You have probably seen in the shops all the Valentine Day meal deals. Some of them are really good value but they are outside of my food budget, and Valentine’s Day is not a big deal for us. It is nice to give a nod to the day, though, and make some effort with the food. Here are some ways that I try to make our ordinary food seem special on the day.
- Make a pie crust in the shape of a heart. If you do not have a cutter make a template with a piece of cardboard and cut around it. If you really want to impress you can make the pie crust pink by mixing a bit of vodka with some food colouring and painting the crust or drawing heart on it before you bake it.
- Make toast for breakfast in the shape of a heart and if you have a heart shaped large metal cutter you can even fry an egg in a heart shape in the frying pan.
- Make some heart shaped mini pizzas
- Make a heart shaped cup cake by putting a marble down the side between the paper case and the bun tin. Cover in pink butter icing and decorate with a love heart sweet.
- Make heart shaped chocolate truffles using the cookie and cream truffle recipe on this site. Freeze the dough for 10 minutes before cutting out the heart shape and then freeze again before covering in white chocolate.
- Serve a romantic platter using heart shaped dishes and cutting out meat and cheese using heart shaped cutters.
- Strawberries are often heart shaped. Dip them in chocolate for a romantic desert.
- Make heart shaped biscuits to look like Jammy Dodgers.
- Make heart shaped Calzones
- Cut salad items like cucumber, tomatoes and radishes into heart shapes
- Cut fruit salad items into heart shapes eg. strawberries, bananas, pineapple
- Cut chips (fries) into heart shapes and serve with a meal or dip
- Make heart shaped quiches
- Make heart shaped bread rolls
Most of these ideas just involve making ordinary food heart shaped or pink. I found cutters meant for children in cheap stores a lot cheaper than ones found in baking shops, and I found heart shaped dishes in Poundland and in charity shops. The heart shaped products come out every year and must be over 10 years old now and so I have got my monies worth. The heart shaped little cutter that I have is great for making a penguin face shape on my Christmas cup cakes also.
