Romantic Valentines Day Ideas

I am going through my blog and found I have 44 unpublished posts since 2013.  I just shared one. But, I also found a post about Valentine’s day. So, I am sharing because Valentine’s day is just around the corner. I am using the cake (above) I made about a week or two ago. 

Flowers and chocolates are the most common buy for men to give to their other half or someone special in their hearts.  What about women?  What can we do for our partner on Valentines Day?  Some might say well, it’s Valentine’s Day! Women are suppose to be wooed all over again.  I hear you.  However, to keep the spark alive, I believe it goes both ways.  I believe both should make each other feel special.  I think women ought to do something for their men as well.  Yes, eating out is the most common thing we can do for our partner, but if you are like us who are on a budget, I plan to have a romantic dinner at home.  Not only you both can relax and not rush through traffic to make it to your reservation, the minute your loved one comes home, you can pull out the chair and have him sit down for a lovely, romantic, elegant dinner at home instead of driving all over again and wait in line to be served.  If you are planning for a romantic dinner at home,  here’s my take on what I’m going to prepare this Valentine’s Day.

HIS AND HERS VALENTINE BREAKFAST

If you prefer something healthy, you can make a small heart charcuterie board adorned with all his/her favorite breakfast. 

Or, an oatmeal served in a heart bowl topped with chopped chocolates.  Or….

PANCAKE HEARTS

If your loved one or someone special is romantic, this breakfast will surely impress him/her.  It will be the “best” part of his/her morning besides coffee. 🙂  You can either make it from scratch or use a cake mix. It’s up to you.

Ingredients:

• Strawberry cake or Red Velvet cake mix 
• egg
• strawberry juice
• oil

Preparation Methods:

Follow the instructions on the box to make the batter.  Heat skillet or electric griddle and lightly coat with oil or butter when hot.  Place the heart shape pancake mold on the skillet. Scoop about less than 1/4 cup of the pancake batter into the heart mold.  Cook until bubbles form. Remove the mold and turn on the other side and cook until brown. Serve warm with strawberry syrup or your favorite syrup.

ROMANTIC DINNER

There is something elegant and sophisticated about serving a tender steak to your loved ones, rib eye steak or tenderloin that is.  Don’t you think?  If your someone special crave for something hearty, steak is always on top of the list even at restaurants.  Most of them would  recommend steak during special holiday like Valentines Day.  They would have  it listed on their “romantic dinner” menu. You can prepare it at home and make it  special, romantic dinning experience he’ll ever have.

Sometimes, it is the best to prepare at home if you want to please your loved one who’s a meat lover.  It’s less expensive.  It’s one way to make it up to him/her after a long, hard day at work.  I am sure it will touch his/her heart and appreciate  your effort.  It will sure help ease his/her exhaustion from a long commute.   A perfect dinner for him would be to serve his favorite food.  You can bring out your lovely china to make it more elegant and have that “restaurant dinning experience” feel to it.

ENTREE

WALNUT AND RASPBERRY STEAK WITH SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS

This is my family’s favorite steak recipe. What a way to reminisce the good old days with my husband’s favorite steak recipe and serve it on Valentines Day.  You can grill this on a barbecue grill or in a pan.  Grilling it in a pan will come handy if you don’t own an indoor grill, especially during winter months.

Ingredients:

• 2- 6 ounces servings of Rib Eye Steak or Tenderloin Steak
• 16 ounce bottle of Ken’s Walnut and Raspberry Dressing, reserve 1/3 cup as dipping sauce
•  a handful roasted walnuts and raspberries and cherries
• 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 2 cups dried Shiitake mushrooms, hydrated
• 4 garlic cloves, thinly cut
• 2 sprigs Italian parsley, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• Romaine lettuce, cut in bite pieces

Preparation Methods:

Season the steak with salt and pepper.  For easy clean up, place steak in a Ziploc bag.  Add the remaining  Walnut and Raspberry dressing.  Marinate the steak at least 4 hours or overnight.  Lay it flat on the refrigerator shelf.   For best result, cook it on a grill, but if you don’t own one, you can grill it in a pan to desired doneness. Garnish with crumbled blue cheese and walnuts. Serve with the reserved dressing to the side.

For the Shiitake Mushrooms,  sauté garlic until lightly brown.  Add the Shiitake mushrooms and stir-fry until the mushrooms are tender. Add the walnuts, dried raspberries,  dried cherries, and parsley.  Season with salt and pepper.

If you can’t eat steak like me, you can just have the Shiitake Mushroom Salad with the addition of watercress and bean sprouts sauteed in Sesame oil.  Serve with the Walnut and Raspberry dressing.   Take it from me, the salad was quite refreshing and delicious!

KIDS CORNER

If you have children and can’t find a babysitter to babysit them, well, let them join in and serve them the same thing.  Just improvise it by cutting the meat for them.  My children love their steak well-done.  I’ve read that well done meat is tough, dry and flavorless.  Well, not in our home.  Believe me, if you know how to flavor your meat and what kind of meat to serve, you will not end up with a dry, flavorless steak no matter what unless of course it’s burnt to a degree that it isn’t edible. The meat was perfectly cooked, flavorful and very tender.  Served on bed of romaine lettuce and top with sauteed Shiitake mushrooms with Walnut and Raspberry dressing on the side. What a superb dinner!

The finale`!

DESSERT (Save the best for last)

TIRAMISU CUPCAKES ( I made them today 2/11/22)

Having dessert with a glass of champagne is probably the highlight and most romantic in the evening on Valentine’s Day. However, I don’t drink alcohol, so I am just going to serve a non-alcoholic beverage accompanied with our favorite dessert:  Tiramisu. So, that’s what I’m serving for dessert.  It would be a sweet treat for both of us.  You can either make it homemade or store-bought.  It’s entirely up to you.  To make it more romantic, if you want a cake instead of a cupcake, you can cut the tiramisu cake with a heart shape cutter then cover it with chocolate ganache then decorate it.  If your other half is a chocolate and tiramisu lover, I guarantee this will make her/him felt special.   However, mine is not a chocolate lover. So, I settled for Tiramisu Cupcakes. I used my Coffee Cupcake recipe and just whip a heavy cream and mix it with mascarpone cheese and dusted with cocoa powder. Viola! 

And if you are single and has no special someone in your life, don’t worry, you can have a lovely dinner for one!  🙂

A Valentine may love you for a lifetime, but God loved you before you were born and will love you for all eternity.
Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love…with loving kindness I have drawn you. Jeremiah 31:3

That is all for today.  Thank you for stopping by and reading my post.  I hope this post helps and gives you idea on what to prepare for your special someone. I praise GOD for this post and His faithfulness and mercy.  Praying that you will experience the wonderful love of God this Valentine’s Day and always! 

“We love Him because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)

Happy Valentine’s Day in advance!  Until next time. God bless you. 

~Anna

I’m Back!

Hello! It’s been a while. I thought I would never come back. My first post of 2021. The year is almost over, but will just try to do the best I can for the remaining days of the year. I hope all are doing well and still blogging.

One thing I learned while in hiatus is to never give up on your GOD-given talent. If you are good at something, pursue it and hone your skills, expand, and don’t lose focus and do it to glorify GOD. It’s okay to take a break to spend time with GOD, your family, and to bring order to your life, but never give up on your talent. Always get back into it at each you be given an opportunity to do so.

I find it difficult each time I return, because I have to go back to step one. I will have to relearn how to navigate my dashboard all over again. While I was away someone changed the font in my blog. I am hoping that no one messed up my recipes or made changes to the measurements. If you ever try a recipe here and the result is not the same, know that all recipes on this blog has been taste-tested and I stand behind what I claim and all the photos shared here.

Anyway, for those who are still here and blogging all these years, you all deserve a pat in the back for not giving up. I encourage you all to keep going never forget to give GOD the glory because I learned that it is all from Him and none of us can do anything at all without Him giving us the strength, the ideas, and the means to make it happen. I’m sure some of you here have stories and the same experience.

I also would like to thank all my followers. I am not sure if all are still here. But, I appreciate those who stick with me throughout the years that I have been blogging and when I was in hiatus. For all my followers and new followers, thank you all for your unconditional support. It’s very much appreciated.

Today, I just wanted to share pictures of the new idea and recipe that GOD has given me. I say “given” because I would not be able to come up with such delicious treat without divine intervention. He makes everything delicious and beautiful. And, I am not ashamed to say so because it is the truth.

What is Bibingka? Bibingka is a Filipino dessert made with rice flour, wheat flour, eggs, sugar, butter, white cheese, and coconut baked in very high heat, topped with salted duck eggs or shredded fresh coconut and brown sugar and more cheese. It’s very popular among Filipinos and you’ll find it served, especially during the holidays like Christmas and New Year’s eve. This is the authentic recipe. It’s reinvented by adding secret ingredients and paired with White Chocolate and Coconut Buttercream to take it to the next level of deliciousness. And, oh.SO.Good!

Below are pictures of the Bibingka Cupcakes. This cupcake is so delicious. One bite and I wanted more. Yes! I actually ended up eating three cupcakes, which is so unlikely for me. They were that good. Thank you LORD Jesus.

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This is all for now. Come and stop by my blog and say hello. I’d like to know who are still here blogging. Thank you and until next time.

My Favorite Cake

Of all the cakes I’ve made, this one is my favorite!  I made it for my mom for Mother’s Day.  All made from scratch including the decorations. I thought it was beautiful.  Just reminiscing. *Smiling*. Glory to GOD for this gorgeous White Chocolate Drip cake.

 

With love,

~Anna, Author and Owner of Anna’s Cuisine

Memory Lane

Hello!   It’s been a while. I hope all is well with y’all.  Life has been quite hectic.  I also traveled  about 10,000 miles back to my hometown to attend a family reunion.  I took many photos using my cellphone. I also videotaped our (parents and siblings) visit with my brother at my grandparents farm when he and his in-law’s side of the family went to harvest some coconuts for us

PLANNED OR JUST A COINCIDENCE?

The Falling Thoughts

Nothing in this world and in our life is accidental or called coincidence. Everything is planned by our creator. God created everything artistically and mathematically; he has left signs and evidence for those who are willing to find him. 
 
Numbers are one of the signs as everything consists with numbers. Our body is made by seven different elements which are: hydrogen ,oxygen ,nitrogen ,carbon ,phosphorus, calcium and potassium.  
 
God created the universe in seven days, then divided everything by seven. Therefore you begin to realize that he is a creator & everything he has created is mathematical.

What would you think or say, if you found seven oceans ,seven colours, seven continents, seven days of the week, seven chakras in the human body, seven wonders of the world, seven parts of the human body (two legs, two arms, a stomach, a chest and  a head). Continuing, seven parts to…

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Why I Blog on WordPress

Asking for Help – Please Share and Help Me Find My Sister

Please help this man, Jason Cushman reunite with his sister. Thank you in advance.

Roasted Garlic and Saffron Greek Yogurt Creamcheese Spread

Hello!  I hope you are enjoying spring.  Here’s the Greek yogurt cream cheese spread I mentioned in my previous post (most recent one).   I hope you’re a fan of garlic.  Yes, garlic!  I am.  I’ve been eating cloves of roasted garlic lately (yes, you can still talk to me and I won’t smell like garlic because I brush my teeth & gargle afterwards :D).  Just in case you missed my previous post, you can click here  to find out how I roast the garlic.  I have about 1 cup of roasted garlic in the fridge waiting for me to snack on 🙂   Anyway, without further a do.  Here it is.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cupful of roasted garlic plus more
• 4 oz. Greek Yogurt cream cheese
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 tablespoons Saffron flower sauce (get the recipe here)
• 2 slices of multi-grain bread
• a handful of Brocco sprouts

Directions:

1.  In a medium bowl, combine the Greek cream cheese & saffron flower sauce and roasted garlic.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. Using a spoon or a whisk, mix until well-combined.
2. Spread about 1 -2 tablespoonful Greek yogurt cream cheese mixture on one slice of bread.  Layering in order by adding more roasted garlic on top, oven baked crusted tilapia, broccoli sprouts then the other slice of multi-grain bread or you can make your own combination using the roasted garlic and spread.
3. Enjoy. 🙂

Alternative:  You can chopped the garlic then mix with Greek yogurt cream cheese and add herbs of your choice (besides rosemary) then season with salt and pepper to taste.  You have garlic & herbs yogurt cream cheese spread. 🙂

Easy right?  You have a nice, healthy sandwich for lunch or dinner. ❤

Tip:  Wondering how you can determine “fresh” garlic?  The bulb is intact (not separated like saying hello to the world) and the first layer of skin has a trace of purple in color and it’s flawlessly attached to the stem and does not shred or peel easily when touched.   It’s quite firm when pressed.  If  it’s not purplish, just as long as it’s firm and intact, it’s good.  🙂

That’s all for today.  Until next time.  Don’t forget to Subscribe or Follow to get the latest recipes if you haven’t done so.  Please be kind and link back to source if you plan to use or share any of my recipes.  Thank you for stopping by.  Have a fabulous Monday.  🙂

Produce: The 14 items you MUST by organic and why

I love organic fruits and vegetables. Why? Here’s a great post from Jennifer of Two Peas and A Wad that explains it all. Post like this is definitely worth reblogging. Read on….

Two Peas & A Wad

Photo courtesy of sell-buy-machines.com

 

If you can’t purchase all organic produce, you should absolutely try to avoid certain conventional fruits and vegetables.

 

It’s true, organic produce is more expensive than conventional. However, you really get what you pay for when you buy it. Organic produce is grown without pesticides, herbicides, or other chemicals that are toxic to both our bodies and our environment.

“Yeah, but I wash and/or peel my conventional produce, so it’s fine.”

This could not be more false. The chemicals penetrate the skins of fruits and veggies and get into the flesh itself. If it’s in the food, it ends up in YOU.

Some produce carries little risk of carrying pesticides/herbicides, as few are needed when crowing these crops. These include thicker skinned fruits like mangoes, avocados, cantaloupe, pineapple, and papaya, as well as heartier vegetables like cabbage, asparagus, and onions. Other conventional produce that…

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Miso Soup with Quinoa, Tofu, Shiitake Mushrooms and Watercress

The temperature has been frigid lately.  And in times like this, I often opt to have something warm, lighter but hearty in nutrients other than the comfort food I’ve had growing up.  Miso soup with quinoa,  tofu, Shiitake mushrooms and watercress was what I had in mind.

This soup is pack with protein from the quinoa, miso, and tofu.  According to WebMD, watercress is said to be used for “swollen breathing” passages in the lung, coughs, bronchitis, flu and swine flu.  Perfect for my cough and sore throat.  It’s also used for constipation and parasitic worms, cancer, goiter polyps and tuberculosis.  Some people apply watercress directly to the skin for arthritis remedy as well rheumatoid arthritis, earache, eczema, warts, and other skin problems.   Shiitake mushrooms are promoted to fight the development and progression of cancer and AIDS by boosting the body’s immune system. These mushrooms are also said to help prevent heart disease by lowering cholesterol levels and to help treat infections such as hepatitis by producing interferon, a group of natural proteins that stops viruses from multiplying.  So, ingesting something with healing properties and nutrients is something to feel good about.

Quinoa, Tofu and Vegetables Miso Soup

Ingredients:

• 4 cups water
• 1 cup cooked quinoa
• 1 sheet of dry seaweed, tear in small pieces
• 7 oz. organic firm tofu, cut in bite pieces
• 1/2 cup organic mild sodium Miso
• a handful of watercress
• 1 stalk of green onions, chopped
• 1 cup of hydrated Shiitake mushrooms

In a medium pan, add water and bring it to a simmer over low heat.   Place the miso in a medium bowl and add some of the simmering hot water.  Whisk until the broth is free of lumps.  Add to the pot with simmered hot water.  Stir to combine.  Add the Shiitake and let it simmer until the mushrooms are tender.  Then add the tofu and quinoa.  Simmer until heated through.   Add the watercress and seaweed, and green onions.   Simmer until watercress is somewhat wilted.  Serve in a small bowl and garnish with more seaweed.

VARIATION:

You can also have this with just the tofu, green onions, and seaweed.  It’s delicious either way.  Enjoy! 🙂

If you like this post or enjoy this blog, don’t forget to Subscribe to get the latest recipes.  Thank you for visiting.

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