Valentine's Day Dinner

Hey, remember that meal I blabbed about yesterday?  I have pictures. Seriously, did you really think I'd rattle off the whole menu and then not have my camera out?  Plus, a couple of the recipes are too good not to share.

I did ya a favor though.  I didn't want you to sprain your scrolling finger due to the surplus of photos, so I made collages.  I know, I'm such a nice little blogger.

You may have noticed in the picture above, that I switched up the rosemary centerpiece.  I swiped some camelia stems off the neighbor's plant that hangs over our back fence.  The table needed more color.  I also added the red paper hearts to the kids' plates like I mentioned I might.  The Dad got one too.  And we drank wine out of our wedding wine glasses.  Awwwww.

So first up in the food department, we started out with an app.  

I cut up strawberries and apples, sliced up some yummy Olympic Provisions salami, and baked some brie with honey on it.   

Mmmm, warm cheese.

I had that out when The Dad got home from work.

Speaking of The Dad, he brought me roses.  

Awwwww.  

And a case for my new camera.  

Double awwwww.

Okay, so the first recipe I'm gonna share is for the meat.

SO. GOOD.

I had flank steak, but it would be good with any cut.

I saw them make it on The Chew with skirt steak.  

I got the measurements off the website.

Just whisk together 1 C balsamic vinegar,  1/3 C brown sugar, 1 tsp chili flakes, and 1/3 C olive oil.

Throw in 2 cloves of smashed garlic (I used 4) and 2 sprigs of rosemary.

Season your meat with salt and pepper, then marinate it in the mixture overnight.

We grilled ours.

Holy delicious meat, Batman.

To go alongside, I threw some grape tomatoes in a pan with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper, and threw them in the oven while the meat rested.

I also made twice baked potatoes.

With horseradish.

Love at first bite.

I used red and purple potatoes and cut a small slice off the bottom so they'd sit steady when they were filled.

I boiled them till they were done, then let them cool before scooping out the guts.

I mixed that up with butter, sour cream, milk, prepared creamy horseradish, and salt and pepper, until it was the consistency I wanted.

(I pulled enough filling for the kids before adding the horseradish and mixed some grated cheddar into theirs. Then I put it in a baking dish without the skins - which they never eat anyway.)

I filled the skins back up and stuck everyone in the fridge overnight.

For dinner, they just needed to be heated.

Easy peasy.

For me, it ain't dinner without bread, so we had that too.

As always, here's dinner on my plate:

I marinated two flank steaks, so we'll be eatin' it again this weekend.

Man, it was good.

Okay, now, the best part of the meal.

And that's sayin' a lot comin' from me, cause typically the savory always beats the sweet for my taste buds.

But holy Lord, these were AMAZING.

It was my first attempt at the Molten Lava Cake and they will forever be my go to fancy dessert.

You guys, SO. EASY.

And SO. DELICIOUS.

Feast your eyes on this.

 

Wouldn't you know, mine, the one I took pictures of, oozed out the least amount of liquidy, chocolate goodness.  

Go figure.

But the other ones ran out just like the fancy pictures you see of them.

You could seriously whip these up and be eating them in under 30 minutes.

I got the recipe here.

So that's it, our 2013 Valentine's Day dinner at home.

It did not suck at all.

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