stay home on Valentine's Day. I have pulled together some dinner ideas for you. Some from Family Balance Sheet and a few recipes that I have found over the past week at various sites. Happy Valentine's Day!

The Main Course:

• Pasta with Clams and Fresh Tomatoes at Family Balance Sheet. This is a contender at our house for V-day dinner.
• Grilled Garlic Lemon Shrimp at Family Balance Sheet.
• Turkey Sausage, Arugula and Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta at Family Balance Sheet.
• Penne with Creamy Rosemary Sauce at Alli N Son.
• Grilled Steak Salad at Designs by Gollum. You need to scroll down a bit past the flower pictures to get to the steak. Well worth the scroll. Looks divine.
• Lobster Risotto at LuLu's Musings. Oh my!

The Most Important Course...DESSERT:

• Homemade Brownies with Homemade Whipped Cream at Family Balance Sheet.
• Romantic Chocolate Creme Brulee at Purple Chocolat at Home. This post totally makes me want to go out and buy a kitchen torch.
• Chocolate Vodka Soaked Strawberries at Cargile Family Recipes. I didn't even know they made Chocolate Vodka??
• Salted Caramel Cupcakes at Tidy Mom. I love the salty sweet combination. Yummy!

What are you cooking for your honey for Valentine's Day? Let us know in the comments, along with any links to the recipe.

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Image: AKARAKINGDOMS / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How Do You Cope With The Cold Weather Blues?

I've been in a funk lately.

I'm having trouble focusing and concentrating on a particular task at hand. I've been grouchy lately and my poor husband has taken the brunt of it. I'm even getting bored with my winter meals of soups, chilies, and casseroles. Our grill is covered in ice right now and grilling when it is dark and 25 degrees outside is not that appealing either.

I'm still eating normally (for me), sleeping well and I have kept up with my exercise routine, so I'm not terribly concerned that it is a real depression. I went through a depression in my mid to late 20's that affected my appetite, sleep patterns and energy levels. Therapy and joining a gym helped me considerably back then.

Could my funk be from the weather?
The weather outside has been so cold and frigid and I feel like we haven't seen the sun in the northeast since November.

We are ready for spring. I'm starting to get gardening catalogs and my mood brightens up when I find them in my mailbox. The sun poked through for about an hour on Monday and I took my kids outside to ride their bikes on the sidewalk. It was 29 degrees.

Just looking at this picture, brings a smile to my face.


I think I'm going to start planning my gardens. I know I won't be able to plant anything for several weeks, but maybe just looking through my books and magazines will remind me that warmer days are coming.

I'm also going to spend this upcoming weekend looking through my cookbooks and Cooking Light magazines for inspiration and new ideas for my meals. It's time to change things up a bit.

I'm also going to get some 5ks and 10ks on my calendar. A college friend is trying to talk me into running a half-marathon with her in July. I haven't committed yet, but that summer goal might help me see past this cold weather too.

Are you feeling any cold weather blues? How are you coping with it? Please share any strategies with us in the comments.

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** I am not a medical professional, so please consult your medical professional if you feel like your 'funk' is a more serious issue.

Pasta e Fagioli

It looks like I was a little stingy with the soup in this picture. I wasn't. We all had seconds and we enjoyed leftovers the next day. This soup is DELICIOUS.

This recipe was very pleasing to my 5 year old. She asked for "more, please" which is always a good sign.

Pasta e Fagioli
adapted from Cooking Light

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 10 oz turkey sausage, casings removed. I cooked the whole 20 oz package and used half for this recipe and then put the other half in the freezer for a future meal.
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup water
• 16 - 24 oz homemade chicken stock, or store-bought. If 16 oz makes the soup too thick for you, add more until you get to your desired consistency.
• 1 cup roasted tomato sauce, or your favorite brand
• 1 cup uncooked small pasta, such as seashell, but I used orzo because that was in my pantry.
• ½ cup grated Romano or Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1 ½ tsp dried oregano
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp pepper
• 2 cans (15 oz) cannellini or white beans, drained

In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and garlic and cook until sausage is no longer pink. Stir and break up the sausage into bite-sized pieces as you cook.

Add the water, stock and tomato sauce and bring to a boil.

Add the pasta, ¼ cup cheese, oregano, salt, pepper and beans. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer for about 8 minutes until the pasta is cooked.

Top with remainder of cheese to serve.

Goes well with a salad, homemade applesauce and homemade bread.

Side note: Next time I make this soup, I am going to add more stock. I used 2 cups and the orzo really soaked it up. My soup had a very thick consistency. Regardless, it was delicious, but I made a note to myself to add more stock next time.

Print this recipe.

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This post is linked to:

• $5 Dinners Challenge
• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
• Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop

How Much Interest Is Your Debt Costing You Every Month?

Have you ever broken down your debt payments to see how much goes to your principal and how much goes to interest?

I challenge you to take a look. Look at your mortgage, your credit cards and your student loans. You will see your debts in a whole new way.

I did this exercise and realized 36% of the monthly payment we pay to my husband's student loan every month goes to interest. 36%! THAT SUCKS!

Go. Do it. Maybe it'll tick you off enough to finally take a sledgehammer to that debt. Let us know in the comments how you make out.

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I'm taking a Road to Financial Freedom, do you want to follow along?

• The Road to Financial Freedom - Introducing a New Series
• Four Ways to Become More Financially Literate
• Is Clutter Interfering with Your Road to Financial Freedom?
• Get Your Finances on Your Calendar
• My Dumbest Money Decision
• Our Wisest Money Decision
• Our Riskiest Money Decision
• Do You Track Your Cash Flow?

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Brownie Muffins: Frugal Tip or Portion Control

My husband's favorite dessert in the whole wide world is a big, fat brownie topped with raspberry ice cream. Being the loving wife that I am, I am happy to oblige.

Our problem is that when I make a pan of brownies, the pan mysteriously disappears in a matter of hours. Every time one of us walks by the pan, we cut off just one more piece. Just one tiny piece won't hurt. And that is NOT good for us or our waistline.

While Christmas shopping back in December, I noticed a Brownie pan at a home goods store with a price tag of $29.99. When I saw the pan, I thought to myself, 'that is just a glorified muffin pan'.

Light bulb moment

There was a big football game on one night so I bought our favorite brownie mix. While I love my Homemade Brownies with Homemade Whipped Cream, brownies are one item that I occasionally buy/bake/eat from a box.

I poured the brownie batter mix into my 12-muffin pan and baked for about 35 minutes. My husband would like the brownies done a little longer. He likes the crunchy sides and I don't want to feel like I'm going to break a tooth, so I compromised with 35 minutes.

Genius, now why didn't I think of this before.

After my family of 4 each had a brownie, I put the rest in a freezer bag and popped them in the freezer. And guess what, a week later, they are still in the freezer. We didn't eat them within 24 hours like we normally do.

So essentially I am killing two birds with one stone: our favorite dessert is lasting a lot longer in our home and we don't feel like we're going to bust our zippers by the end of a day.

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This post in linked to Frugal Friday at Life as MOM and Works for Me Wednesday at We Are That Family.