George Foreman Cooking Blog

A Romantic Dinner at Home

How to save money and calories by doing Valentine’s at home

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and it’s time to start planning something special for your sweetie. Although Valentine’s dinner is often a meal out at an expensive restaurant, a pricey meal may be prohibitive this year for lots of people. Instead of scrimping on dinner, why not bring the meal home? You can keep the romance and elegance – and possibly have an even better romantic meal than you could ever have in a restaurant packed with other people!

The Refined Flavors of Romance

Numerous books and recipes exist for romance-infused foods – certain types of foods, spices and seasonings that are said to spark romance around the table. Master of Gastronomy Amy Reiley includes the following foods as romance enhancers in her book, Fork Me, Spoon Me:

• Almonds
• Chile
• Chocolate
• Figs
• Ginger
• Honey
• Mango
• Mint
• Peach
• Rosemary
• Almonds
• Saffron
• Vanilla

Many of the above ingredients can be used in marinades and sauces for grilled meats like lamb, pork or chicken. Just a subtle hint of any of these ingredients can bring passion to your dinner plate and add to the romance of your Valentine’s Day celebration at home.

The other nice thing about cooking at home besides adding a bit of romance directly to your plate is that you can control what you and your significant other are eating. Portion control, cutting the fat by cooking on your George Foreman grill and limiting fattening ingredients means that Valentine’s Day dinner won’t destroy any diets or health commitments. You can treat yourself without packing on the pounds or weighing yourself down with a lot of rich, fattening foods. It’s a romantic meal without the day-after guilt.

Setting the Mood

Once you have your romance-infused menu, you just need to set the mood in your home to bring out the passion. In Entertaining Simple, Matthew Mead champions the idea that you don’t have to be extravagant to make an event special at home. The idea is that you can “restore sanity to entertaining, without sacrificing style.”

To do this, you just need to plan well and focus on using what you have so you don’t break the bank in bringing your Valentine’s Day dinner home. Instead of investing in expensive special tableware, use what you have and get creative. “Use your computer to print out designs to dress up glass plates, wrap around napkin rings or dangle from drinks; or employ low-tech rubber stamps to achieve similar effects.”

In addition to using prints and stamps to decorate, Mead also recommends that ribbons, stickers, buttons or charms can be used around the table in the centerpiece, on plates or as baubles on the table. You can even use cheaper flowers like carnations or daisies, rather than expensive long-stem roses.

The really great thing about bringing Valentine’s Day dinner home is that you can make it extremely personal to you and your valentine. The items that you use to decorate can be anything from trinkets you’ve picked up on your travels, to personal photos printed and laid under your glass plates. Everything from the food that’s served to the table settings is done with love and just for the two of you. It’s a truly personal Valentine’s Day experience, done simply at home.

Tags: Valentine’s Day Dinner Tips