Ideas for Valentine’s Day Meals

Posted on February 4, 2010

Here are some ideas for planning a Valentine’s Day meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Think pink, red, and heart-shaped.

For breakfast, serve pink hardboiled eggs (either dipped in leftover Easter egg dye or in beet juice for desired pinkness), heart-shaped toast (cut with a heart-shaped cookie cutter) topped with raspberry jam, and strawberries cut to look like little hearts (remove leaves, wash, and using a paring knife, cut deep v’s into tops, then slice into about quarter-inch slivers).

You can add even more Valentine touches to your morning with some whimsical kitchen tools (see shopping guide at end of post) like a mini heart-shaped frying pan for cooking up heart-shaped eggs or pancakes. A special waffle iron you can make heart-shaped waffles at once. Top pancakes or waffles with raspberries and a sprinkle of powdered sugar and serve with strawberry syrup. Other ideas for breakfast: strawberry and/or raspberry smoothies, strawberry yogurt, pink grapefruit, and cranberry juice.

Kick off the afternoon or evening with a light hors d’oeuvre of heart-shaped crackers with your favorite cheeses or spread. Other great starters include stuffed cherry tomatoes; raw veggies like tomatoes, red peppers, and radishes served with dip; fruit salad with strawberries, raspberries, red grapes, watermelon and cranberries; tuna sushi or sashimi; artichoke hearts; oysters on the half shell; and shrimp cocktail.

Romantic meals include lobster, king crab legs, shrimp, filet mignon, cheese fondue, or anything Italian (see upcoming post about celebrating Valentine’s Day Italian style). Serve your meal with a salad with red leaf lettuce, pomegranates, cranberries, cherry tomatoes, olive oil and red wine vinaigrette, pine nuts, and heart-shaped croutons. Other ideas include mini heart-shaped quesadillas with a side of salsa and guacamole, served with strawberry margaritas. For dessert: red velvet cake; cupcakes with pink frosting; strawberry ice cream; strawberry shortcake; heart-shaped sugar cookies; chocolate-covered strawberries.

Great beverages for Valentine’s Day include rose wine; pink champagne; Cosmopolitans; raspberry martinis; strawberry or raspberry margaritas or daiquiris; Sangria; Hurricanes; and Shirley Temples.

The following is a listing of online sources to order Valentine meal items, gadgets, etc., many of which also make great gifts.

Valentine Meal Shopping Guide

Heart shaped frying pan (for cooking heart shaped eggs or pancakes)

http://www.gizmodiva.com/home_gadgets/heart_shaped_nonstick_frying_pan_for_a_valentine_breakfast.php

http://www.kaboodle.com/reviews/non-stick-heart-shaped-frying-pan

Waffle Maker

http://www.everythingkitchens.com/chefschoice_wafflemaker.html

Heart-Shaped Crackers

http://www.adriennesgourmetfoods.com/pages/product-pgs/appeteasers-pg/index.html

Heart-Shaped Fondue Set

http://www.daisy-days.com/clearance-heart-shaped-fondue-set.html

Other Cool Valentine Kitchen Stuff