date night in

For valentines day, the grandparents all went to the melodrama, so we were left babysitter-less. I really didn't mind because restaurants tend to hike up their prices on valentine's day anyway (kind of like florists sell a dozen roses for $70 on valentines day and then $12 the day after?! They do because they can, I guess). It is just not worth it. So, instead we had a fun date night IN with the girls.

Menu

heart shaped mini pizzas

strawberry spinach salad

3 layer cherry jello

All red and valentines-y. Plus, it was all tasty to boot!

I tried out my new bread maker to make the pizza dough. It turned out great- especially considering the fact I made a drastic measuring error. The recipe called for 3 1/2 cups of flour. I used a 1/2 cup measuring cup and put 4 of them in the bowl, leaving me 1 1/2 cups short. Confusing- it was to me too...obviously. The dough came out of the bread maker a soupy mess, but I just added the missing flour and kneaded it in by hand and we were good to go. Here is the recipe I used (found at http://www.fabulousfoods.com/):

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups flour

1 cup warm water

2 tablespoons dry active yeast

2 tablespoons honey

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

If using a bread maker, put all ingredients in the bowl, push the "dough" setting and walk away. Easy as can be. See instructions HERE for using a food processor or for mixing/kneading by hand. I rolled out the dough and used a large heart shaped cookie cutter to make the individual crusts. We all put on our own toppings and put our creations into a 450 degree oven for about 15 minutes (until cheese melted and crust was golden brown).

The spinach salad was so good. The girls ate it up too- or they at least ate the strawberries out of it. Found the recipe for Strawberry Spinach Salad I at http://www.allrecipes.com/ (love it). You really can't go wrong with a recipe that has been given a solid 5 star rating 902 times over.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon minced onion
10 ounces fresh spinach - rinsed, dried and
torn into bite-size pieces
1 quart strawberries - cleaned, hulled and sliced
1/4 cup almonds, blanched and slivered
Directions:
1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, olive oil, vinegar, paprika, Worcestershire sauce and onion. Cover, and chill for one hour.
2. In a large bowl, combine the spinach, strawberries and almonds. Pour dressing over salad, and toss. Refrigerate 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

I am not usually a big fan of jello, but the 3 layer cherry jello (that is just the name I came up with because I can't come up with anything better) is something else entirely. Really, really, REALLY yummy. I had it once before at another valentine's dinner- years ago. I made the recipe from memory. I am not sure if I have it all the way correct, but it tasted just as I remember.

Ingredients:

1 can/jar cherry pie filling

1 6oz box of cherry jello

8 oz cream cheese

8 oz sour cream

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup chopped nuts (I used almonds)

Directions:

Spread cherry pie filling into a 13x9 pan

Prepare jello according to package

Pour jello over cherry pie filling

Refrigerate until set

Mix cream cheese, sour cream, and sugar. Beat until smooth.

Spread mixture over set jello.

Sprinkle chopped nuts on top.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

After we were all stuffed, got the girls in bed, and YaYa and PaPa (my mom and Larry) were back, our date night IN turned into a "wild" night on the town. Paul and I snuck out to go to a late movie and brought our own candy mix of Reeses pieces and peanut M&Ms (our new favorite combo that we found on accident... definitely worth trying). We saw He's Just Not That Into You. It was entertaining- although the cheating husband plot line just made Paul mad... it was not my favorite either. I don't think we were supposed to like the guy- it was well played if that was the case. Other than that, it was a pretty good movie. It was just fun to get out and watch a movie uninterupped with my valentine!