A Homemade Valentine's Day Meal
In case you don’t know, Valentine’s Day is coming up—so now is the time to run out and grab some flowers or jewelry, but don’t worry about making reservations for dinner. Restaurants will be packed on Saturday night, so play some music, pour some wine and enjoy a homemade dinner.
Appetizer: Bread
1 loaf of French bread
Garlic powder
Bacon Mozzarella cheese
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. What is a meal without some carbs? This bread is simple to make and can be an appetizer if, like me, you can’t wait until the meal is done. Take the loaf of bread and slice it in one inch horizontal sections. Don’t slice it all the way through. Slice it just enough to fit some stuffing in between the slices. Fill the crevices with a little bit of garlic powder and crumbled up bacon (bacon bits work if you’re not crazy about getting popped with grease every two seconds). Spread some mozzarella cheese on top of the bread and bake it for about 10 minutes. Then snack away!
Entrée: Creamed Chicken
2 chicken breasts (or 1 per person)
1 package of softened cream cheese
Seasoned salt
Toothpicks
Bacon
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Put both pieces of chicken in a plastic bag. Use a meat cleaver to flatten the chicken out. If you don’t have a meat clever (because who really does?) use a hammer. Just be careful not to mess up your countertops. Gently beat the chicken until it is flattened. It needs to be thin in order to roll it properly. Put your softened cream cheese in a bowl. Mix it together with one tablespoon of seasoned salt (or more, depending on how salty you’re feeling). Leave the chicken and cheese to the side and begin cooking your bacon. Put your pan on the stove at a medium heat. Cook 2-3 pieces of bacon per chicken breast. Don’t fully cook the bacon! You’ll be putting it in the oven with the chicken, so the bacon will finish cooking then. You want the bacon to still be flexible, but about half-way cooked. Put your bacon on a spare plate to cool while you prep your chicken. Place the 2-3 bacon strips on a baking dish and place a chicken breast over each few strips. Spread the cream cheese on your chicken.
Now – here comes the tricky part—roll your chicken up. Take your time with this step because if you don’t, you’ll make a huge mess and end up licking the cream cheese off of every dish within one foot of you. Use a toothpick to keep the chicken and bacon rolled up together. Try using one or two toothpicks per strip of bacon. Now pop that in the oven for about 40-45 minutes.
Side: Roasted potatoes
6 red potatoes
Garlic powder
Salt
Pepper
Slice your potatoes into quarters. Put aluminum foil in a baking dish – this will make the clean-up process quicker. Put the potatoes in the baking dish and sprinkle salt, pepper and your taste of garlic powder on the potatoes. If you’re a cheesy Valentine date, add some shredded cheddar cheese to the potatoes and put them in the oven with your chicken. These will need to cook for about 45 minutes as well, so the timing will be perfect. To make sure the potatoes are cooked, poke them with a fork; it should go through the potatoes easily.
Side: Seared zucchini
4 pieces of zucchini
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Put your pan on the stove with a low/medium heat. Cut the zucchini vertically and then into 3 inch strips horizontally. Sprinkle the oil in the pan, but don’t fully coat the pan. Let the zucchini sear until it is softened and a light brown color. This will take around 10 minutes. Enjoy your dinner with your significant other, best friend, or maybe just yourself, a bottle of wine and your cat.
