Valentine's Day easy and affordable

Feb 14th

I am no expert since I am single but Valentine's Day is supposed to be all about LOVE.

What is LOVE?  According to Wikipedia this is what it is!

"Love encompasses a variety of strong and positive emotional and mental states, ranging from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest interpersonal affection and to the simplest pleasure."

It doesn't say anything about it being between a man and a woman so who says you can only show people you love them if you are a couple?

Why not look at it as a day to show the people in your life that you love them or even if you are alone do something special for yourself to give yourself a bit of loving care for a change.

You don't have to be rich to show someone you care about them.  I have put together a few ideas for things that you can do that can be helped with a few grocery and dollar store items.  You don't have to make reservations at the fanciest restaurant or be a culinary whiz.  With a little bit of thought and effort you can create a meal that's full of heart while still staying on a reasonable budget.  Don't limit this to only 1 day a year.  You can do these things anytime of year.

First:  You can pick up some interesting things at your local dollar store.  I picked up a can of Hearts of Palm at my local dollar store for about $2.00.  This is an overlooked vegetable so it's great for something light and quick to make.  Just slice it and add a vinaigrette even if it's a bottled Italian dressing or just oil and lemon juice and salt and pepper that's fine.  I added a pop of red with chili flakes but you can add some crushed pink peppercorns or even some pomegranate seeds for color and sweetness.  This will easily serve 2 people.


Second:  You can always serve Pizza but make it Heart shaped.  I made this heart shaped pizza from scratch and added jarred artichoke hearts and cut out red peppers with a heart shaped cookie cutter and topped it with red onions and goat cheese for a bit of tang.  This is the fancy "I made it myself" version but you can take a step down and buy some frozen pizza dough and a jar of tomato sauce and some cheese and whatever other toppings you like but make sure you shape it into a heart before you bake it.  Still think you have no time or can't do this much then you can order a heart shaped pizza but it doesn't really show someone that you went out of your way for them but it's still cute.

Third:  Don't forget dessert of course.  Dark chocolate is great for boosting the feel good part of your brain so unless they don't like chocolate this is usually a good choice.

I have 3 choices for you for dessert.  You can take a few pantry ingredients and a little time and effort and make some shortbread cookies and decorate them with sprinkles with little hearts as I did above.  You can take something like homemade or store bought brownies and cut them into heart shapes.  Pick up some heart shaped chocolates and don't forget a cute little card. 

Of course you can pick up a little gift and put it in a cute heart shaped tin or box.  Add some balloons if you like because they always add a sense of occasion.  Depending on the time of day you can enjoy some wine or just take some cranberry juice and you can add some blood orange slices or some carbonated drink to it to add some bubbles.

Make it look as nice as you can even if the items aren't fancy.  You can even pick up little heart shaped cakes from the dollar store and see below where I just put some of the cookie sprinkles on top.  Put a caramel, chocolate or strawberry sauce on the plate to make it even fancier.  I didn't have any or I would have for this photo.

 

 You can add things like these pink meringues that I made last year or pink popcorn or even something like pop rocks.   Find a nice plate,  you can even find this at the dollar store and the placemat above is a felt placemat from the dollar store.  You can even find chocolate covered heart shaped cakes at the dollar store if the rest of these things are too much for you.

Take your time and make it as nice as you can.  What counts is the theme, the thought, the effort and the love you put into it that matters.

If you are single you can have your BFF over for dinner or if you have a little girl or boy in your life you can make some of these things with them.  You can have a Galentine's Dinner and make it a potluck with your gal pals and have them bring something with the red, pink or white theme.

An of course if you are SOLO and everyone else has fancy plans elsewhere you can still do all of this for yourself and watch a great movie and enjoy your time to yourself.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY  

XOXO..... Linda

Easy Valentine's Day food and tips.

Today I am wearing my shirt with hearts on it because it's Valentine's Day.  Even though I am not celebrating this day with my soul mate I will be celebrating with my colleagues and will be having lunch with friends.  But for those that are stressed out about trying to find the perfect gift and to pick the best overpriced fancy restaurant or to cook a fancy meal at home I will give you a few tips.  I am far from the Love expert but I do know that food is love and it makes people happy so that's a start.

Since I am on the Healthy Workplace Committee at work, yes it's a real thing.  We try and engage and build community at the office for a happier, healthier staff.  I thought it might be nice instead of doing a big event that might not be comfortable and we already did a documentary screening this week so I thought it might be nice to just leave a chocolate heart and a card on everyone's desks from the committee, one of my committee teammates helped me stick the chocolates onto the little cards and we wondered around the office seeing who was here.  Our office is sort of split on 2 sides so we never seem to venture over to the other sides so I thought this was a good idea and I got a Lindt chocolate from a coworker in return so bonus.

I will be meeting up with 2 friends for lunch today and will be bringing them a surprise that is somewhere on this post.   

I really wanted to try and do a complete meal on the weekend but spent so much time cleaning up that I ran out of energy so hence the blog post is about trying to do some things that are easy and can be done in advance and saving your energy to spend time with the ones you love.

1.  Make things that are simple but have a big impact flavour wise and presentation wise.

Artichokes are one of those things that most people don't think about eating but I grew up eating them.  My friends thought it was very different.  They seem intimidating but they aren't.  All you have to do is trim the stem, you can be fancy and trim the outside bits of the stem and then cut the tops off because they have sharp points.   Steam them for about 15-20 minutes.  You will know if they are cooked if the leaves are easy to pull out from the middle.  

I make a simple vinaigrette dipping sauce but you can use all kinds of dipping sauces,  store bought or your own sauce.   

Mine usually has: Olive Oil, Red Wine Vinegar or other vinegars, mustard, garlic, salt, pepper, parsley and a couple of drops of hot sauce.  Sometimes it varies but this is the gist of it.  You can also add a pinch of sugar if you want to balance it out a bit.

Serve it on a nice plate and you just pull the leaves one at a time and dip the ends into the sauce.  When you get down to most of the leaves gone you separate the bottom from the leaves and remove the choke, the fuzzy stuff inside and you can dip the ends of the leaves and the heart of the artichoke.  See there is a love connection.  Artichokes have a heart.

My next suggestion is Oysters.  I wasn't an oyster lover before but once you have had some great oysters you become hooked.  My favourites are usually east coast oysters.  They are a bit sweeter.

You can get Oysters shucked and packaged on ice at your local Whole foods even.  That's what I did here.   You can set up a whole bunch of toppings or you can make a custom Minionette sauce,  a vinegar and shallot sauce and have cut up lemons and things like horseradish and hot sauce to top it.

There isn't anything to do except to make sure they are kept on ice and have your condiments so it's easy and impressive and I have heard it's good for men too.

      

Since I didn't have time to cook a meal for this post I will give you my go to easy dish that is always my favourite thing.  That is Gnocchi.  It's the fastest thing to cook.  You can either make some from scratch before hand or you can easily get a package of frozen gnocchi that you just boil and as soon as they float to the top they are done.  My favourite way to have it is with a simple tomato sauce and freshly grated parmesan cheese but you can also saute them in a sage and butter sauce that would also be quick to make.  It's fast and really satisfying and good for vegetarians and even vegans if you leave out the cheese but that's the best part for me.

     

2.  Think outside the box and make it special.

My mom used to fry wonton wrappers and add confectioners' sugar on them and bring them to friends.  I took a bit of a spin and used a cookie cutter to cut out heart shapes from the wonton dough and after frying them I added a mixture of the powdered sugar and cinnamon and then using a strainer I sprinkled it on the freshly made heart shaped wontons.  They are super simple and addictive.  Think of sweet chips and you get the idea.  You can make them the day before and store them in an airtight container.  They will last for a few days easily.

3.  Step it up a notch.

Take a simple recipe but try and put it together in a different way.   I made my usual brownie recipe and baked it in dollar store heart shaped tin individual containers.  On a nice plate add the brownie and then you can use one of your heart shaped wontons and I added my current addiction of some Cherry Garcia Ben and Jerry's Ice cream and then I did a brush of melted chocolate on the plate and then added powdered sugar on top and I had the little gummy lips that I put on top for color.  I didn't have any cherries or strawberries but they would have been a nice touch of color.  I am still working on my plating skills but if I can do it so can you.

Some other things you can do that will make all the difference in making someone's day.

• Take someone out to the restaurant they have been wanting to go to and then make this dessert at home.
• Think of thoughtful gifts like hiring a personal chef or a cleaning service so that your loved one can be pampered.
• Don't give someone a spa gift unless they love to go to the spa.  Some people don't like it so check first.
• Chocolates and flowers are predictable but they are nice but some people don't really care about that so see how they feel about those types of things.
• Jewellery is becoming less of a thing because of the cost of living going up so people are trying to do experiences instead of stuff these days.
• Experiences are great.  Think about a cooking class, or going to a VIP night of dinner and a movie.  Go to a special event or do something different.
• You can make a big impression even with little things.  If the person needs something pick it up for them.  Get them a box of their favourite teas or bring them their favourite coffee.

Whatever you do put some thought into it and consider the person and try and keep it simple so that you have the time and energy to spend time with them instead of running around and getting stressed out.  Share your time and your love.  The stuff is nice but it's not about the stuff it's about the thought.

Valentine's Day Cheap and Easy Gifts

Five Cheap and Easy Valentine's Day Gifts

If your significant other expects you to buy them expensive jewellery or take them out for expensive dinners when you don't normally do that then I think you may be with the wrong person.

I am no expert in the romance department but I think that Valentine's Day should be about showing people you LOVE that you are willing to show them how much you care and it could be in simple easy and inexpensive ways.

Here is a list of things that I would suggest you could try.  You can do 1 or a few of these in a day.
They are all simple and show that you have made some sort of effort to put some thought into doing something nice but you aren't trying to buy their Love.

1.  EASY and CHEAP -  Make a simple breakfast for your special person.  Make the effort in presentation.  Fry and egg in a piece of bread that you cut a heart shape out of the centre with a cookie cutter and toast the cut out piece as well.  Shape your bacon into a heart shape.  Decorate the plate with Sriracha or Ketchup with love symbols or their name.   Serve with fresh orange and blood orange juice.  And if you can get a Heart shaped placemat from the dollar store like this one it will make it look like you really went all out in thinking about this breakfast.

2.  SIMPLE LUNCH -   Use a heart shaped cookie cutter to make Avocado toast and top it with bacon and grated cheese or even cherry tomatoes would be great.  Serve it on a pretty plate to make it more attractive.  You don't even have to be a cook to do this.  You can buy the microwave bacon or skip the bacon and add other toppings.  It's tasty and easy to make.

3.  SO YOU CAN'T COOK DESSERTS -  Cherry Black Forest Parfait -  You are clueless in the kitchen but you want to make a spectacular dessert?   Try this one.   If you are really culinary challenged you can buy cherries in Syrup and the whip cream in the can and just make layers in an attractive glass and add chocolate shavings to each layer.  You can add Brandy to the cherries to add more luxurious flavour.   

For this one I made Vanilla whipped cream and I used frozen Cherries and added Brandy and the chocolate shavings were made with a vegetable peeler.   I added a chocolate heart on top for a decorative touch.

4.  YOU GOT COOKING SKILLS BUT NO MONEY -  If you have eggs and an extract and sugar you can make these pretty meringues.

How to make these meringues:

4 egg whites

2 tablespoons of sugar

1 tablespoon of Vanilla extract or flavoured extract.

Food coloring if needed *optional

Whip the egg whites until foamy and then add the sugar and keep whipping until the eggs become thick and then add the vanilla extract.   In mine I added a reduced juice of a blood orange instead.  You can do this with lemon, lime or oranges.  Cook it down until it reduces the water content and concentrates the flavour.  Whip until it forms a stiff peak.  Add food coloring if needed.  I had to add a bit of red food coloring to these ones.   Use a Star tip in a piping bag or a ziploc bag and bake in a 200 Degree oven for about 2 hours.   Store in an airtight container once they are cooled.  You can use them to top your 

5.  NO TIME AN NO SKILLS -  Get SQUISH 

I love getting SQUISH gummies if I don't know what to buy someone because you can buy different shapes and they have different gift packs all the time.  For Valentine's Day they have these 3 flavour lip gummies.  In Cherry, Watermelon and Grape.  They taste delicious and a little bag like this is only $6.   You can get them at the little Kiosk at the Bay on Queen St. W. in Toronto and I am not sure where else.  Give them in the packet and maybe add a flower with it, or put them in a fancy glass bowl or dish and wrap it up in cellophane with a ribbon for a fancier gift and they get to keep the container.  

See there is no excuse not to do something thoughtful even if you don't have a lot of time or money.
It really is the thought that counts.  Show them you care and you think of them and are willing to go out of your way for them.

You can even do these things for your close friends.

Other ideas of things you can do that your loved ones would appreciate could be:

1.  Clean the house or hire a cleaning service.  Always nice to come home to a clean home.
2.  Likewise do the dishes.
3.  Cook or order a fantastic meal that isn't pizza.
4.  Go grocery shopping and buy all the basics and maybe heavy items.
5.  Help with physical things like laundry or moving things.

This should get you started if you can't think of anything.   Take it from here and do as many of these as you like or I hope they inspire you to get creative.

Show the people you care about them while they are here because you never know how much time you will have with them.

❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥❥

Sweet Heart Chocolate Chip Scones

Chocolate Chip Heart Shaped Scones

Why not make a simple but thoughtful breakfast for yourself or for someone else this Valentine's Day.  Skip the expensive dinner and start your day with a sweet little touch of goodness.

I was thinking about making some chocolate chip scones and since tomorrow is Valentine's Day I was inspired to make some heart shaped Chocolate Chip scones.  I have to say that they turned out to be the best scones that I ever made.  Almost like a light cookie.  I didn't want to make them into rock scones so I was very careful not to over work them.

As usual I just cook a lot by feel so I will try and approximate the ingredients that I put into these scones.  I will give you all the ingredients but you may have to just work with it to get it to the right consistency to get it right.

Ingredients:

2 cups of all purpose flour
1/4 cup of sugar
1 cup of milk
1/2 lemon juiced
1tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup of cubed cold butter

Topping
1 egg beaten
2 tbsp Turbonado sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 400F.

In a large bowl add the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.  Whisk until all the ingredients are distributed throughout.

In a measuring cup add the milk and add the juice of half a lemon.  Set aside.

Cut the cold butter into small cubes and add them to the flour mixture.  With your hands or a pastry cutter mix the butter and flour between your fingers until the mixture is a sandy texture.  You can add butter or flour until you get the right consistency.  When you squeeze some in your hand it should stick together like when you make sand castles.

Add the chocolate chips and mix throughout the flour mixture.

Add the vanilla to the milk mixture and stir.   Then pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients a little at a time and mix until the mixture comes together and away from the bowl.   I left my dough fairly loose.  Make sure you don't over mix it.  You just want it to come together to be able to have them hold to roll out.

Dump the mixture onto a lightly floured board.  I didn't roll the dough I just patted it down to a 1/2 inch thickness.  You can roll it to get a smoother top finish.   For me the less tools I have to wash the better.  Use your hands.. that way you put some love into them.  Yes it makes a difference.

I used 2 different sized heart shaped cookie cutters mostly because I wanted to see which came out better and also so that I didn't have to re work the leftover scraps much.

Place the cut out scones on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
Brush the tops with the egg wash and then sprinkle turbonado sugar on top.  I suppose you could use colored sugar to be fancy too but consider the color of the chocolate chips.  It might not look that great.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until brown on the bottom and slightly golden on top.   Keep checking your oven because it may take more or less time.

Use this as a guideline but I basically just dumped and stirred and didn't measure anything exactly.  This is grandmother cooking.. even though my grandmother and my mother never made scones I still learned how to guestimate some baking from my mom.  I think she only measured a few recipes and then winged the rest.   Learn to wing it so that you can get creative with your recipes.   I added cinnamon and vanilla to boost the chocolate flavour.   Also cinnamon regulates blood sugar so it's a good thing when you bake.

My batch turned out great and I hope if you try them you will like them as much as I did.

Oh and I had them with Cherry Blossom Lemon Lilly Tea from Postal Teas.  The hint of cherry was a nice pairing with the chocolate chips.

Valentine's Day Gift Ideas for FOOD LOVERS

It's almost Valentine's Day and you haven't got a clue what to get for your Sweetheart right?

Well skip the lingerie because all it does is make them feel like they need to have a perfect body.

Feed them with Love and Yummy things instead.

I'm going to give you a few ideas of things you can get or do for and with the ones you LOVE and they all revolve around food in some way or another.


Here are 10 Valentine's Day Gift Ideas that will get you lots of LOVE for a little bit of money or a little more:

1.     Dinner Reservations to a restaurant that has a Prix Fixe Valentine's Day Menu if you book far enough ahead of time.  It's not very creative but the creative part comes in choosing the perfect restaurant that caters to your loved one's tastes.   Some suggestions for restaurants in Toronto include:

1a.   Susur Lee has special menus at two of his restaurants, both BENT and LEE have Prix Fixe 4 course meals for $95.00 and I can tell you that if you are lucky enough to see Susur during your visit it will be well worth it.  The food and the service at his restaurants is world class.  Susur is the master of Asian Fusion and the restaurants are beautiful.   It's a bit pricey but this is a restaurant to impress someone special.

1b.   THE BEVERLEY HOTEL on Queen Street West also has a $60 per person menu and the Chefs at the Beverley are very creative with their food so if you are looking to try something new then that's a good place to go.

1c.    DESTINGO has a 4 course "Be Mine" menu that includes Aphrodisiacs.  I haven't been there but I have heard good things.

1d.    LUMA at the Bell Tiff Lightbox on King St. West has a 3 course meal and if you are taking the TTC it's a great one stop shop where you can go and have dinner and see a movie in the same building.

1e.    Want to feel like a Celebrity?  How about going all out at ONE Restaurant,  one of Chef Mark McEwan's restaurants in Yorkville.  Their Valentine's Day menu is $100 per person and you can do a bigger splurge and book a fancy room in the Hotel for desert.

Ok I will move on from fancy restaurants now to a few other things.   What if you want to stay in instead, here are a couple of ideas for that.

2.     You can order a Heart Shaped Pizza from BOSTON PIZZA,  it's a charity initiative so it's a good thing and it looks cool.  The pizza's aren't the best in the city but it's the thought that counts here.

3.     If you are a good cook then it's always a good thing to cook your best dish and do the dishes afterward or if you have a little bit of cash to burn you can hire a PRIVATE CHEF and they will do the fancy cooking for you.

4.     You can also set up special monthly delivery specialty item boxes from places like the CARNIVORE CLUB, popular for men,  or FOODIE PAGES has all kinds of curated products, or you can even set up a healthy Organic Food delivery from FRESH CITY FARMS and I have mentioned them before but AMAZING CLUBS CANADA has all kinds of things like Wine of the Month, Cheese of the Month, Chocolate of the Month and a whole lot more.

5.     What if your special someone loves to cook.  I just got a heart shaped candy red LE CREUSET pot that I just love.  It's a pot that you can cook and serve in and it will last forever which is probably more than I can say for some relationships.

6.     There are lot's of sweet things that are outside of the regular chocolate box too.  Although a high quality box of chocolates is always a good thing it's still nice to show that you are original and like to do things a bit different than everyone else.   How about sending a dozen Red Velvet cookies in a bouquet from ZELCOVIA COOKIES,  cookie bouquets start at around $50 plus taxes.

7.     And there are Cake pops you can get for Valentine's Day from the POP SHOP.  I'm going to pick some up next week.

8.    I found a company that will deliver special Valentine's Day Cupcakes to you too. They are called TORONTO CUPCAKES.

9.   What about signing up for a Cupcake Decorating class with your date.  LE DOLCI has special classes all the time and it's a great thing to do if it's a new person in your life or you are getting predictable.

10.   And there are Macaron classes too.
My friend Mardi of EAT LIVE TRAVEL WRITE specializes in teaching Macaron classes but I can see from her site that she is all booked up for a while but you can book a workshop for a future date and give it as a future date.

Ok.. I can probably think of a few more but this should get you started in the right direction.  If you have any other creative ideas that you stumble upon in your research please let me know and I can add them to the list for next year.

I have made it as easy as I can for you by providing the links to these places so that you can save lot's of time scratching your head trying to come up with the perfect gift for your Food Loving mate.

Please feel free to LIKE my Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/starvingfoodie and post any special finds or photos of gifts you purchase from info on this Blog Post.   Or you can just like my Page and you can be notified when I have special events and other special things happening.



I will be spending my Valentine's Day at my friends home.  He has hosted a dinner party for all of his single friends and family for the past few years.  He makes heart shaped bread buns and personalized cookie lips like these.  And he goes all out in the food and the decor and always has little Valentine's Day treats to take home.  I have been requested to make my Smoked Cheddar Mac & Cheese to bring along to the dinner in my Heart Shaped Le Creuset pot.  Although it might be too small if he has invited a lot of single folks.

So get cracking on those gift ideas and let me know how it goes.

I hope you all have a great Valentine's Day whatever you do.   MUAH!

Perfect Valentine's Day Gifts for Foodies

You have no clue what to get for your significant other or someone you fancy for Valentine's Day?

If they are Food Lovers or Cooks or Bakers then here are some suggestions for things besides the usual standbys of Flowers and Chocolates.   

Don't get me wrong, some people love flowers and chocolates but if you want to look like you have put some thought into a gift for the one you love then try one of these ideas.   If they are on a diet or hate to cook then there are still a few things on the list that they might like.



1. Le Creuset Red Dutch Oven -  with a cooked meal in it.  They get to enjoy the meal and any future meals cooked in this oven for many years.

2. Fancy French Macarons from Nadege or Sweet Escapes or a Class to learn how to make French Macarons with my friend Mardi Michaels from Eat, Live, Write - http://www.eatlivetravelwrite.com/classes/

3. House Cleaning or a Professional Organizer -  http://organizinglives.com/about-us 

I used this company when I had to sell my house and downsize to an apartment.  They also helped me organize my kitchen in my apartment after I moved in to maximize the limited space.

4. Dinner at a high quality intimate restaurant where the service is impeccable like RUBY WATCHCO  (Chef Lynn Crawford) or ICI BISTRO (Chef JP Chalet)  or FABBRICA (Owned by Chef Mark McEwan)

5. Cheese Club Membership http://leslievillecheese.com/cheeseclub/ or a Gift Basket from Cheese Boutique or a Class or Fondue at Cheesewerks.

6. Organic Food Delivery - http://www.mamaearth.ca/ or http://www.freshcityfarms.com/ or Front Door Organics

7. Private Chef to cook an in home meal. - http://www.cdnpca.ca/hire.htm or take a Knife Skills Class at a Community College or a private Academy like Cirillos or Aphrodite Cooks or take the family to Petits Chefs Academy

8. A great cookbook and some basic ingredients from their favourite Chef's cookbook, pick up some rare cookbooks at The Cookbook Store.
   

9. A beautiful tea set with samples of different kinds of GOURMET TEAS like great french tea KUSMI or Canadian Tea Company DAVIDS TEA, TEA EMPORIUM or another Fav is NUMI Teas.

10. Instead of Flowers get a Fresh Herb Planter that will last at least a whole season and will be used to freshen a space and add flavour to lots of meals.

                                      

The Key is to put some thought and effort to whatever you do and make it as special as you can for that special person in your life.   If you don't have a special person you can even share some of these ideas with a group of friends.

Spread the Love and Share the Food -  HAPPY VALENTINE"S DAY