Valentine's Day Dinner

Here is the Valentine's Day dinner I started writing about yesterday.

We started off with some Spinach and Mushroom Manicotti with Mushroom Alfredo Sauce. The recipe on the macaroni box wasn't very interesting so I found a couple of recipes online and combined them to make my own Manicotti recipe:

Spinach and Mushroom Manicotti

1 box of Manicotti Shells
15oz of Ricotta Cheese
Domestic Mushrooms (or any kind you like), chopped
Spinach, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 egg
Parmesan Cheese
Italian 3 Cheese blend
Alfredo Sauce
Sea Salt
Pepper

1. Heat the olive oil and garlic in a sauce pan until the garlic turns yellow.

2. Add the mushrooms and cook until they are tender and browned.

3. Steam the spinach.

4. Mix together the mushrooms and garlic, spinach, ricotta cheese, egg, about 1 oz of Italian cheese, some Parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper to taste.

5. In a baking dish, pour enough sauce to cover the bottom of the dish plus 1/2 cup of water. I cooked some more mushrooms and added them to the Alfredo sauce for more flavor.

6. Fill UNCOOKED* manicotti shells with the cheese mixture and place them in the baking dish. Make sure you completely fill them and allow enough room for them to expand.

7. Pour the remainder of the sauce over the manicotti and cover tightly with aluminum foil.

8. Let the manicotti sit while you heat the oven to 375 degrees and bake for 1 hour. Uncover the dish for the last 10 minutes of baking and  put the remainder of the Italian cheese on top of the manicotti.

*Some recipes say to cook the manicotti before stuffing but I was told by a chef to never do that. I filled a zip-lock bag with the filling, cut one tip of it off, and used it to pipe filling into the manicotti shells. This way the manicotti will be easier to fill and it comes out tasting great!

We also had some Pepperoni Bread I got at the store and Tommy had a New York Strip with his dinner. I added Italian Cheese on top of the Pepperoni Bread and put it in the oven for 10 minutes with the Manicotti.

Tommy's Dinner

My Dinner

For dessert, I decided to make some Chocolate Covered Strawberries. They were so expensive at the store, it was way cheaper to buy your own strawberries and chocolate and make your own. I added some chocolate sprinkles and some rainbow sprinkles to add some color and texture. Tommy got me some of my favorite wine: Adesso. It's a dessert wine and was great with the strawberries.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Valentine's Day!

Birthdays and Valentine's Day

The beginning of February is a busy time for Tommy and I, we have 3 events we need to celebrate: my birthday (February 10), Tommy's birthday (February 11), and Valentine's Day! Tommy and I had to work on my birthday but his mom took us out to dinner that night. We knew that both of us were going to be busy on my birthday so we went out on Monday to spend some time together and get me a present.

Smith & Wesson M&P .223

This is my birthday present! Tommy felt like he had to get me something as fun as his pistol that he got from me for his last birthday lol About a week before that Monday, he also got me a new knife:

Kershaw Needs Work Knife

His boss is wondering why Tommy gets me things that I can kill him with lol

On Tommy's birthday, we went out to the Silver Grill for breakfast, walked around Jax for a bit looking at things, then headed out to Pawnee National Grasslands to do some shooting with my new toy. Later that night, Tommy's cousin and her husband took us to an Eagle's game! It was our first time watching a hockey game live and it was so much fun! It was a great day to just spend some quality time with each other and friends.

Today I am surprising Tommy with a Valentine's Day dinner. For the main course, I am making Mushroom and Spinach Manicotti with Mushroom Alfredo Sauce. This will be served with some Pepperoni Bread I found. For dessert, I'm making chocolate covered strawberries. I'll post pictures once everything is made :)