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Health & Fitness

Melt Icy Hearts On Valentine's Days

Did you forget about Valentine's Day? Don't freeze with fear! Try these easy ideas and free recipes to make a romantic evening at home.

 

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What do you do if you’re a habitual last-minute Valentine’s shopper and you forgot to get the goods?

 

Fall back on a couple of holiday designations and employ a do-it yourself strategy.

 

February is Creative Romance month and since Studio Movie Grills have become popular, try turning your home into your own private one for Valentine’s Day.

 

Luckily it’s also “An Affair to Remember Month,” named for the 1957 soap starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. If you can stomach the corn and saccharine in that one, or the 1939 “Love Affair” it’s remade from, that can give you a nice movie theme for the evening. There’s also the 1994 version made by Warren Beatty but even Katherine Hepburn couldn’t salvage that stinker. A better way to work that movie into your evening may be watching “Sleepless in Seattle,” through which Nora Ephron wove the Cary Grant version as a thematic thread. It’s a cute flick, and if you can overlook the early 90’s wardrobe, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan make it believable. If you don’t own these DVD’s, look for them on Netflix with your roku or blueray player. And if you’ve lost your electricity, but your computer or tablet has a good charge, watch them online after a dinner by candlelight.

 

Of course, any romantic movie will do. Ashton Kutcher’s more recent “Valentine’s Day” is an obvious choice, but you can check out the 25 best romantic movies streaming on Netflix here.

 

If your your power is out and you’ve got a fireplace, snuggle around the fire and try taking turns reading aloud from any poetry or classic romance books you’ve got on hand.

 

Think like a kindergartner if your cupboards are nearly bare, or you haven’t bought the ingredients to make a lux meal. Use your colors and shapes to create a romantic theme. I created a delicious pasta recipe using bowtie pasta, hearts of palms, roasted red peppers, and roasted cauliflower and I named it “Hearts and Flowers Farfalle.” Find lots of pictures of other Valentine’s dishes from Easy Weekly Meals touchscreen cookbooks in the original version of this post.

 

Shaping anything into a heart says it all. If you happen to have some squash in the house, check out this post with a free recipe for a heart-shaped dish. The concept would work with other foods shaped into a heart, too.

Boneless meats of any type can be easily shaped with a sharp chef’s knife or kitchen shears, as can avocados, tomatoes, and other vegetables, cookies, cakes, and even ice cream.

 

Colors can help set a Valentine’s mood, too. Tomatoes, red wine reductions for meat, strawberries, and raspberries, can all be used to contribute to your homemade Valentine’s theme. Strawberry preserves spread onto certain meats before baking give them a red color and a sweet flavor when you combine the preserves with some spices, as I did in my Sweet and Spicy Pork Tenderloins from my e-cookbook for Moms (and all busy people) on the Go.

 

Even vanilla ice cream with swirls of chocolate sauce and strawberry sauce makes a simple and beautiful Valentine’s dessert.

 

Use your imagination and melt hearts this Valentine’s Day.

 

Photo Courtesy of Examiner.com

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