Valentines Day 2015!

Happy Monday ya’ll! I hope everyone had a great Valentines Day! As I mentioned Mr Tan Lines and I aren’t huge on the day but it was fun to cook a really fancy dinner and hang out together!

Mr Tan Lines got some flowers for me that were so beautiful! We usually reserve flowers for “just because” moments instead of holidays so I was really surprised…and thrilled of course! :)

Saturday morning we started off our day with delicious red velvet waffles and fresh fruit. I simply added some cocoa powder and baking powder to my waffle mix for the occasion. They were so good!

For dinner of course I had a few tricks up my sleeve! We started our meal with bacon wrapped scallops over a creamy creole sauce, YUM!

Here’s what you’ll need:

Scallops

Bacon (1/2 a strip for each scallop)

1 can diced tomatoes

1/2 white onion, chopped

2 tbsp creole seasoning (I used Old Bay)

1/2 cup chicken broth (I used the low sodium kind)

1/4 cup cream cheese (I used the light kind)

1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Salt & pepper

Wrap the scallops with the bacon and bake for 20 minutes at 425 degrees. Flip, then bake for an additional 20.

For the sauce, combine all of the ingredients in a sauce pan. Simmer for 30 minutes. Use an immersion blender to create a creamy, smooth sauce. Voila!

Guys, the sauce combined with the scallops was so good, this is a must try!

For dinner I made filet mignon, mashed potatoes, asparagus and lobster tails! I tried to keep it pretty simple, here’s what I did!

For the filet mignon – season with salt & pepper, 1 tbsp of steak chop marinade over each piece. Marinade for 3-4 hours. Grill! Yes, we grilled in the middle of February!

For the lobster tails (the details for this recipe are in another post!) – You’ll need the juice of 2 lemons, 1 tsp cayenne, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, 4 garlic cloves crushed. Pour over the tails and marinade for 3-4 hours. Grill!

For the asparagus – Drizzle with olive oil, salt & pepper. Bake for 12 minutes at 350 degrees.

For the mashed potatoes – Boil 5 russet potatoes (chopped in large cubes) for 25 minutes. Pour into standing mixer and add 1/2 cup of light sour cream, 2 tbsp butter, 1/4 cup milk, 2 tbsp chopped chives, 1 tbsp salt and 1 tsp pepper. Mix until smooth!

And then, drum roll please…you’ll have this delicious creation!

We paired our fancy dinner with a fancy wine; I splurged and purchased this $36 bottle from Publix. It was divine ya’ll. It was a surprisingly heavy cab, it actually tasted very similar to a cabernet franc. It had a great, bold flavor that went excellent with our entire meal.

I don’t know how many of you do this but I try to keep the corks from special occasions often, I mark them with the date then use them on my craft projects! It’s always fun to look back at the fun places we’ve been and think of the memories we created!

For dessert, I made one of our favorites, puff pastry stuffed with fresh fruit and served with vanilla ice cream!

The puff pastry is store bought; I just roll it out and cut it in half. For the fruit filling I used 1/2 cup of fresh raspberries, 1/2 cup of fresh blueberries, 1/2 cup of fresh strawberries and 1 tsp pure vanilla extract. 

Simmer in a sauce pan for about 30 minutes. Let the mixture cool before placing onto your puff pastry. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes (I used our mini oven so the cooking time is different for a real oven). Serve & enjoy!

I had so much fun with these two this weekend, they’re the best!!