Say It With Food

The season of love is upon us.  I know a lot of people don’t like it, but I enjoy an excuse to decorate with hearts and tell my loved ones  (again) that I love them.  One of my favorite ways to show my love is to cook for my family and friends.  As you might expect, Valentine’s Day is no different.  My husband and I choose not to battle the crowds for a reservation at a restaurant (or pay V-Day menu prices!), so I always make a special dinner.  (Don’t worry, he does take me out for a special dinner either a few days before or after.)  You’ll hear about this year’s menu soon, but tonight I’m giving you some other options.  These are dishes that I’ve made recently that were so tasty, they can’t help but tell the recipients that you love them.

Let’s start with a sweet and spicy, crunchy chicken that is out of this world.  This recipe manages to take basic ingredients and turn them into a stellar dish that you’ll want to have again and again.  The chicken really is EXTRA crunchy and the sauce completes the flavor profile.  The recipe makes a lot of sauce, so you might want to cut it down if you’re not a big sauce person.  It took me too long between seeing this to making it – big mistake!!  You should make this ASAP.

Double Crunch Honey Garlic Chicken (from Dainty Chef)

For the chicken:

4 chicken breasts

1 c. flour

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. pepper

1 1/2 tbsp. ginger

1 tbsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. sage

1 tbsp. paprika

1/2 tsp. cayenne

2 eggs

4 tbsp. water

For the sauce:

2 tbsp. olive oil

3-4 cloves minced garlic

3/4-1 c. honey

1/4 c. soy sauce

1 tsp. pepper

1. Combine the flour and spices in a medium bowl.  In a shallow bowl, beat together the eggs and water.  Pound the chicken breasts to an even thinness, pat them dry, and season them with salt and pepper.  Dip the meat in the flour, then the egg, then back in the flour.

2. Put a 1/2 in. of oil in a pan and heat it up.  Once it’s hot, reduce the heat to medium, and fry the chicken 5 minute per side or til golden brown and crispy.  Transfer the chicken to a paper-towel lined baking sheet.

3. To make the sauce, combine the 2 tbsp. oil and garlic in a medium saucepan.  Cook slightly, making sure the garlic doesn’t brown.  Add the honey, soy sauce, and 1 tsp. pepper.  Simmer for 5  minutes, then remove from the heat and let cool.  Dip the cooled chicken in the sauce and serve over rice.  (I thought it was weird to dip crispy chicken in sauce, so I just served the sauce on the side to dip immediately before eating.  The dip was also good on our carrot “fries”.)

To follow up something that delicious, you need an equally amazing dessert.  One of my husband’s favorite desserts is Oreos, and I recently got to make homemade Oreos for him.  I combined the filling recipe I’m about to share with Smitten Kitchen’s brownie roll-out cookies (that I blogged about here).  Though I didn’t roll the cookies thin enough this time, the taste was still pretty incredible.  The filling is really too easy to make.  It only uses 4 pantry staples, and takes less than 5 minutes to make.  I also tried the filling between some graham crackers (It tasted like vanilla cream cookies.) and on top of brownies (Delish!).  The blogger who came up with the filling uses it for a dip, so you can really just go wherever your imagination takes you.  If you keep yours in the fridge, just remember to take it out 30 minutes before you want to use it, so that it will become spreadable.

Oreo Filling Spread (from Cookies & Cups)

1/2 c. shortening

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. sugar

3 1/2 c. confectioner’s sugar

3 tbsp. hot water

1. In a bowl, beat together all the ingredients for 2 minutes.  (Seriously, that’s it!)

That’s it for me this week.  What about you?  Do you like heading out on Valentine’s or would you rather stay home?  And if you stay home, what are you fixing this year?