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Valentine's Day recipes

Post your recipe ideas to make something for your sweetie

Mon. Feb 12, 5:00pm

Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries

I'm planning on making chocolate-dipped strawberries. I've never done it before, but looked at recipes online and it looks simple. I splurged on Girardelli milk chocolate chips, and am going to melt them (add 2T shortening per 16 oz chips) and dip the strawberries. Yum!

Monday, February 12, 2007, 5:46 PM

Shrimp Primavera with Roasted Red Pepper & White Wine sauce

1/2 pound of peeled, deveined shrimp (I buy it already cooked)
3 slices turkey bacon chopped into small pieces
6 oz uncooked pasta (Farfalle or penne works best)
1 lb asparagus cut into 3/4" pieces
2 large carrots cut into bite-sized pieces
2 artichoke crowns, sliced (Trader Joe's) or regular artichokes sliced into smaller pieces
1 pint sliced mushrooms
1 red pepper, cut into thin strips ~1" long

Sauce:
1/3 cup white wine
1/3 cup chicken broth
2 heaping Tbs Roasted Red Pepper w/Eggplant & Garlic Paste (Trader Joe's)
misc herbs: parsley, chives, basil, garlic pwdr, crushed red pepper, oregano, dehydrated shallot, dehydrated red onion (really anything you prefer - to taste)
1 tsp corn starch

Prepare (chop) veggies and sauce prior to cooking. Bring pasta water to boil and salt generously. You are actually going to cook the carrots and asparagus with the pasta so make sure there is plenty of watter (perhaps 30-50% more than normal). Too much pasta will ruin the dish so measure 6 oz dry (lettle less than half a normal box of pasta).

When water comes to a full, rolling boil add pasta and set timer for 5 minutes. At 5 minutes add carrots and return to a boil, boil for 1-2 minutes and add asparagus for 1-2 more minutes (may want to cook more or less depending on if you have thin spears or thicker ones). Pasta should be al dente and carrot should be fork tender but firm. Drain in colander and set aside.

Sautee mushrooms and bacon in wok (or large skillet) on high heat for 2-3 minutes, add red pepper, shrimp and artichoke and sautee for 2-3 more minutes.

Add pasta (with vegetables) and sauce to the contents of the wok and toss thoroughly for 1-2 minutes untill all ingredients are coated and sauce has thickened slightly.

Serve!
(somehow writing that down makes it seem more complicated - it's actually a pretty quick dish)

Also, I make chocolate coated strawberries all the time by melting bittersweet Ghirardelli chocolate chips and then dipping strawberries. I don't use any shortening and they turn out fine. A trick to making great strawberries: insert a toothpick into the end of the strawberry (with the greenery) and hold onto that to dip the strawberry, then poke the end of the toothpick that you are holding into a piece of styro-foam (so that the strawberry is held up by the toothpick and not resting on any surface) - voila! perfect strawberries!

Monday, February 12, 2007, 6:30 PM

I just got a recipe from my gym today for cream cheese covered strawberries. I've never tried it but it sounds simple and tasty

Warm some light cream cheese in the microwave until soft.
Dip dry stawberries in the cream cheese
Roll the strawberries in chopped almonds or sprinkles (or a mixture of the two)
Refrigerate the strawberries until the cream cheese gets firm.

Monday, February 12, 2007, 10:02 PM

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