Valentine Dinner Spaghetti

This is my menu for our Valentine's Day dinner. By the way, if you look at the word Spaghetti long enough, it stops making any sense.

Spaghetti

• 1 pound ground beef
• 6 oz tomato paste
• 8 oz tomato sauce
• 14 oz diced tomatoes (I estimate 3 tomatoes equals one can)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 green pepper, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 4 oz mushrooms (if can, drain first)
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 pound spaghetti

1.  Cook ground beef in a large skillet, stirring to crumble it into very small pieces. Drain fat.

2. Add remaining ingredients except the spaghetti. Simmer for about an hour.

3. Boil spaghetti to al dente stage. 

4. Serve with sauce. And in my household, some small curd cottage cheese dolloped on top. 

Garlic Bread

•  2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup butter
• 4 oz cream cheese, softened (if you are smart, you will have set the cheese out 30 min ago)
• 1 loaf Italian bread, split lengthwise

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Saute garlic in butter. DO NOT BURN. I speak from experience.

3. Mix garlic and butter with cream cheese. This will take some elbow grease. 

4. Spread bread liberally with mixture. Lay face open on cookie sheet and tent with foil. Bake 15 minutes. For crustier bread, remove foil last 5 minutes. But let's be honest, who doesn't want crustier bread? 

Two great entrees for one of those bleak winter evenings when your hibernation instincts are shouting for hot, comforting food that will keep you full for hours to come.
Great as a leftover but we never really have any. *wink*

Strawberry Shortcake

All of the prep prior to the actual assembly can be done before dinner.

• 2 4-count packages round shortcakes - I really do wish I could say I made these from scratch but maybe next year.
• 1 quart strawberries
• 1 pint whipping cream
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 Cup sugar plus 1 tbsp sugar

1. Dice strawberries into small mixing bowl. Sprinkle with tsp sugar. Cover with saran wrap and place in fridge so they start to juice.

2. Pour whipping cream into medium mixing bowl. Add vanilla and remaining sugar. Mix with electric blender on high speed till stiff peaks form. This means that if you turn off the mixer and lift out the beaters, they pull the cream up behind them into peaks and the peaks don't immediately fall back down. 

3. Cover with saran wrap and place in fridge till ready to assemble shortcakes. 

4. Place one round shortcake in the middle of your prettiest salad plate. Pile on strawberries then top with whipping cream. Delicious! 

Our salad was bagged because I stink at making salads. Just ask my long suffering husband. It is not my strong suit. If you end up trying out one of these recipes, please come back and let me know! I would love to hear what you thought about them.