Valentine's Day 2011

It's really hard to have a fancy (which usually means expensive) Valentine's Day with your spouse when you have small children. It's hard to get away, and life is chaotic. Plus, the day is special for our kids, and they are our Valentines too :o) So, this is our 2nd Family Valentine's Dinner we've created, planned, and executed. Funnily enough, I don't remember what we did for Valentine's the other years... I don't think we've ever gone out, so maybe it just an ordinary day...? Needless to say, it's nice to enjoy as a family!

During our ice storm the first week in February, Natalie spent an entire afternoon cutting, gluing and writing Valentine hearts to decorate the dining room for our Valentine's Dinner. This past Saturday, Natalie and I made Valentine Sugar Cookie Cut-Outs. We had hoped to plan an all RED meal, but ended up staying more in the red/orange/yellow range to avoid unnatural dyes. We decided on ribeye (which is very red when raw), baby red potatoes (which look more brownish after being cooked), carrots w/ a cream sauce, a mango dish [because I wanted to use them up:o)], and red velvet cupcakes with white chocolate cream cheese frosting. So Monday morning, I made the cupcakes and marinated the ribeye in Luke's Best Ever Beef Marinade from the Downey Cooperative Preschool Cookbook. I also prepped the carrots and diced my 4 leftover mangos (and some crystallized ginger) in the afternoon. For the mango dish, I broiled diced mango, sprinkled with finely diced crystallized ginger and coconut for 15 minutes. Rob was able to leave work early to get the kids to swimming lessons so I could put the finishing touches on the meal. Everything turned out yummy, the table and room were festive, and we all exchanged cards. It was a very nice evening :o)