Valentine’s Day Recipes: 8 Yummy Ways to Show Your Love

If you’re looking for a festive way to cook up some Valentine’s Day fun, look no further! We came up with a list of easy recipes for the sweet people in your life. Whether you’re spending the night with the girls or looking to surprise that special someone, we’ve got the yummiest ways to show your love.

Valentine Heart Kebabs

Ingredients

• 1 cantaloupe
• 1 honeydew melon
• 1/2 watermelon
• 1 6-ounce container plain low-fat yogurt
• 1 tablespoon frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
• 1 tablespoon honey
• Heart-shaped cookie cutter

Directions

1. Cut fruit into 1-inch-thick slices. Using a small, heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut hearts from melon slices. Poke a hole in each heart with a toothpick, going from top to bottom. Then, thread popsicle sticks.
2. Stir together yogurt, orange juice concentrate and honey until well combined. Serve with hearts.

3. Heart in a Basket: Egg and Toast

4. 

Ingredients

• Slice of bread
• 3 teaspoons butter
• 1 egg
• 3-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter

Directions

1. Using a 3-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter, remove the center of a thick slice of bread and toast it. Melt 1 ½ teaspoons butter in a small skillet over medium heat.
2. Place bread slice in skillet and cook until underside if lightly browned. Add another 1 ½ teaspoon butter and flip bread. Fit cookie cutter, coated with cooking spray, in bread’s cutout heart, and crack an egg into cutter.
3. Cover skillet and cook until egg is set, 2-3 minutes. Use tongs to remove cutter. Serve with toasted heart for dipping into yolk.

Rasmopolitan

Ingredients

• 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) citrus-flavored vodka
• 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) raspberry-flavored vodka
• 1/2 ounce (1 tablespoon) Chambord
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 tablespoon simple syrup
• 2 tablespoons cranberry juice
• Raspberries for decoration

Directions

1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice. Add vodkas, Chambord, lime juice, simple syrup and cranberry juice. Shake or stir until well chilled. Strain into a martini glass.
2. Garnish with raspberries; serve.

3. Chicken Noodle and Heart Soup

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 large carrots, cut into hearts (see instructions below)
• 1 medium onion
• 2 celery stalks, sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
• 2 stalks fresh thyme (optional)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 large sage leaves (optional)
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken stock
• 2-3 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon vinegar
• Pinch cayenne pepper (use your own discretion)
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 large chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
• 1/2 pound small pasta, such as farfalle or rotini, cooked for about 1 minute less than the recommended cooking time
• Fresh parsley

Directions

1. Peel the carrots. Then, use a paring knife to cut out a notch all the way down the length of a carrot. Remove the little wedge.
2. Use a potato peeler to gently round off the pointed edges.
3. Flip the carrot over, and shave off wide peels on each side of the bottom of the heart. Keep peeling until the two sides meet in a point.
4. Cut it into slices. Repeat with the rest of the carrots.

Directions

1. In a large pot set over medium-low heat, combine olive oil, carrot hearts, diced onion, celery, thyme (both kinds), bay leaf and sage. Sprinkle with a pinch of kosher salt. Cook until tender, stirring occasionally (about 10 minutes).
2. Add in stock, 1 cup of water and vinegar. Add in cayenne pepper, and bring to a boil. After about 20 minutes, check the soup for flavor, and add more water, salt and pepper as necessary.
3. In each individual bowl, place the desired amount of chicken and pasta, cover with a ladle of the soup and top with parsley.

Homemade Vanilla Bean Marshmallows

Ingredients

• 3 packets unflavored gelatin
• 1 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 vanilla bean (seeded)

Directions

1. Pour 1/2 cup of water into a small bowl. Sprinkle the packages of gelatin over the water. Give it a whisk. Let the mixture sit while you make the sugar syrup.
2. Combine the sugar, corn syrup, salt and 1/2 cup water in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat; do not stir this mixture.
3. Once the sugar dissolves, raise the heat to medium-high and cook until a candy thermometer reaches 240 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. Put the gelatin mixture and the scraped vanilla seeds into the bowl of a stand mixer using the whisk attachment.
5. Slowly pour the sugar mixture into the mixer while on low speed.
6. Whip on high speed for 10 to 15 minutes. It will have gained volume and turned bright white. Add the vanilla.
7. Dust the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch pan with powdered sugar. Be very generous with the sugar, or you will never get the marshmallow out of the pan.
8. Pour the marshmallow out and smooth.
9. Let the pan sit out, uncovered, overnight.
10. The next day, cut out using a sharp knife, or cookie cutters.
11. Dip the cookie cutters into powdered sugar so that you can get them out. Also, dust the marshmallows again (especially the sides) so they do not stick together.

Pizza Made With Love

Ingredients

• 1 prepared pizza dough
• Your favorite sauce
• Fresh mozzarella cheese, drained and sliced
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Your favorite toppings

Directions

1. Preheat oven and a pizza stone to 550 degrees Fahrenheit for at least one hour. Have dough in a lightly greased bowl covered with a towel while oven is preheating.
2. Place pizza dough on a lightly floured piece of parchment paper.
3. Stretch dough into a heart shape. Trim with a knife as needed.
4. Spread sauce over dough and top with favorite cheese and toppings.
5. Use a cookie cutter to punch a heart shape out of a red bell pepper.
6. Transfer pizza and parchment (will help keep the heart shape) to the hot pizza stone.
7. Cook 8-10 minutes or until crust is brown and cheese is bubbly.

Conversation Heart Cookies

Note: You’ll need to make the icing before the hearts.

Royal icing ingredients

• 2 pounds confectioner's sugar, sifted
• 10 tablespoons meringue powder
• 1 cup water

Royal icing directions

1. Combine confectioner's sugar and meringue powder in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
2. Mix on low speed until combined, about 1 minute. With mixer on low, gradually add water.
3. Mix on low until smooth and the consistency of thick honey, about 5 minutes. Do not overbeat.
4. If icing is too thick, add more water, a little at a time, beating to desired consistency. If icing is too thin, continue mixing for 2 to 3 minutes more.
5. Icing will keep, covered and refrigerated, for up to 1 week. Stir with a rubber spatula before using.

Conversation hearts ingredients

• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Royal icing
• Gel-paste food coloring (such as leaf green, lemon yellow, peach, red, rose and violet)

Conversation hearts directions

1. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
2. Cream butter and sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy.
3. With mixer running, add egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low.
4. Add flour mixture gradually, beating until just incorporated.
5. Divide dough in half; flatten each half into a disk and wrap each in plastic.
6. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour (or overnight).
7. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit with racks in top third and lower third.
8. Let 1 disk of dough stand at room temperature just until soft enough to roll, about 10 minutes.
9. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to just under 1/4-inch thickness, adding more flour as needed to keep dough from sticking.
10. Cut out cookies with a 2-inch heart cutter, and place them 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
11. Roll out scraps once and repeat.
12. Repeat with remaining disk of dough.
13. Freeze cookies until very firm, about 15 minutes.
14. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through and switching from top to bottom, until edges turn golden brown, 14 to 16 minutes.
15. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Cookies will keep, covered, for up to 1 week.
16. Divide royal icing into 1/2-cup portions in small bowls.
17. Tint each with a different gel paste food coloring, starting with just a drop, mixing well, and adding more, drop by drop, to reach desired shade.
18. Transfer 1 bowl of icing to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/8-inch round plain tip. Pipe the outline around edge of each cookie, then fill in with frosting. Poke air bubbles with a toothpick.
19. Transfer decorated cookies to a parchment-lined baking sheet, and let stand uncovered overnight until dry.
20. Arrange stamp letters to create desired phrases. Fold a paper towel into quarters.
21. Squeeze a small amount of red gel-paste food coloring onto a paper towel, and press stamp in coloring. (You may need to blot stamp a few times on a clean paper towel if coloring is too thick.)
22. Lightly press stamp on top of icing in center of each cookie.
23. Let stand until dry, about 30 minutes.
24. Stamped cookies will keep, covered, for up to 3 days.

    Champagne Fondue

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups champagne or sparkling wine
• 1 large shallot, minced
• 8 ounces cream cheese, cut into cubes
• 2 1/2 cups grated Gruyere cheese
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
• Pinch ground white pepper

Directions

1. Toss the grated gruyere cheese with the flour and set aside. In a large saucepan, heat the champagne and the shallots until the mixture boils.
2. Reduce heat to medium and add the cream cheese. Stir until the cream cheese is almost completely melted.
3. Add approximately 1/2 cup of the Gruyere cheese and continue to stir until the Gruyere is almost melted. Continue adding the gruyere in 1/2 cup portions until all the gruyere has been added. The fondue may look lumpy, but it will become smooth as the cheeses melt.
4. Add the Parmesan and the nutmeg and continue to stir. Increase the heat to high and continue to stir until the mixture slowly bubbles.
5. Continue to cook until the fondue is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 3 to 4 minutes. Season to taste with the pepper and serve.

Source:By Caroline Finnegan in FOOD & NUTRITION: Posted Feb 12 2015 HerCampus