Recipe: Valentine's Special

Because we couldn't decide where to eat and because I am still under the influence of "Cook This, Not That" we decided to have our Valentine's dinner at home.

Menu:

- Mixed Green Salad with Red Wine Vinaigrette

- Bacon Wrapped Scallops

- Seafood Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce

- Pork Chops with Beer and Bacon Gravy

The salad is an original by Giada De Laurentis - she used sherry vinegar while I used red wine vinegar because our local grocery doesn't carry sherry vinegar. If you are to follow her recipe make sure to go easy on the cheese - the first time I made this I went crazy on the cheese and it made the salad super salty.

The scallop dish is the first recipe I lifted from "Cook This, Not That!" and I must say that I'm impressed. Although I almost forgot that I placed this in the broiler (I cooked it for 15 minutes instead of the recommended 10), the scallops didn't turn rubbery and the bacon was still very crisp.

The seafood pasta is by Rachael Ray from 30-Minute Meals. I decided not to include sherry wine but the pasta still turned out to be tasty. My husband loved it so much! This was also a hit the first time I made it for friends during Christmas.

The pork chop is another original by Rachael Ray. This recipe is great because of the gravy...pork chop + beer + bacon = love. Without the gravy the dish would be too boring. Make sure that you pick a beer that won't overpower everything else. I didn't make a good choice so I ended up adding more and more stock to balance out the flavor.

My husband and I assessed that had we had the same meal outside, we would have spent $160 with tip and tax. The meal we prepared only cost us $80 and we still have left over for tomorrow.

I say this is the best Valentine's dinner I've had in a while - the sumptuous dinner made the night great but having my husband help me out in the kitchen is just priceless.