VALENTINES DAY (A FOODY POST :))

I thought it would be fun to try an extravagant dessert I saw in an old Martha Stewart Living issue for a Valentines Day treat: Rocky Road Tart Melting my chocolate for the ganache filling.

The pie pan was filled with a graham cracker crust that I pre-baked and then piled up with toasted almonds, marshmallows and bittersweet chocolate pieces.

Samuel took this photo of me pouring the ganache over the top. Just needs to chill in the fridge now.

Moving on to our dinner. I usually cook an extra-nice meal on Saturday nights as part and preparation of the celebration of the Lord's Day on Sunday. So, even though Valentines Day was on Sunday, we just turned our Sabbath Feast into a sort of Valentines Feast as well.

I decided to try some new recipes for our dinner as well. The main dish was another magazine find, Chicken Piccata. I had a sample copy of Cuisine magazine that had an article about making cutlets of different kinds of meats. I was excited to try it out. I had never found the trick for making chicken cutlets. Above you can see that I salt and peppered them and then coated them in flour before frying them in my skillet. Really, a very simple and delicious preparation.

Getting ready to pound my chicken pieces into cutlets. It worked beautifully. It's all in how you cut the chicken.

The sauce, with lemons and capers.

Topping my chicken.

Dinner is done! I had previously made some rosemary and olive oil bread.

I think it looks rather attractive for a festive meal.

I also had tried out a new recipe for a cauliflower and potato casserole. The creamy sauce on top had jarlsburg cheese melted into it and it was scrumptious!

We passed out a few little Valentines treats after supper. Amelia got some chapstick and some pencils.

The boys got some Chiclets gum and pencils.

Ready to serve dessert.

A really rich slice served with black coffee. :)

The kids were very excited about it.

They love anything with chocolate and marshmallows really seal the deal.

So, even though I thought it was difficult to cut and difficult to eat overall, they didn't mind a bit.

:)

On Sunday morning, Peter made everybody Strawberry Shortcake, as a treat for me. YUM.

Piles of whipped cream....

Looking mostly still asleep here, she's not sure why I'm taking her picture. Don't you know it's Valentine's Day, Cecily?